Seaside town on the south east coast of
England. Population around 50,000. Features of note: Debenhams (geriatrics' department store), two branches of Sainsbury'
s (a
British supermarket), The Leas Cliff Hall (entertainment venue for once great acts before they finally fold or retire), for some reason a couple of very good grammar schools (The Folkestone School for Girls, The Harvey Grammar School), The Channel Tunnel and also 304 funeral directors.
Minor features: A pleasant
fishing harbour, a soft drinks factory (Silver Spring Mineral Water Co Ltd), some chalk hills and a town centre infested with Chavs. Focal point of life for under eighteens is probably McDonald’
s or KFC. For the over 65’
s then it’
s one of the 285 General Practitioners the town boasts – or the Cardiac Unit at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, prior to the services of the above mentioned
army of undertakers.
Folkestone is not a young person's town, though does seem to be a minor magnet for asylum seekers. You can often see the
police picking them up on the motorway where they’ve just popped out of the back of some unsuspecting lorry that’
s just arrived on the Eurotunnel or on a ferry in Dover.
Yes, I've been to Folkestone. Biggest departure lounge in Britain - thousands of old codgers shuffling around waiting for the Grim
Reaper or a
Blue-Cross Saver Day at Debenhams. The air was full of vultures waiting for an easy meal.
