Photos from Rock Walk

The barriers came down this evening as the work was finished. These are a couple of the photos I took.

 

PS The barriers will go back up tomorrow for the officail opening on Saturday.

PPS The road you can see on the photo will be closed from about 6 pm for a couple of hours.

Rock Walk

While on my daily wander round Torquay I noticed a poster advertising a forthcoming attraction concerning Rock Walk. Or as it is correctly known, The Royal Terrace Gardens. The Royal in this case being on of Victoria's daughters, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. She had an interesting life, click here to find out more. Anyway next Saturday is opening day as you can see from the poster on a nearby bus stop. Not a mention of the time though. Nick Bye will be there but don't let that put you off because Professor Iain Stewart together with a choir and all sorts of other attractions will also be in attendance. We might even get to walk up the steps and admire the view at last.

If you can't make it don't worry, I'll take a few photos and post them here.

This is from the Herald Express which does know what time it all starts.

The one-day festival celebrates the re-opening of the gardens after the three-year project to secure the rock face, restore the popular gardens, and with its flying staircases and viewing platform offering spectacular views and special lighting system, create a new attraction for Torquay

The festivities will start at noon and include street performances and live music by local bands, family workshops, and a spectacular 20-minute after-dark light and sound show. The day is topped by an 8pm concert performance by Seth Lakeman at the Princess Theatre.

 

Sign the petition, please

As usual I went out for a walk this afternoon. When I got to Princess Gardens I came across this small group trying to obtain signatures on a petition. They are upset about proposed development due to take place soon that will involve building a 5 story hotel right next to the harbour where a car park presently stands. The group that wants to build the hotel, reported to be 4 star and 5 floors high, also want to build shops, cafes and other attractions on the Princess Gardens. The Princess Gardens are a nice, open green space with a sea view out towards Paignton and Brixham. We don't have all that many parks here in Torquay. The shops, cafes and other attractions would reduce the size of the gardens and wipe out the sea view. The problem is part of the harbour has been fenced off for years as it is unsafe and the people who want to build the hotel have offered to help with the cost of repairs to the harbour. They have also offered to help with the restoration of the Victorian Pavilion which needs millions spending on it. The total bill for all this restoration work is about £10 million so it isn't really surprising that Torbay council are anxious to do a deal even though it means the end result will be the loss of the veiw.

I did obtain a web address so I could put a link to this groups site and it is communitycooperative.org. The group will be down in Princess Gardens next Saturday if you want to sign the petition or just have a chat. Also next Saturday is the Grand openning of Rock Walk so there will be lots of people down there.

Broken Down Coach

As usual I went out for a walk this afternoon. When I got to Abbey Road it was standing traffic only. As it is a one way street the cars couldn't turn round and find another way. They were stuck. Being curious and not going anywhere in particular I decided to have a look for the reason for the hold up which did appear to be serious. When I got near the lights half way up the hill I could see a police office directing traffic to turn left down Shedden Hill and just beyond a coach stationary at an angle across the road. As you can see from the picture the back end is very close to a wall and my first thought was it had hit the wall. As I got a bit closer I could see there was no damage either to the wall or the coach. What I could see were a couple of feet, human feet that is not feet as in distance, protruding from under the coach. It looked like the driver had been reversing out of the hotel and hit a pedestrian. Then the body got up and said, "No wires hanging down here". It was the driver, he had reversed and stopped by the wall and the engine had died and nothing he could do would get it running. After hanging around and offering unhelpful advice for a while I wandered off to continue my walk. Half an hour later, on my way home, and the coach was still there but the police had managed to get the traffic moving up Abbey Rd. There are some places you just don't want to break down and this is one of them.

Not too sure what time the coach was fixed.

A Sad Story

Some guy in Buckfastleigh which is a few miles up the road is reported to have received a phone call from a total stranger who asked him to invest in some shares in a bussiness in Estonia that would pay a far greater return than your average shares.

Question; if you were the guy in Buckfastleigh, I'll call him Reg because it's his name, would you

a) hand over £340 000, your life's savings, or

b) hang up and go and make yourself a cup of tea at the same time muttering under your breath, "Do they think I'm stupid or what"?

Most of us the answer would be b; I hope, but Reg decided that handing over his life's savings to make a quicker buck than he was making seemed like a good idea at the time. Now before we go any further I should point out that Reg is 88 years old. Ah you are say, some poor old git coned out of his money but Reg worked as a personnel and legal adviser for a multinational group of companies before he retire so should have had more than 2 or 3 brain cells wandering about inside his head. A few of them should have come together and explained to him that at 88 years of age and £340 000 in the bank he could spend £35 000 per year for the rest of his life and still not run out of money.

As it is he will now have to live on £90 a week state pension poor chap. Like they say, there is one born every minute.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true then it almost certainly is too good to be true.

Full story in the Herald Express.