A few more photos of the Enviro 400

Seat not looking good on first day out.

Back of the bus upstairs.

CCTV camera and emergency hammer.

Great RedBall coming to Torquay

Executive Lead for Tourism and Environment, Cllr Jeanette Richards, said: "I am delighted that Kurt Perschke has agreed to exhibit his world famous RedBall here in Torbay. It is hugely exciting and really helps to put Torbay on the map as one of the most influential, cultural destinations in the UK.

The above is a quote from the web site Creative Torbay.

The world famous RedBall will be in Torquay, Paignton and Brixham from Sat 2 June till Tue 5 June. Cllr Richards went on to say, "whilst I am aware that art, in whatever form is not everyone's cup of tea I would encourage residents and visitors to take this opportunity to witness a worldwide phenomenon."

So now you know.

Actually until 5 minutes before I saw a reference to this world famous RedBall on Twitter I had never heard of it. Shows that I am culturally deficient I suppose. And thank goodness for twitter letting me know about it. And it isn't as big as the great white ball that used to sit on the sea front.

The Balloon and a Chanal Four TV Program

I've just been for a walk along the sea front here in Torquay as I did yesterday. I took one of these photos on yesterday's walk and the other today. In between taking these two walks and photos Torquay and the whole of the South West had been battered by gale force winds and heavy rain. The weather and the view have both improved. As you can see the Balloon didn't make it through the night. The 3rd photo below shows the balloon as it is now and is a nice photo with the rainbow.

The balloon will have been insured against this sort of thing so I imagine it will be only a matter of time before it is up and floating once again. I expect the people who work at the site will be hoping for it's speedy return even if lots of Torquayians aren't.

While I was at the crash site taking photos a couple of visitors, a man and his wife, Paul and Chris from Coventry also stopped to take some photos and we got talking. Paul and Chris are staying at the Grosvenor Hotel in Belgrave Rd. In case you missed it The Grosvenor Hotel is the star in a Channel 4 fly on the wall documentary ( described elsewhere as a comedy documentary). The first part was on New Year's Day ( available still on iPlayer) and has upset some people who think it does Torquay down by reminding everyone who saw it of a certain hotel in Torquay run by Basil Fawlty and his almost as mad wife Cybil. I have worked in the hotel industry(briefly) and thought the whole thing hilarious and fairly true to life. The program did start by describing Torquay and said," Torquay had many attractions to entice the visitors and many fine hotels." ......... dramatic pause , "And this hotel"
People here in Torquay seem to think it did Torquay down but personally I think the person it did down was one of the two people getting married in the hotel. It was her big day and she made sure everyone knew it.
Anyway, Paul and Chris from Coventry who I mentioned a while back both love the hotel, good food, nice rooms, friendly, helpful staff and handy for Torquay and all it's varied attractions as well as the X46 for a trip to Exeter.

So don't belive everything you see on the telly is the absolute truth,....... dramatic pause, or even anything like it.

Lots of Photos

The fire started at 21:30 on Monday evening but I didn't find out untill 2 hours later, hence no dramatic pictures with flames leaping hundreds of feet into the air.


Conway Court Hotel Fire'>Click here for more photos mostly showing the hotel being demolished in double quick time. The hotel was on the top of a cliff and the road below, Torbay Rd, is the busiest in the whole of the Bay. Torquay has had mega traffic jams for the last two days. The road opened this evening so well done Gilpin Demolition for such a speedy job. from fire starting to building safe took only 42 hours which is a bit of a miricle for Torquay.

First Relay the Road Then Dig It Up.

The top photo was taken on Monday in Abbey Rd here inTorquay and shows the top surface of the road being laid down.

The bottom photo was taken on Wednesday, also in Abbey Rd where a couple of road engineers are checking and replacing pipes. This isn't an emergency repair but scheduled work that has been in the pipe line for weeks. Really it should have been done a week ago so the nice new road surface wouldn't have been messed up. Is it any wonder we tend to dispair slightly at times here in Torbay?

Beach Party, YOU are not invited!

Here is an item from the Herald Express.

I would like to stress it isn't just YOU who isn't invited,

it's EVERYBODY.

01 July 2008

Emergency plans are being drawn up today to cope with a feared invasion of 10,000 beach-party goers on Torbay. Police are even considering an unprecedented ban on the serving of alcohol in all licensed premises in a specific area.Local Licensed Victuallers Association boss Steve Goss hopes the ban won't go ahead but believes the police will make the right decision. Police are having to play a cat-and-mouse game with the unknown party organisers who have so far not identified where the event is being held.The police and council are meeting this afternoon to work out emergency measures if the party goes ahead.The event could have major health and safety implications and land the authorities with a hefty bill.

The rest of the item, which is quite long can be found here.

I'll keep you posted on any developments.