Babbacombe Downs and the Fish & Chip Shop

Some rich restaurateur has come up with a plan to turn some old toilets on Babbacombe Downs in to a Fish Restaurant. The toilets are a single story building and are set on a ledge 10 feet below the top of the cliff and so do not distract from the splendid view of Portland Bay that we (at present) get from the Downs. The Downs are 250 feet above the sea so the view is extensive and so far no one has come up with the daft idea of building anything to obstruct this view. Until the above mentioned rich restaurateur. He saw the view and decided it was the best view in the South West. So what did he want to do with this outstanding view? I'll tell you; he wanted to build an outstanding dump, sorry that should read fish restaurant. It might end up being outstanding for the quality of fish it serves but most people are concerned it will be outstanding for a different reason. He, the rich restaurateur, wants to knock the toilets down and replace them with a two story building which will be outstanding because it will extend 10 feet or more above the top of the cliff and spoil the view for everyone except those eating in this expensive fish restaurant. They will have wonderful views while they eat fish and chips, not out of newspaper, that's not allowed anymore.

The outstanding nature of the building isn't the only problem. There are several good pubs and hotels set back from the Downs that serve excellent food and at least 4 common or garden fish and chip shops that have been there since the days fish and chips were eaten from newspaper. All have won awards over the years for the quality of their product. There are enough places in the area selling food. What there isn't in the area, which is an other problem is parking places. The sort of clientele out rich restaurateur is hoping to attract are not likely to make their way to Babbacombe on a 32 bus, excellent thought the 32 bus service is. They will all want some where to park their big cars and there simple will not be anywhere. So they will drive round the block and go somewhere else and the rich restaurateur will end up being not quiet so rich, even go bust. If he does will he knock his now empty fish restaurant down or will he walk away and leave it to become the haunt of undesirables, like seagulls and druggies?

Anyway there is a protest group on Facebook with over 900 members and the slightly long winded title of Keep your fishy fingers of Babbacombe Downs. Tomorrow Saturday the 20th, probably today by the time you are reading this, a member of the group is planning to go down to the Downs armed with posts and tape to mark out how big this dump is going to be, should be fun. He has invited the Herald Express along plus anyone who feels strongly enough to be there to let Mayor Nick Bye know we are not going to let this happen without a fight. Though no fighting tomorrow please, this is a peaceful protest. Kicks off at 2pm and I will be there with camera to record the event.

All these people, some of them Morris Dancers, are standing on top of the toilet block. But they aren't blocking the view alone the coast, unlike the posh fish restaurant would if it gets built.

Holiday Snaps Manchester 2010,

This is just a link to some photos I took while up in Manchester in January this year. I got there on a Monday afternoon and the was a little snow on the ground which had been there a week or so. Then late Monday evening it started to snow, 20cms of the stuff. Manchester more or less came to a dead stop. And the weather forecast had been for sunny and dry all week.

Click here to view, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

A free sample.

Tourism Is Vital to Torbay; So We Take Good Care Of It.

LEADING Torbay tourism chief Carolyn Custerson who has been asked by Torbay Council to draw up a tourism strategy which includes the setting up of a private-public partnership body to run the industry recently addressed the Torbay Hospitality Association.

The meeting apparently was not without a little bit of unpleasantness according to a report in the local paper.

Later she spoke to the Herald Express and said.

"It's very important that Torbay has a hospitality association, but an association which has got an open mind and is all-inclusive.
"Associations are important for a feeling of belonging and communication, but they need to be associations people respect.
"We should all be trying to work more closely for the greater good of the Bay."

I would say that Mrs Custerson is a very tactful lady.

There has been some conflicting views within the THA for some time and a new organisation called the Torbay Accommodation Providers which appears to have been set up by people who have left the THA.

That was from one "news" story ( well it is quiet at the moment) in today's Herald Express. Also in the same paper was a story which told how the police had been called in a to sort out a row involving alleged harassment by email of one member of the THA. No action was taken but "suitable advice" was given to the sender of the emails.

I ask you, is a script writer from Eastenders making this stuff up or is it a group of people who are supposed to be encouraging holiday makers to come to Torbay and spend loads of money trying to commit financial suicide. The sooner we have a professional body, properly funded by the Council, with some private money maybe, to act to encourage people to come to Torbay the better. At the moment it looks like Basil and Sybil Fawlty are back running the place.

P.S.
The Torbay Hospitality Association web page can be found here.
The Torbay Accommadation Providers web page here.

Rugby

The boys played Paignton last Saturday and unfortunately lost by a few tries to nil. But it was good game to watch. The next 5 games are at home which means I will be able to catch up for all the games I missed at the start of the season.

Here Torquay take the ball from a line out, having a player who is 6 or 7 cms taller then anyone on the other side is and advantage.

Keeping the Passengers in the Picture.

A post about transport for a change; Eurostar in essence but mostly about information. One of the comments made by the team investigating the recent breakdown of trains in the tunnel concerned the lack of information passed on to passengers waiting at stations for trains that weren't going to arrive but more importantly to those poor sods on the trains. Fancy sitting, stuck on a train in a tunnel with the temperature rising, the loos getting blocked,no water or food other than what you brought with you and absolutely no idea of why (terrorist attack? tunnel flooded or leaves on the track) or how long the train would remain there for. Stories of train personnel hiding because they had no idea what was going on either.

I always tried to keep my passengers up to date, even if it was something simple like arriving at a timing point fairly early. Cary Parade as an example. At quiet periods it was possible to arrive here up to 5 minutes early. Many passengers would be getting of at the next stop in Fleet St which is only a hundred and fifty metres round the corner. In these instances I would stick my head out of the cab and shout, “The bus will be here for 5 minutes.” Passengers could then make an informed choice. Get off and walk or wait. I have been passenger on buses in this situation and the driver has said nothing then moaned when he set off and the bell would ring. “Why didn’t they get of and walk?” The reason was the didn’t know how long the wait would be because no one had told them. Other times Were when the bus was on a diversion. I would always tell passengers as they got on the bus would be diverted for part of the route, then at the last stop before the diversion I would explain where we were going and where we would get back onto the normal route. One time there were road works on Lymington Rd, a water main had burst and the bus would be missing out 3 stops. I'd finished work and was going home but knew about the problem. The driver never said anything and went on the alternative route and would have carried passengers a long way away from their stop if I hadn’t told them. Now I never learnt this art of communication from Stagecoach. It was never mentioned in training, I just worked it out for myself.

Hopefully in view of the Eurostar report transport operators will have a look at their own procedures and training with a view to seeing how/if they can be improved and not just think, “There but for the grace of god go I.”