Gas Place - car park to Town Park

Beating the local 'mainstream' media to it (they can't bring you pictures from a Saturday event before Monday afternoon, and if the TV news people do actually work on a weekend for a change, it will go to air in a very short bulletin at a random time when people are busy doing other things, like trying to avoid enduring some idiot clowning about with Oscar Puffin) like only Citizens' Media can!


First, let's revisit the carpark on its last day...







.. closer.







900 spaces lost...






.. no wonder businesses around here are giving up.






Last day amongst the last parkers.






A brickwork floor from the previous gas works.





So the JEP publish a letter on the opening day denying it was Stuart Syvret's idea, whereas he claims it was, as does the actual article in the same issue, written after speaking to the campaigners behind it!



It will be interesting to compare the ugly mugs of the politicians present on the opening day attempting to claim credit - with the actual voting record from the day when the infamous 'ringbinder' carried the vote.




This seems so long ago now!






The hoarding made this road more of a tunnel.






And work starts...

.. and several millions later...




.. here it is. With no underground parking that we all wanted.






An enclosed basketball court.




Good sized playground. One good fun piece of equipment span fast enough to threw off some children and resulted in a few twisted ankles, so expect it to be removed.




More pictures to follow, if I can be bothered to walk from the nearest parking the other side of town :)

Don't expect to be able to park nearby to enjoy the park - all the spaces around here are Residents Only. Local Spaces for Local People - and stuff the rest of us!

Remembering Gas Place car park

As the new Town Park is about to be revealed, I thought why not look back at the car park as it was - it seems quite some time ago now.

It's almost as much fun taking pictures from Google Streetview as it as in real life!


From David Place




I don't really need to label these, as you'll either recognise the scenes or - if you're really bothered - you could take a drive in Streetview for yourself!



Coming soon, photos from the last day inside the car park, and the start of work to create the car-free park.







.. and at some point, the new park of course :)

Misc - west/harbour/art/hocq

(updated Thurs 27th Oct - now with gun-toting squirrel!)

From the other side of St.Peter's Valley, there's a distant view of the new airport tower to the side of the church steeple. I found it an interesting contrast of old and new, YMMV :)







It's still green.








.. along the bay a bit, Kempt (Martello) Tower is having some work done.







A Tourist-o-scope at Noirmont...





.. and at the other side of the bay, as low down on the tide as it gets for this Condor - you can barely see it compared to the usual view from South Hill. It had been waiting in the bay for the water to rise enough, I believe 3.5m is required before it can come in.





Container ship Huelin Dispatch leaving.









GF stickers are still around, as are 5 or 6 of his larger pieces...






.. the shoe stencils too are still around...








.. joined now by gun-toting squirrels!








.. and GF's stencilling rival has decided to try placing a canvas artwork in town too. This one brightens up the Parade.








There were some "Power To The People" signs around the town centre during the elections - thanks to Tom for telling us where they point to : "The QR code takes you to islandpower.org, which redirects to channelonline.tv/channelonline_elections2011/ "









Finally, four views from a brief stretching of the legs I enjoyed at Le Hocq one evening in rather pleasant weather for the time of year...






.. right a bit, Seymour Tower in the distance...






.. right some more, the other out-at-sea tower, Icho.








.. and the low-lying 'headland' (is there a good word for that?) at Green Island.