Jersey Changes - more

When the Streetview car snapped it, the Saint Laurent was still The British Union (Streetview).

So it's Goodbye to the Peterborough Garage at St.Aubin, as the cut-price competition is just too much. (Streetview)

Just along the road, the old Shapla has morphed into the Spice House - run by the Tree/Boat/Farm/Grape/Beach House group. So new, it doesn't have its own webpage on their theboathousegroup.com site yet. (Streetview)

Traffic trouble by the Shell Garden - a fairly large landslip right from the top of the tall bank here.

A classy sign somewhere in St.Brelade.

Why is this footpath out of action? Mr  Le Connetable...? Don't we encourage walking these days....?

New houses springing up, as taken from the carpark at the Trinity Arms...

.. something to amuse any eagle-eyed French visitors - look guys, if you're going to go all Frenchy-wenchy do please learn the difference between Le Grand, La Grande, Les Grandes, etc :)
If it's Le Clos (as it is) then you won't be needing that e on there.

Google's SV car never quite made it through the transition from Sand St to Seaton Place, but Loaf at #2 Seaton Place has shrunk a little so that quemardproperties.co.uk can squeeze in at #4. Oh, and DigiMap please note you have Sand St too long and Seaton Pl too short :)
(Streetview)

Minden Place - and the Victoria is still visible etched into the window glass, but the rest of it is now Green Rooster all the way. Bright! (Victoria as it was on SV)

Over the road, and old Springates is now Envy (SV).

It has been several things, it is now Metamorphosis (opened on Friday I believe) - (Streetview as it was)

Even more gibbons than usual in Hill Street.
No 18... from Arrow Insurance, to vacant, to Falles Fine Art, now Stanley G. (StreetV)

10 Wharf St - what was once the Golden Egg, latterly the Buddhabar, now named Harlem (St.V.) (facebook.com/Harlem.Cafe.Bar.Restaurant)

15 Bond St... was Gillborn Associates in a long line of various occupants... it's now Emporio with a nice subtle joke on the chalkboard outside - go take a look :)
(St.View)

Caledonia Place - some changes since Google came (StreetView) between the H'Bridge at #7 and Pure at #10.
#8 has been GM Car Sales, and Dixies, is currently Alla Piazza (with a To Let sign).
#9 was Bentley's, is now TJ's Bar

20 Esplanade, a new Liberation Stores hasn't quite shaken off the old Jaipur look. (SV)
Oh, and the place next door with all the interesting mouldings is planned for demolition and replacement with..... have a guess... offices.

12 Sand St - was Kaiyum's, is now Rio Bar & Rodizio Grill (SV) -www.riojersey.com

The puzzlingly burnt chapel has kept its frontage as part of "1875" (frazzled wreck on Streetview)

Bella Italia will reopen next week. New deco job.

77 Bath St, next to Jeff's - was Besco (Streetview), now Universe Salon.

Corner of Chevalier Rd. and Gas Place - was Cutting Edge (Streetview when there was parking around here) then went vacant for a while. It's now Splendida at "Park House" -facebook.com/splendidastudio

Food City on the corner of St.James and Grosvenor (SV) - not a new one but I felt like saying I remember the Lemon Plaice chippy, do you?

Opposite West's - ytel or Y:tel (Streetview as it was feeling unique)

Pedal Power pedalpowerjsy.com moved from here (Bath St) to replace OK Express at 36 The Parade.

22 Rouge Bouillon opposite Sacre Coeur - the Bar-B-Q Boss Eating House is now Bolero Bistro facebook.com/pages/Bolero-Bistro (Streetview)

ESM, known for this landmark building at First Tower/St.Andrew's, has opened ESM Lighting and Lifestyle www.lightingandlifestyle.com next door at Farley's Lane (StreetView) replacing God knows what :)

92 Bath St - looking past the old Odeon now a place for the Freedom mob to have sing-songs to appease their God - and The Latin Taste replaces Lou's Blooming Things. If I was Lou I'd be saying a lot worse than "Blooming" as yet another local business failed in this parking-starved part of town.

76 Bath St - the old Viceroy (SV) is now Reguengo's, and the shop next door is vacant.

Finally, what was Supervalue at Burrard / St. James Street (or Funchal Rd now, or something) is aptly a home for Jane James the purveyor of delightful ceramics - www.jane-james.co.uk

I'll keep on bringing you Jersey changes if anyone cares.

Just say the word :)

The Town Changes

 A couple of banners aren't really going to persuade anyone to walk up to Colomberie from the Town Center, are they? Without the footfall from passing hotel guests, this area is really languishing.

 Someone has been busy netting the cliff at South Hill in case of rock falls - shame about the ugly fence that they thought was required :(

 And now, an eye on the ever changing face of St.Helier's shops... this new Portugese produce shop in Kensington Street (nearby the Wagon Wheel) used to sport a red and white stripey barber pole - ( Streetview )

La Cascata replaces the old Shahi Tandoori at the top of New St between Reids and the stonemasons.
( Streetview )

Burrard St - and Brown's Antiques gives way to a new shop in the vein of the old Music and Video Exchange. Thumb your way through boxes of old records again! (even more on the 1st floor so do go upstairs) - ( Streetview )

Bath St - it was a bike shop and the Ottoman restaurant when Google visited - ( Streetview ) - it's now another part of the ever expanding Alfonso empire :)

Aspen Estates have moved out, it's now vacant here by West's C. - ( Streetview ) - oh and FeelUnique is now Y-tel, flogging phone and internet over fixed microwave radio links (even more aerial panels about the place on tall buildings, yet, weirdly, no planning applications in the JEP!)

Beresford St - it was a bright yellow Professor Banana's Sweet Emporium - ( Streetview ) - but a new place to refuel has just opened this week.

Halkett Place - was Earth Wind & Water - ( Streetview ) - is now Madhatter http://www.madhatter.je/

.. along the road, this one has been many things, an empty shop used for charity 'pop-ups' for a while, is now Crew Clothing - ( Streetview )

 Down Hill St and around the corner to Lib. Square - an empty unit for a while... now has a Seafood Cafe. ( Streetview )

 .. into the town center again up Conway St, and here in Broad St we find Barannes have a second outlet where Fast Sandwhich was - ( Streetview )

 The bright colours in Charing Cross / York St - ( Streetview ) - are more muted with the loss of Horseplay. It's now a store of temorary stall holders - new enterprises peddling their wares but with no real reason for us to pop in unless they open it up as a through-route to Sand St again... just a suggestion guys :)

.. along a bit... shocked to see Bella Italia closed, but it's just a refurb and they will open again in May according to www.bellaitalia.co.uk with a fresh change from the brown frontage ( Streetview )

Plenty more to come, as things are always changing!

Comedy Time

Time to get a little lighthearted, if just mildly whimsical at first...

We were enjoying ice creams at the coast and one of my imaginative offsprings said "That looks like a turtle over there!" ... what do you think?

I found this sight somewhere recently - who knew trees could be so affectionate?

And then the hilarity ensues. They actually think people care enough about politics to turn out and vote on the most complicated way a hijacked electoral commission could possibly rig a ridiculous attempt to make things 'fairer' - completely ignoring the way most of us (according to the last poll) want as many island-wide mandate Senators as possible! The two new choices do away with Senators, have silly voting districts instead of parishes, and cut the number of members to 42 which is nowhere near enough to ensure good balanced government, yet will appeal to the crowd who blindly cheer for reduced costs without considering matters any more deeply.

And to cap it all, the whole thing isn't binding; the States will only debate the results and do what they always do anway - whatever they want while ignoring what we ask for!

Oh it's a right old laugh!

 The A Team have been busy with banners, God Bless 'em. They think it will be fairer their way, but it won't make any difference to what the commission is setting out to do (get more people interested) and will have negative effects that outweigh the good. Superficially 'fair' if you don't think farther than the soundbites, but damaging to the island.

An appropriate place to add one - I can't help borrowing from the slogan used to scare kids from the prospect of going to prison...  I think "B? Me? No way!" ... the very worst of the options; combining the madness of Option A and then piling on the insanity of keeping the Constables, to make it even worse!

C sense. Incredible to think that I agree with ILM on something! The fact is, ignoring the whole farcical thing won't help to register your disgust.

If you don't like the new options A or B, then C is the logical "None of the above" choice. Stick a "1" in the box for C, and don't use any other second choices.

Tell them to Think Again - Vote C until they do a better job!

World Class - Jersey Channel Islands

Another quick link - here's a great 23 minute TV programme all about Jersey, for anyone who loves this place :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wPkPxDyqvc

Jersey Railways

While you wait patiently for me to get snapping again, I thought I'd share this wonderful link with you.

www.disused-stations.org.uk/g/gorey_pier/

Make your way from Gorey back to town, station by station, in a bygone age. It was a bit before my time... but sounds fascinating. I'd love to have a time machine to go back and take a look!

I hope that gives you something to study enjoyably :)

Path - Swan Farm to Grands Vaux

For years I've always wondered, coming down Langley Ave., is there a way up into those fields, any footpaths?

The answer is Yes, I recently discovered. There's a No Through Road called Swan Farm Lane, heading down from the exit of Grainville School's road...

At the end, Swan Farm. And to the left, an official Public Footpath to Grands Vaux...

.. so I got to stand behind that phone box at last :)

 A Bing map to illustrate what's what.

On the footpath. looking back at Langley Avenue...

.. to the right from that shot, a view over a field lets us see a distant Elizabeth Castle, amongst St.Helier's taller buildings.

Heading away from the official path, on what seems to be Permitted Access along a track between the fields.. the view back to the road where I had always wondered...

.. and there's an entrance, of sorts, to the grounds of Grainville School.

A bit farther along the track, and it emerges on the corner of Deloraine Road, at the top of the one-way hill.

Down said hill to Grands Vaux school, an old Cross...

.. and I took a detour to admire the streams below the reservoir...

.. a charming old house...

.. and a footpath opposite the GV primary school takes us behind Willow Grove to the depths of Pillar Gardens.. and another path goes right behind the houses and the woodland to emerge near the steep driveway to the Youth Center as seen here from just off the main road. The pathway back to Swan Farm is easily spotted off the car park around the corner up this road. All in all a rather pleasant bit of exploration for Team Crapaudmatic, and just goes to show that even after all these years there's still more to see! :)

Les Folies d'Olivet

Le Jardin d'Olivet is a nice piece of common land in Trinity, above the east side of Bouley Bay. A reasonably sized carpark leads off the corner of a lane.

The area mostly seems to be used by dog-walkers, and sadly not all of them pick up their mess. But anyway...

 .. it's been about 20 years since I last visited, so I thought I'd reacquaint myself with the place. The woodland on the left here leads nowhere (you have to go downwards for a fair climb before you can head west to Bouley Bay through another patch of woodland)...

.. but it's still worth a look around if you like an old (Victorian?) folly or two. This one can just be seen through the trees from the carpark. The last time I was here this was cracked, overgrown and at risk of collapse (as seen in 2007). Someone has got things back in order.

 The other side.

 Inside, from the doorway.

 Looking out of the 'window' from the first shot.

 Some colourful addition someone saw fit to bless us with.

 A little farther into the trees to the west (among a surprising number of blown-over trees), and there's another folly - round this time.

 Open at the top, and a floor of leaves at this time of year.

 Very heraldic.

Also lurking in the area is this, I wonder what it was?

 And in the private garden nearby, one of their own.

It was a pleasant walk and bit of exploration, one for parents with kids likely to be wow-ed by such things. Just be careful if there's a brisk north wind, it's only a couple of degrees C above ice making, and you're likely to catch a repulsive headcold.

*sniff*