Affordable Affluence in Torquay

As the day grow shorter and the number of tramps grows more numerous there are still some things to feel good about in the bay. quite a few really, so many that Torquay comes in at number 16 on the RBS Affordable Affluence Index.

Beacon Quay reopens

The refurbishment of Beacon Quay is finally complete. Just in time for the end of the tourist season. To celebrate they have managed to get the powerboat nationals down here. However that is not just noisy carbon spewing thrill seeking, one of the teams proudly advertise that they are are a Carbon neutral racing team. Just one mind.

More Tall Ships

A Couple more photos of the Tall Ships.



I was only able to get a couple of photos of the Tall Ships in the Bay on the morning of the race. In previous years there have been ships there for days before the race. I was disappointed not to even see the Mir.





Click on photo for a bigger picture.

Tall ships in Torbay

The tall ships have now come and gone, with only a few minor hiccups. Like them not all being able to fit in the available berthing space meaning that on the 2nd and 3rd of july there was only a token presence for the fireworks. Or like the Mir being able to arrive early and stay a few days, but not even being contacted because of the potential pilotage costs. I didn't get many photo's but there are some better shots of the ships here.

Tall Ships in Torbay

This summer the Tall Ships Race returns to Torbay to commemorate it's fiftieth anniversary, Torbay having been part of the route of the original race. The race itself was to have marked the final word of the age of sail, but it instead marked the beginning of a new chapter with the building of new ships specifically for sail training such as the Jubilee Sailing Trust's The Lord Nelson and Tenacious both built specifically with the needs of mixed ability crews in mind. Tenacious being the largest wooden tall ship of her kind to be built in the UK in the last 100 years. There will be ships from around the globe and also natives to Torbay such as Leader and Provident that I photographed last week while they where tied up in Torquay Marina.

Online thieft

Personally I am not a big fan of Council Tax, I would prefer a Local Income Tax. Well actually I would really prefer no tax at all. But at least they make it easily to pay, even being able to pay all you local taxes online. They also give details of possible benefits, and how to apply for them. Even if the page that they supply seems to have been specifically designed to be as hard to read as possible (grey text on grey background). And you don't mind risking the Revenue making a mistake and then demanding it all back.

London Bridge

One of the first things that anybody coming into Torquay will see as they walk the short distance from the station to the sea-front is the great limestone sea arch on the horizon called London Bridge just beyond the Marina. The coastal path runs along above and in fact you can walk right out onto it. However most people don't and so will never see that the entire seaward face is one single, huge, piece of fossilized coral from when the seas around here where warmer and that section of stone formed what was the sea bed rather than the cliffs that skirt the sea.

Snow

This is amazing place to live! There are few places in the country where you can walk out of the office in bright sunshine by palm trees, then be 10 minutes drive from a purpose built ski slope, and thanks to what must be some of the strangest weather that we have had in ages, real snow.

Torquay's Main Beach Sunday 5 Feb 2006

After several days of cold dull weather the sun shone, as it often does, on beautiful downtown Torquay and lots of people enjoyed a day out by the sea.

Kingskerswell Library

As you drive up to Newton Abbot you go under a bridge that is known as The Arch. A couple of days ago I took the photo with this banner, “Save our Library” hanging from it for all the world to see. The banner has done part of its job. I, and the tens of thousands who pass under the Arch now know the library is in danger.

There has been an Arch here since Roman times,
After the Romans left the Celts revered the arch as a sacred place.
The Saxon used it to hang criminals from and the Plantagenets built a monastery around it.
Henry VIII closed it down and it fell into ruin and decay.
By Victorian times only the arch remained. It is said that Isambard Kingdom Brunel passed under it as a young boy on his way for a day out in beautiful Torquay.
Its structural majesty inspired him to be come an engineer, he was thinking of becoming a coach driver.

Finally in 1966 the local authority knocked the arch down to widen the road (we are still waiting for the road to be widened).

Going on past record the Library has had it.