Tête-á-Tête

Serious business on a bleak afternoon

Coordinated

It is not often that drivers coordinate their clothes to match the vehicle's wheel-trims.

The Balloon Seller

Just as the the wind and rain of recent weeks have kept the fishermen in port,

the same weather pattern makes this the first time the balloon seller has been seen on the streets.

Skeleton

Another apartment block begins to take shape at the Millbay Dock development.
(Whoops! Not apartments, this is to be a new school. Thanks for the comment)

Iridescence

After the recent weeks almost endless gloom and rain, 

it was easy to forgot how the iridescent cladding on this student accommodation block 

changes colour as the low winter sunshine moves across the face of the corner tower.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is .....

..... the second largest professional services firm of them all?

Well, that would be pwc (pricewaterhousecoopers), 

with offices in 776 cities, spanning 159 countries and employing over 180,000 people.

The pwc office in the city centre is about to receive some TLC. 

As a general rule .....

........ it is unwise to keep piranhas in the bath.

This bathroom shop window display caught my eye yesterday.

The multi coloured biker

There was a time when bikers' leathers came in any colour you like ,

as long as it was black.

In contrast to yesterday's post .....

...... here is The Prysten House, a Plymouth building that has stood the test of time.

It was built in 1490 and has survived not only the massive air raids 

which the city suffered in World War Two, but also the architectural vandalism

which has been committed since.

Click here to take a quick look inside

I will return to the Prysten House again in the next couple of weeks 

to explore the American connections to the building.

Idols of the Fifties and Sixties.

Whilst James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley all died before their time, 

 all attempts to bury Plymouth crumbling Civic Centre, built 1961, 

have defeated the City Council, because someone managed to get the building "listed" 

as being of architectural merit and therefore protected from the wrecking ball.

Maybe it is breaking apart.

The Scottish Referendum is only seven months away and the campaign gets more heated each week.

Although Plymouth is as far from Scotland as you can get within the British Isles, 

there could be much involved in the outcome of their vote as far as the city is concerned. 

Because Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport is so important to the economy of Plymouth any redeployment of naval assets, in the event of Scottish Independence, could have important consequences for the area.   

Sunday lived up to its name.

After weeks of torrential rain and damaging gales

Sunday dawned dry and sunny.

Shoppers enjoyed strolling without struggling to stop their umbrellas blowing inside out. 

The open air ice rink was open again for the first time in days.

Pavements tables were busy again rather than stacked up and tied down to stop them blowing away.

A bright spot on a dull day.

One of the stalls in Plymouth Market.

Last night the region got another destructive battering.

Along with the rising toll of damage and disruption, the endless procession of Atlantic storms crashing onto the shores of the West Country, seem to have drained every drop of colour from our world.

Evolution (2)

Stage Three. 

The Exhibition

Stage Two

Creating the image

Stage One

The original limestone block

Red Alert! Storm warning.

Yesterday, the UK Meteorological Office issued its highest level weather warning 

for the whole of western Britain, as the latest storm blew in from the Atlantic.

Winds of over 100 mph with the average monthly rainfall set to fall within 48 hours, were forecast.

I figured that the best photo opportunities would be on the waterfront, looking out on to Plymouth Sound, where the monster waves had done so much damage last week, 

but everybody had the same idea and there were no parking spaces left.

The man who thinks summer has arrived.

Yesterday at 12:30 pm

Yesterday one hour earlier, one mile away.

The man with the bucket on his head

But why?

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7

It doesn't take much to draw a small crowd

The cause was a traffic accident in which a car had mounted the pavement 

and bumped into scaffolding reaching up four storeys to enable work on the building's chimney stack.  

Because of the forecasts of yet more gale force winds

the emergency services needed to ensure the safety of the scaffold structure.

Saturday's storm arrived on time.

Wednesday's storm carried out the breaking and entering raid on the popular 

Waterfront Bar and Restaurant, and the Wet Wok Chinese Restaurant,

and yesterday's sent in the demolition gang.

I was part of a pretty large crowd that was blown along the Waterfront by the 60 mph gusts.

Yesterday the rain stopped and the sun shone.

But it only lasted till early afternoon,

before the skies darkened, the rain began again, 

then the wind started to pick up.

But at least the streets were animated again, as people made the most of the respite.

Size matters.

Two "Storm Chasers" waiting for high tide.

This is what they are waiting for,

and these are the plans that are being put into place to cope with the expected disruption.

Check out the link.

Special measures put in place as city prepares for "monster storm" to hit Plymouth tomorrow .

The morning after.

Yesterday morning, as the tide receded but the wind was still gusting at more than 60 mph,

 it was possible to see the damage that the waves had inflicted along the waterfront.

This very popular Chinese restaurant, the Wet Wok, was totally devastated as the sea smashed through the glass frontage and completely wrecked everything inside,

Compare and Contrast (2)

6th July 2013

3rd February 2014

Compare and Contrast (1)

6th July 2013

3rd February 2014