Ipswich Waterfront Blog – A Day to day insight into the Ipswich Waterfront
The three real addresses are:
I, inadvertently, added a space into the second URL which made it fail. These are three correct ones!
What is a URL? A unified resource locator. To you and me it is simply a web address. When I fell out of updating the blog, the original URL expired. As I am back in harness again (now that my Open University efforts are at and end – did I mention that I got a 2.2 BSc.Hons – in computer science?) I have more time.
So, to make it easier, I have registered two domain names which means that you can now access the blog in three ways:
I did want to register these with a .blog suffix but the cost was £29.99 per year, where I paid £1.00 for each of the .co.uk versions!
Let me know if you have any issues – david@bbbweb.com
Got up this morning to a nice sunny day, if a bit chilly- 3C/37F – and noticed how nice the reflections were. I know that some of my readers like reflections on the water so here is a quick view.
BTW, we are getting regular monthly checkups on the state of progress with the “Winerack” (the unfinished tower block in the background.
In the September issue of Waterfront Life, they said:
Then, in the October issue there was this:
I couldn’t find anything in the November issue, except for the advert below, so we await January with interest. Check out the really nice quick motion videos of the Waterfront on the Winerack web site.
If, and when, works starts, I can assure you that me and my camera will be constant companions!
The first boat to be decorated came on stream over the weekend.
We didn’t see them climbing up the mast to do this. The lights have a nice sequence – this is a video that I took from our balcony.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEvD_WM4YXs?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
One last shot. I am not normally out on the balcony with my camera during the evening so I don’t often get nighttime images. I thought that it might be nice to show how impressive the Aurora restaurant is when lit up in the dark evenings.
This is the first morning that we have seen proper single figure temperatures for any length of time. Mind you, by the time I had sorted myself out, it went from 1C (34F) up to 2C (36F). Still, I managed to get a photo of the weather station.
One day I will get back to a weather station that feeds my computer, as we had when I first started this blog but currently, this is the best that I can do.
We know this because the trees on the podium have been lit. When they built the apartment complex, they pre-wired all of the trees with lights so they only need plugging in and switching the power on for a nice Christmas display.
To see them properly, I have to go up to my mother-in-law’s apartment on the third floor and shoot out of her main bedroom window. This required that I open the window, turn the lights off in the room and set up my tripod (not necessarily in that order!).
These are the results. Using my nice Sigma 18 – 250mm lens, firstly a general shot of the podium.
Then I took a close up.
Secondly, I didn’t get any shots of this but there was a piece on the BBC news about a very wide load travelling from Oundle to the Ipswich Waterfront. This is a new, £2,000,000 65′ power boat/cruiser from Fairline (this image is (c) BBC 2017).
For the whole story, including a short video, check out the BBC News website
Living where we used to, we didn’t often get images from the ground and living where we do now, we don’t often see the lock gates open. So, it was nice to see this view as I came back from the pharmacy. I know all about the sunlight in your face but I only had a phone on me and the opportunity was too good to miss.
But, it has all the elements that my followers like – the sky, the lock gates and, most of all, cranes!
My wife insists that you can tell that winter is close because the seagulls are spending a lot of time sitting on the water rather than flying around. Well, here we are.
Not much has happened this week. Norma has gone and Song of the Whale has reached Coruna in Spain. Suntis came back after just one week away and has gone again, although it seems that we are to be treated to an immediate return as Anglo-Norden haven’t taken away their parking blockers. They seem to treat the area as though they own it, although I think that it is all owned by ABP. It is a pity as the area will never get the visitors it wants if they continually block off the area around Patteson Road.
(As an aside, they really annoy me as they sometimes put a notice of closure on the door of our block. Funny that they never get around to taking it down! Needless to say, I always take it down!)
Anyway, the only interesting item this week was the visit of a very different crane to the Orwell Barrier works. I have never seen such a crane so here goes – I only had my phone on me and I had to take the photo through the gates by the “control tower”. The image is a digital zoom on aiPhone5 image so it is a bit grainy.
Obviously, there was some heavy lifting going on. When we went past on the next day, it was gone so I am glad that I snapped it when I did.
It is 11th day of the 11th month so we are remembering the sacrifices that the armed forces and others made for our freedom. Ipswich has a memorial, along the Waterfront, to commemorate those merchant seamen that were lost at sea. I took the following images whilst I was on my way to the local Pharmacy. This first one is outside the Cult Cafe.
Whilst I was there, I thought that I would remind you all of a regular visitor. She seems to spend her off days moored here in the Wet Dock. Norma is a dredger.
The other visitor that we have is the CWind Phantom. This is an aluminium catamaran wind farm servicing vessel. Unfortunately, it is buried within the regular birth of “Song of the Whale” (which has gone off to Portsmouth) and I can no longer drive over the Island. This is the best shot that I can get.
Just a short note about Song of the Whale. It is currently at Portsmouth readying itself for a conservation trip to the South Atlantic. Details of the expedition.
They moved the barrier component yesterday. They chose just as I was going out (with a time limit) so I couldn’t wait until they actually moved. All I could get was a photo of a tugboat in place. I have found, from experience, that these things take a longtime as no-one wants to move quickly and break/hit something.
We got back after dark and it was gone. However, it was a full moon last night so I took a couple of shots, just quickly, as we were coming in from along drive. I did think of cheating and doing a Photoshop on the two images and merging them but honesty came to the fore!
I took the first shot with the camera on auto. I took the second after changing to manual and getting the setting right but, by then, the clouds had gone.
This morning dawned bright and sunny so I thought that I would get some crane shots, seeing as how there was a new one at the barrier works. I got one shot from Orwell Quay and the rest from around at Toller Road near the entrance to the port. First off comes the new crane for the barrier.
I then noticed the crane in front so included that as my friend Dan loves cranes.
Note the contrail just below the hook!
Lastly, there was a very long lorry sitting there with what may be a transformer as a load.
