Month: June 2018

Although not as big as theMaritime Weekend, the Food Festival brings lots of people down to the Waterfront. On top of that, the weather yesterday was really great and today it is even better. I was out for a lot of the day but wandered off down the quayside around 4.30 in the afternoon. The festival was only between the Aurora and The Cult so there wasn’t too much to see. However, my camera takes lots of pictures but they get trimmed down and edited (only cropping and lighting – I don’t put stuff there that isn’t there. I occasionally take out little bits that make the scene neater, though). Here we go. Don’t forget that you can see any image in full screen by right-clicking on the slide show and selecting “Open Image in New Tab”.

I wandered on down the Waterfront until I got to Isaacs to see how they were doing on a sunny day with the World Cup on the TV?

They seemed to be quite busy. As I was down in that part of town, I crossed over to Fore St. to have a look in the traditional “record” shop –Out of Time Records – there. I have just purchased a rcord deck and getting back into vinyl in a big was so was interested if there was anything for my old fashioned tastes. I am a big fan of “Traditional” or “Dixieland” jazz.

Well, I only got halfway through the first box of LPs and had found over £20.00 of discs. they don’t take cards and I only had £15.00 so we came to a deal on that. My little pile included stuff by Chris Barber, Ken Colyer (what a find), the Dutch Swing College and Count Basie. “The Atomic Mr. Basie”. My best ever record when I was 18!

Time to stroll back home. I can never resist one more Winerack photo. What will I do when it is finished?

Still, the scaffolding is getting higher and they are cladding more of it.

I treated myself as the weather was so great.

Just a few pictures left. Firstly, what would we do without these?

The Aurora was busy.

They had a neat little pop-up bar.

Last off a, a couple of things to make you chuckle. This is the little street that leads down to Neptune Marina.

Do you know what Coprolite is? Evidently, the name for the street comes because lots of coprolite could be found along the Orwell and was used for various manufacturing enterprises in the 17th- 19th centuries. Coprolite? Fossilised dinosaur dung!

Having balloons at a party to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or wedding is fairly common. We haven’t seen this one before. You have to read it the other way –

Yes, the girls around the table were celebrating a DIVORCE!

So we get to the end of a great day on the Waterfront- how can I sign off?

There is a lot of scaffolding going up, some of which is being covered in. I guess the rest will be covered as the complete sections.

The main bit on the go at the moment is the smaller part along the water’s edge.

As part of my trip to the craft market, I managed some closer shots of the work going on.

I then got some broader shots when I got back to the Cult Cafe.

Just so the other cranes in the port didn’t feel left out, I turned around.

It was a very nice day for a trip around as you can see.

Next up will be some new Thames Barge visitors and then, this next weekend, we have the Food Festival which is always good for lots of colourful shots.

I don’t normally go this far from home on my wheelchair but I thought that it would be a good contender for a blog page. I was also able to get some close-ups of the work on the Winerack, but that is for a different post.

The market started at 10 o’clock so I thought that I would get there early as it makes getting photos easier. It is quite a way around the waterfront but, fortunately, my Zinger wheelchair makes the trip very comfortable.

I was a bit bothered that it might run out of battery but it managed the whole trip with plenty left. Anyway, it was spattering with rain when I started but the sun was soon out and it dried up. I had some great views of the work on the Winerack before I made it round to St’ Nicholas Street. I have never wandered up and down round here. I ended up running up Silent Street into Ipswich town centre proper. From there, I travelled back across to Fore Street and back down into the waterfront proper. I bought a record deck yesterday so was interested in the vintage record store in Fore Street but, of course, it was closed on a Sunday. That will make a good trip sometime during the week.

OK, back to the market. I forgot to take my usual “take it all in” shot so I only have the close ups that I like taking that show all the little “sparkly” bits. I had some fun with a couple of ladies on one stand. Every time I picked my camera up, they ran away. Put it down and back they would come. I assured them that I was only taking close ups of the goods but they wouldn’t believe me!

I then rode up Silent Street. The name fascinates me as I had never been there before. There were two interesting buildings that just begged to be shot.

This second one seemed to be unoccupied except for the ground floor.

Note the pigeons in both photos. Lastly, although not in “The Saints” as they call the area, I couldn’t resist these models outside a retro/vintage clothes shop (Twist and Shout – great name!).

Don’t worry Dan, lots of cranes, masts and boats soon!

Well, actually, cranes, cranes and jack-up rigs. We have a plethora (is that the right collective noun?) of cranes towards the lock. Also around them you can see the “jack-up rig”s. They are all there for refurbishment, which is what that company does as its trade.

The big crane for the tidal barrier is still there so they must be still at work. I can’t get near to that to see what is going on. Anyway, here are the cranes towards the south.

and then there is the BIG ONE! Turn to the north and see the Winerack crane in operation dropping goods onto the roof of the lower part of the building. If you look carefully, you can see that the whole of the lower part of the complex is now covered with scaffolding.

 

Having had nothing for weeks, all of a sudden I am getting something every day! Not that I am complaining. We were sitting down on a pleasant Sunday afternoon when the sound of drumming came across the air. This wasn’t the usual sounds from Isaacs on a summer Sunday but much more rhythmic.

In the end, I couldn’t ignore it so I got my wheelchair out of the car and went along to the Cult. There, I saw the “Suffolk School Of Samba“. What a great way to spend the afternoon – both watching and dancing. They were a group of people obviously having a great time to a great activity. In fact, it reminded me of the fun days back in the late 90s when Valerie and I used to go Line Dancing.

First off, here is a little slide show of the photos that I took.

I even managed a video

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zBS8DDgATY?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

 

News first. The Winerack development is finally underway. Back in May they erected a tower crane and now they are putting p some scaffolding.

Somebody has to climb up there – every working day. Not me, that’s for sure.

We have had some very nice days here, especially over the bank holiday. We overlook the Aurora restaurantAurora restaurant and they get very busy when the bank holiday coincides with lots of sunshine. We, quite often, wander down for a cup of tea or a glass of orange (no more alcohol for me nowadays!).

In my wanderings yesterday I saw a few of things of interest. One was an old motor boat that was cruising around the wet dock.

I thought that I would remind you of some of the regulars. Thalatta, one of the magnificent Thames sailing barges.

Sometimes we forget how special these barges are as we see them all the time, here. I would also like to remind you of how good the Ipswich Waterfront looks in full sunshine.

I wandered up to the Cult cafe to have a look at the “Photo East” event. I was a bit disappointed, being a keen photographer. There was a container sitting there with a video showing inside and a line up of display panels. It didn’t seem to amount to much for me.

One thing that did make me have a second look was this:

Remember the “Chopper” bike. Every kid had one. My son soon got into BMX but that is another (and expensive) storey.

Last week, we had some dragon racing in the Wet Dock. It seems that they raised £10,000 for charity so it was a great idea which I hope that they repeat next year. I wandered down along to see the action.

This was an interesting vendor which was parked down near the Cult.

Unfortunately, because of my wheelchair, I felt that I had to give it a miss!

At the same time, there was a display by the East Anglian Mini Club. I was a bit disappointed as I hoped to see more original minis (like my best man had – his was a C reg from 1965) but most of them were later versions – not the modern mini, I hasten to add. Anyway, that’s just me with memories. Most wouldn’t notice.

That last one is a classic Mini Cooper S – brilliant.

The high spots keep coming because this week is the Trooping Of The Colour which always ends with a flying display by the RAF over Buckingham Palace. The flying procession makes up over the sea off Southwold and then comes down over Ipswich and on to London. I am always surprised that there isn’t a group of photographers sitting on Orwell Quay waiting for the display to come over us.  As it was, and as it has been in the past, there was just me! You sit and wait, knowing that they have to be over the palace at 1pm and the time moves on. You start to think that this year is the year that they will go a different way.

Suddenly an RAF A400M Atlas appears over the apartments and you know that you have it right.

Then you sit there and wait. There is a long gap so you start to think again… but then a Voyager and two Eurofighters appear.

Still the gap remains long but then the Tonkas fly over (Tonka is an affectionate name for the Panavia Tornado GR4). This gets better by the minute.

Note the red panel on the tail of some of the aircraft. This is to celebrate the 100th year of the Royal Air Force which was formed from the Royal Flying Corps back on 1st April 1918. Talking about the colour red, we still hope for the special treat. My camera time recording shows 4 minutes elapsed after the Tornados flew over. I was seriously doubting that there was anything more to come and then…

Yes, the Red Arrows did fly the same path this year. Last year they were way out over the Orwell Bridge so we heard them and saw them in the distance but this year…

They were split 5 and 4 so I had to go for one or the other for a closer look. I chose the 5. But I can still show you the 4.

As I said to my friend “Ginge” in the Pharmacy. How good it is to live by a lovely marina, on a beautiful summer day – AND get an air show?

If the “Flying Scotsman” was coming through Ipswich, there would be crowds so why wasn’t I crowded out with photographers? Mystery!