Month: September 2018

Finally, and a few days later than expected, the Harwich Lightship LV18 arrived. It is going to be moored here in the Ipswich marina for some months as I understand it. It will be open to the public and there will be occasional light music aboard.

For more information on the arrival, the Ipswich Star covered the event. There is much more information about the lightship itself on its own web site.

Lastly, as ever, a quick update on the Winerack. The outer covering is nearing completion. Also, there are lights on inside at night, so there is obviously much going on that we can’t see.

This is a half marathon run around Ipswich. One of the nice things about living on the Waterfront is that you get to see events like this without going too far from home. My wife and mother-in-law sat on the balcony to watch whilst I rode down to The Cult on my wheelchair with my trusty Canon 80D.

We had to family members running – our son-in-law, Matt Sims and our grandson Theo Sims. I managed to see Matt – well to be clear, Matt saw me and called out. In my defence there were a lot of runners going through and I was trying to take some photos.

First off came the lead vehicle with the time.

This was closely followed by the first runners.

Not too long after, there was a large body of entrants

This included Matt. I nearly missed him. I was too busy saying hello to take a picture.

On my way back home, I stopped off at the Aurora. They were running through in every way possible.

Now that I had my good camera with me, I thought that I would give an update on the Winerack. Work is progressing apace.

Lastly, and I am sorry to keep on, but with all that is going on around the Waterfront, there is a need for more parking but this one is firmly closed at the weekend. Shame!!!

Not quite as snappy as “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” but a good description of today.

My intention was to ride my wheelchair over to Fore Street to Out of Time Records. I was a bit messed about because they don’t take plastic and Tesco’s cash machine wasn’t working. Fortunately, the Post Office in Fore Street came up trumps.

Out of Time Records is a specialist CD and Vinyl shop and, given my recent move back to vinyl, a good place to go.

The problem that I have is, not being able to stand for too long, bending down into the boxes of Albums is quite difficult. In fact, I couldn’t cope with too much so all I ended up with was a couple of Ralph Sutton albums. Ralph Sutton is a tremendous pianist in the tradition of Fats Waller so lots of stride and ragtime! Still, only £7.00 for the two albums so that was a bargain!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnwg95ZIl3A?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

On the way back, as I passed the big car park next to Neptune Marina, I saw an unusual sight – a gaggle of Triumph sports cars.

I am sorry for my friend Dan in Connecticut but there wasn’t a Spitfire in sight! Lots of TR6, a Stag and, hidden away, a lime green TR7 (whatever were they thinking?).

Remember the staff and student car park that I was complaining about. Just as I thought – closed on a weekend so lots of parking space going missing. Can’t anyone do something about this?

Lastly, I was given a little booklet about a couple of “Heritage” days taking place in September. These weekends involved are those of the 8th and the 15th. It’s a bit late for the 8th but still time, this weekend. The booklet is available for viewing and download from The Ipswich Society Web Site – Heritage Booklet.

Unfortunately, this is the first time that I have heard about this. Another example of a lack of publicity about the two.

 

 

A couple days ago, a nice three masted “tall ship” called on Ipswich. I missed its arrival but my wife caught it and told me that something with a name starting with “O” had arrived. It was a lovely day today so I took the opportunity of gadding out on my wheelchair to have a look.

It turned out be the Oosterschelde – a three-masted topsail schooner according to the board on view.

I only had my phone on me but it takes nice photos.

Whilst checking out the boat, I noticed that the new car park was in operation. It really does seem to be a shame that the best use for a nice stretch of the Waterfront turns out to be a car park reserved for the University staff and students!

This first picture shows that they have torn down the green fencing that was put up when they were working on the bridge investigations. This, whilst a plain wire fence, was at least permanent. However, it obviously wasn’t permanent enough because most of it along the waterfront has been taken away and replaced with temporary fencing.

They have allowed for some pedestrian access to the waterfront but making some pathways through. However, all they have done with the fencing it move it about a bit!

Let us hope that this isn’t permanent.

On a lighter note, The Orwell Lady was just leaving so I took a snap of the happy passengers on their way out for a nice trip along the Orwell and back.

The Great East Run takes place on Sunday – 16th September. Are you taking part?

This event is a half marathon run around Ipswich and along the River Orwell.

Quoting from theSimply Health web site: 

“The Simplyhealth Great East Run course follows a scenic route that is suitable for runners of all abiltiies.

Starting and finishing on Russell Road, runners pass the prestigious Willis building designed by Lord Foster before heading through the beautiful Holywells Park and travelling down to Ipswich’s vibrant waterfront.

The route then passes Felaw Maltings on the way out and back along Wherstead Road, where participants will see Fox’s Marina, Suffolk Food Hall and go twice under the iconic Orwell Bridge into Freston.

On returning to the town centre, runners will head towards Ipswich Town FC’s Portman Road stadium, passing the statues of two football legends, Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey, before crossing the finish line in the stadium’s practice pitch and being welcomed by hundreds of supporters in the stands.”

I am talking about this because I want to warn you of road closures that will be happening. I have come across signs on the Wherstead Road, Patteson Road and warnings in Cliff Lane of Holywells Road. The run starts (for the elite runners) at 10am.

The full list of closures is available HERE. The re-opening is to be phased and information on those reopening is available HERE.

Needless to say, I will be at the start with my trusty camera so check back late on Sunday for some more news.

Ever since I restarted this blog it has been available as:

www.ipswichwaterfrontblog.co.uk

Recently, I have designed a new flyer about the blog. Whilst doing this, I realised that the blog address was somewhat of a mouthful. I decided that I should upgrade the blog so there would be no adverts. This gave me the opportunity of getting a free domain name from WordPress (our blog supplier).  The new way to get to the blog is a much simpler name:

www.iwblog.org

At the same time, I registered a UK domain name, so that I had one without WordPress involvement, should I need it in future. This is:

www.iwblog.co.uk

Not much difference. It is up to you how you use these domain addresses. All of them will always work.

I mentioned that I was designing a new flyer for the blog. I am trying to get a bit of a wider audience as the current blog is still someway off the numbers that I used to have when we were on the fourth floor of the apartment block. The design is a simple A5 document which I had printed for me by Doxdirect. They charged me £9.69 for 100 A5 full colour flyers, which I think is very cheap. These are going into the post boxes in our block. If anyone wants me to put one somewhere else, just let me know.