We had a trip down to Felixstowe in our new car on Monday so I took advantage of that to get some shots of the new big wheel on the sea front down there. It isn’t permanent, I think it goes in October.
On the way back, as we crested the hill just before Cliff Lane and noticed that something had changed with the wrapping. Next day, I went down to have a proper look and this is what I saw.
So the scaffolding is starting to come down. Hooray! Notice the people enjoying the view from their balcony!
On the way back from there, I saw that an old favourite was in the Wet Dock. Unfortunately, it had cars parked in from so this is the best shot that I could get. It is UKD Seahorse – a dredger. They have to dredge parts of the Port to keep it fully navigable so it comes in occasionally.
On one of may roll arounds there was, on Friday, an interesting couple of ships/boats in the Wet Dock. First up was a regular – the HM Border Force Cutter Seeker.
I am getting a new wheelchair this week. The important aspect, as far as this blog is concerned, is that it has a bigger battery so I should be able to get around to the Island again )my current battery is wearing out and not holding a charge as long as it used to). That means that I can gets some shots from the other side and not have the edge of the dock hiding some of the boat.
Secondly, as a first for a long time, we had a fishing boat in the Wet Dock. This is one that I hadn’t seen before. It was sitting there drying its nets.
Lastly, a couple of days ago I was having a coffee with my wife and mother-in-law in the Aurora. The new owners are making a good impression. I also met John who lives up the end of Patteson Road. I didn’t quite grasp where he lives so maybe he can e-mail me. Whilst I was sitting there a survey ship came past. I have not seen this one before. This is the MV Northern Wind.
Don’t forget that you can e-mail me at my iwblog425@gmail.com.
I had a nice chat with Martin from Cadent – and his boss – about the general aspects of what is going on. The big thing coming up is that Anglo Nordern have Suntis coming in on Sunday! They have the right to close Helena Road for a number of times each year and this is one of them. Needless to say, closing Helena Road is going to shut down all access to the waterfront.
It seems that there is a possibility of getting the gates at Neptune Marina end opened so that access to the Aurora will be possible via Coprolite Street. Mind you, Suntis is normally unloaded over Monday and Tuesday then gone . As The Aurora isn’t open on those days, there shouldn’t be a problem. We shall see.
Martin also mentioned that he had spoken to A Listers at Aurora and suggested that they contact me to provide details for me to publicise their new opening hours, etc. To date, I have heard nothing – but then there wasn’t an obvious way to get to me. That had changed in that I have created a new gMail account especially for the blog. So, from now, you can contact me by e-mail to iwblog425@gmail.com.
As it stands, A Listers at Aurora are open from 12 lunchtime until late (depending upon the day) from Wednesday to Sunday. I will correct this if they contact me with the full information.
Martin asked me to check out the passageway through the gas works to make sure that the path is wide enough for my wheelchair – and any other one of course. It is a bit twisty but there was ample space for me to get through.
Mind you, as they had cleared the road, there was ample space the other side of the works.
There was a guy rollerskating to hip hop type music up outside the Cult. He was very good. I tried to take a video on my phone and ended up with 3 seconds of my feet! I did get this image though.
It seems that the Cult is to be re-opened at the start of the Autumn University term as a drop in for students only so we won’t be getting the café back. See the Ipswich Star article.
Lastly, I would like to thank Mark N for being the first person to sign up for my Patreon account. It costs quite a lot of money to keep the blog going year to year and Patreon is your way to help. If you would like to offer your support to the blog, go to the Patreon Web site and sign up. You will be charged £1 and then monthly until you cancel.
