Work in progress

This morning I re-stocked the fridge in anticipation of Clare's return from a week with Ann in Kirton. At two thirty, I collected her, in the rain, from Cardiff Central Station. I was caught out by the fact that since my last visit, the collection and drop-off point for travellers in Central Square has closed, and the excavation of the entire site of the old bus station has begun. It meant driving around the the south side of the station, already equipped with a stylish modern entrance and a much greater capacity car park. What's been done is a considerable improvement on the old facility in Central Square. Pity that getting there is just as much, if not more hassle than the old arrangement was. It'll be different again in a couple of years time after the new bus station and new buildings in Central Square are complete. For the moment everyone has to put up with a work in progress.

I am making an effort to document the redevelopment of Central Square in photographs, as I did for the St David II redevelopment, by regular visits to the vantage points I can find around the site. It won't be nearly as dramatic as the transformation wrought in Cardiff city centre between 2006 and 2009, but the reshaping of the city's central transport hub and all the buildings associate with it it will represent a major change to a landmark central site. I wouldn't be doing it now if it wasn't for the fascination with urban development which the earlier experience generated in me. Last week's trip to London opened my eyes to the resurgence of the economy expressed in the number of tower cranes and building sites visible in the cityscape. Over the past decade, the way I regard the built environment I am part of has changed utterly - and this has afforded me great pleasure.

As for photographs, I must get around to sorting and posting them where they are publicly visible. They don't show the wind and rain, or the hassle in finding a suitable vantage point in a busy environment. But they do tell a story of re-shaping places familiar tom people in their passages to work or leisure day by day, and one day that might be of interest to somebody new.