After a wound clinic visit and early lunch we set off for Weston-super-Mare. I first came here as a toddler for the annual Miners' Fortnight family holiday, over seventy years ago. The beach, with its golden sand ending at low tide in estuarine mud, is everlasting the same, though the promenade has changed in appearance over the past forty years since we used to visit with our small children during our time in St Paul's Bristol.
I drove all the way and was comfortable doing so for the hour and a quarter journey. As I haven't driven for six weeks, not being able to sit for any length of time, yesterday morning I had a trial run, driving Clare to school, a mere twenty minutes behind the wheel. It did my morale good. It's evidence of improvement in my condition, albeit far to slowly for impatient old me.
I drove all the way and was comfortable doing so for the hour and a quarter journey. As I haven't driven for six weeks, not being able to sit for any length of time, yesterday morning I had a trial run, driving Clare to school, a mere twenty minutes behind the wheel. It did my morale good. It's evidence of improvement in my condition, albeit far to slowly for impatient old me.
We checked in to the Beachwood Hotel on the road south out of town, opposite the local golf course, just behind the beach. It's a small family run place catering for two dozen guests, with a swimming pool, the place where my brother in law Geoff's funeral reception party was held four and a half years ago.
Once we'd unpacked, we walked the mile in a strong wind along the beach promenade into the town centre, to hunt for a sleeveless pullover for me, as I forgot to pack the one I needed. Marks and Spencers delivered just what we were looking for. The sales lady told us the store is to close down in a few months time, having served the town's residents and visitors for more than a century. How sad!
Weston's town centre retail area seems to have suffered from incoherent development in post war years. It's a collection of Victorian era buildings and others of little architectural merit dating from the sixties to the turn of the century. In 2006, as part of an effort to enhance the townscape, an unusual artwork was installed, entitled 'Silica'. At ground level, its base houses a bus shelter on one side and a kiosk on the other, above that, a slim conical spire rises a hundred feet into the air, which is meant to light up at night. It's located at a place called Big Lamp Corner, and certainly provides a point for discussion, if only because of its sheer incongruity in this setting.
In July 2008, Weston's Grand Pier pavilion burned down, and a replacement one was commissioned and built, opening just over two years later. This is a more satisfactory effort to enhance the sea front environment, the result of an architectural competition, a stylish contemporary take on a traditional sea-side pavilion theme. The beach promenade has undergone some structural improvements as well lately, with a succession of conventional looking wrought iron framed shelters, but also a series of substantial open air seating benches sculpted out of dark polished marble.
This time of year there are few holiday visitors. The winter weather makes it windswept and bleak, but there's something I like about the emptiness of the place, the sense of waiting, getting ready for the influx of visitors from Easter onwards. It reminded me of time spent in Spanish costa resorts out of season My photos are here.
Once we'd unpacked, we walked the mile in a strong wind along the beach promenade into the town centre, to hunt for a sleeveless pullover for me, as I forgot to pack the one I needed. Marks and Spencers delivered just what we were looking for. The sales lady told us the store is to close down in a few months time, having served the town's residents and visitors for more than a century. How sad!
Weston's town centre retail area seems to have suffered from incoherent development in post war years. It's a collection of Victorian era buildings and others of little architectural merit dating from the sixties to the turn of the century. In 2006, as part of an effort to enhance the townscape, an unusual artwork was installed, entitled 'Silica'. At ground level, its base houses a bus shelter on one side and a kiosk on the other, above that, a slim conical spire rises a hundred feet into the air, which is meant to light up at night. It's located at a place called Big Lamp Corner, and certainly provides a point for discussion, if only because of its sheer incongruity in this setting.
In July 2008, Weston's Grand Pier pavilion burned down, and a replacement one was commissioned and built, opening just over two years later. This is a more satisfactory effort to enhance the sea front environment, the result of an architectural competition, a stylish contemporary take on a traditional sea-side pavilion theme. The beach promenade has undergone some structural improvements as well lately, with a succession of conventional looking wrought iron framed shelters, but also a series of substantial open air seating benches sculpted out of dark polished marble.
This time of year there are few holiday visitors. The winter weather makes it windswept and bleak, but there's something I like about the emptiness of the place, the sense of waiting, getting ready for the influx of visitors from Easter onwards. It reminded me of time spent in Spanish costa resorts out of season My photos are here.
No comments:
Post a Comment