Match day in town

A Saturday afternoon walk into town with Clare, while the Wales v Scotland rugby match was on, leaving the streets relatively quiet. She wanted to buy some new boots, I just wanted exercise. Then  tea in the top floor restaurant at John Lewis before walking back home, having failed to identify if or from where buses were running, just as the match ended, and the streets began to fill with happy Wales supporters, going out to celebrate.

It was dark when we passed along Wood Street. The new buildings are all lit internally. and on the east side of number three Central Square, soon to be fully functional as the headquarters of BBC Wales, a large Boots store has opened, and a Greggs. There's now an alleyway running past them with the construction site of the long awaited new transport hub (aka Bus Station). Little seems to be happening there. I'm not sure if a final plan has been agreed that contractors can work on.

The evening's viewing saw a new Scandie crimmie on BBC Four, series seven of 'Beck', which I find enjoyable watching. It deals frequently with topical issues. This episode dealt with two issues; one the impact of Islamist terrorism on a Turkish migrant family, another was working in retirement.  His quirky sociable neighbour is back. Now they while away their idleness playing chess together.

Beck quit the force at the end of the last series. This time he is in the throes of trying to settle into a new lifestyle when he's called on to advise the team tracking a terror threat, since Beck knows the suspect's family from times past for other reasons. It was lovely to see former colleagues teasing him over his new status. As expected, his experience and knowledge is instrumental in solving the case. Then, he's invited to rejoin the police, but not in his former role - he was always happiest working within a team - but in a more senior supervisory role. Does he really want it? Will he, won't he? We wait until next week to find out.

Movie outing

It's lovely to have Rachel and Jasmine here. The aroma of pancakes cooking for a late breakfast treat fills the house in the morning. Then the girls went to the swimming pool, and after an early lunch, I went into town and booked tickets for an early evening showing of the 'Minions' film, at Cineworld.

Today is when the bus station closures hit the working week. I wondered how the traffic was going to be managed, and chatted with the driver on my way into town. There are new drop off bus stops and bus lanes in Westgate Street, and now certain buses destined to return from the opposite side of Westgate Street must go left into Lower St Mary Street, and do their turn around in Callaghan Square and then make their way back, as there's no longer entry into the bus station. It seems to be working well. It needs to, as it'll be a couple of years before the new bus station is ready for use.

 

Then, I went to the office to complete the task of making Ashley's new PC fit for work. It wasn't as easy as I'd hoped to set up the email client to access a BT account, so it's a matter of continuing to use webmail for the time being. Gmail set up with Windows 10 Mail was easy, but I was was amused to receive a security notification from Google, declaring the account had been accessed from Internet Explorer, not from Windows 10 Mail So much for the all-new operating system that does away with I.E.!

At six, the four of us met outside the cinema and ascended to the dizzy heights of the top storey, with its fabulous townscape views, to plunge ourselves into the deafening darkness of the movie studio for 'Minions'. The hi-fi surround sound was too loud for comfort throughout and detracted from the enjoyment. I like to listen and not be bombarded acoustically. I lost count of the movie trailers we saw first, five or six I think. All the advertisements were the same as those we get  pestered with a dozen times a night on TV, in huge HD versions. Boring. They soon cease to be entertaining or informing.

The film's certification said it was fit for children (true) but contained mild comedic (?) violence. Well, like all cartoon movies since the genre was invented I guess, but so much gets tiresome. The film was hilariously funny, a 'prequel' the cartoon movie 'Despicable Me', whose sequel we watched last night. To my mind was better at satirizing American culture than its was at satirizing Britain, the monarchy and the church. It's not something I would have gone out of my way to watch, if it hadn't been an occasion for a family outing. But then the same is true of most things that pass for 'entertainment' today.

A bussy day

With both parish clergy on holiday, I was drafted in to celebrate two Eucharists this morning, one at St Luke's for ten people followed by another at St Catherine's for half a dozen. Clare again needed the car for an appointment, so I was obliged to walk between churches with hardly enough time to arrive punctually. Thankfully, an 11 bus came along as I came close to a stop, saving me five minutes, and it deposited me at a stop close to the 61 bus route. I got lucky a second time as another bus turned up as I was approaching a second stop. This brief journey saved me a few minutes more and got me to the church with ten minutes to spare.

After the second service, I walked over to Cathedral Road and took another bus into town to visit the National Express ticket office to book a coach seat to visit my sister June in London tomorrow. Here my luck ran out. There was only room on the much too early 5.30am coach. Every coach thereafter until 2.30pm was full, as it's such a busy time of year. I'd left it too late, and had to abandon my plan for the time being. Sure I could have booked on the internet when I first thought of it, but I hate the National Express website, which always tries my patience. As I'm in town so often, it's no problem to pop into the office and get a real ticket. Things are changing however.

On August 1st, the coach station closes for the redevelopment of Central Square and is relocating in Sophia Gardens, half the distance from home for me. There will doubtless be chaos for a while, as many buses, especially to the east side of town will have their terminuses relocated. A new service has been recently introduced linking the far west and far east of the city directly, and passing through the centre, though not run by Cardiff Bus but by another company NAT. The new service started in May this year, and is already proving popular, according to a bus driver I talked to. This must make a big difference to those who'd otherwise have to travel into the central area, wait and change buses.

The coming months of demolition and reconstruction of part of the city centre will be an opportunity for me to add to my photographic record of the redevelopment phase of 2006-2009. Already in the three months while I was away in Spain, the new office block to the west of Central Square grew from a four storey skeleton to a nine storey building, and the Admiral building, just behind the Saint David Shopping Centre finally opened and is now occupied by a couple of thousand staff. Interesting times indeed.

Protest, political change and redevelopment in Nerja

After a night of less sleep than I felt I needed, a brisk walk to the Church shop put me right for the time being. There were only five of us for the Eucharist as several regulars are away. After coffee and a chat, I went to the nearby health food shops in search of things Clare had asked me to look for to save her carrying extra weight, then headed back to the house on my ususal route. 

In the avenida de Pescia near the Iranzo supermarket is a large school in its own grounds the C.E.I.P. Narixa (this was its arabic place name in the days of  Al-Andaluz). It's a primary school with an international dimension, with English as a second language.  On my way down around nine the road crossing is controlled by a Guardia Civil officer to ensure the safety of parents and children at rush hour. The cop's whistle is still much used. It's going to be quieter when term ands and routine traffic duties change.

Normally I walk up the sunny side of the street, but today took the shady side, where the school is. The hundred metres or so of its external walls were covered with handwritten messages in Spanish on sheets of paper, some large, some small, some in a child's hand, all protesting about a  budget cut to staffing imposed by the Generalitat of Andalusia. This concerned the loss of a monitor, which I looked up later and found to be a coach or instructor. Later I returned with my camera, re-read the posters, and gathered the protest is concerned with learning support staff to help students with disabilities or learning difficulties.

Some of the posters quoted the Bill of Human Rights on Education and children. I was pleased at how much I could read and understand. Considering the number of contributions to the writing on the wall, it represents a substantial well organised local protest. How civilised! No graffiti, no vandalism, no mess on the pavement.

I looked on-line, but found no local news report on this in English so far. But I did discover there was a change of power in Nerja's town council last weekend. Rosa Arabal of the PSOE has forged a working coalition with all the other minority parties to act as Alcalde (Mayor). The PP Mayor of 20 years standing, José Alberto Armijo was just a couple of votes short of retaining office. So, there are echoes in Nerja of the shift away from centre-right government nationally.

Also in local news I saw publication of the plans to redevelop the Playa de Calahonda, and re-instate footpath access to neighbouring beaches, destroyed by cliff erosion. The Papagayo beach restaurant, which has been looking tatty for ages, and closed for a couple of years, is now to be demolished. A new chirunguito will be built at the base of the cliff, with a terrace and sunbed area in front, enlarging and enhancing the beach. There have been protests about the changes, doubtless relating to the beach becoming a building site for a while, but would work start mid-high season anyway? 

The end result will certainly benefit more sun-seekers in due course, and do good business for the town, which will in future own the beach hospitality business. It's all part of the continued drive to improve the quality of the holiday offer the town makes. In the past couple of weeks the pavement area next to the ALSA bus stop booking office has been cordoned off and some large angled metal pillars installed along its length. These aren't new lamp posts, but supports for a canopy to shelter travellers waiting for  buses that stop there. It's not a full bus station, but from now on, the added street furnishings will proclaim elequently that this is the place to wait. 

Talking of which, I wonder what Cardiff's city centre will get by way of a new bus station in the outcome of the redevelopment of  Central Square?