The Death Of Language

Contemporary Dining and Drinking, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Uh what? What the hell is contemporary dining and drinking?

Scene: The Bull public house in Ambridge. Sid Perks, the landlord, is behind the bar polishing glasses, his wife Jolene is out of sight in the kitchen. Occasionally the sound of her humming "Stand By Your Man" wafts through the whole pub.

Sid Perks: Would you like a drink gentlemen?
Doctor Who (for it is he): I am trying to work out if I want a pint of contemporary Stella Artois or whether I want to get in the Tardis and go back in time to 1982 and redrink the non contemporary but very historical Harvey Wallbanger I drank then.
Doctor Sam Beckett: Oh boy. Not again. It was bad enough the first time. Besides if you go back in time that Harvey Wallbanger then becomes contemporary.
etc. etc

Empty

The Big Nothing - Halvergate Marshes 4, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

A strange featureless empty place - The drained marshes that lie between Great Yarmouth and Acle. A place of extremes: it is freezing cold in winter with nothing to protect you from the wind and the rain and the frost conversely on a hot summer's day the heat can become unbearable.

Double tags

Formerly known as Willie, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Engineer, sculptor, cello maker, furniture maker, toy maker Willie Bailey displays his hospital label on his right wrist and his electronic tag on his left ankle.

Previously featured in my occasional series of Norwich characters here

He is currently designing and building a steam engine with the heat source originating from a rechargeable electric battery. When I asked why, he explained that the coal fired one he had built was far too smelly and was thus upsetting the neighbours as well as making his flat uninhabitable.

The court ordered electronic tag he tells me interferes with his digital radio signal and the label reveals his name is not Willie at all but Robert. Which all gives credence to my late mother's theory that he gained the name Willie because of the obscenely short, cut off jeans he insisted on wearing in the days of his youth.

Whatever the reason - Hello Bob.

Idle Thoughts At The Lowestoft Air Show

Cloud Painting, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Units of the provisional wing of the Suffolk Tourist Board painting clouds to "make them less boring and more of an attraction"


.....and how does one apply for a job as a wing walker? Do they advertise for them in job centres or are you supposed to hang around the right bars and wait for a pilot to call out "Hey Kid do you want to earn a tenner tomorrow"?

Seeing the light

Suffolk Clouds Part 5, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Seeing this move towards me I thought I was in for some kind of divine revelation which would have been handy as I was having trouble trying to think what to cook for everyone's dinner

Commerce In Britain - THE VERDICT

Norton Peskett's Little Sunburst, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

I photographed this in Southwold as part of my pursuit of Sunburst designs.

Norton Peskett's mission statement is boringly obvious; "Our team approach means that we work together to bring you the quickest, practical and most cost effective solution to your problems." Ho hum. They would generate far more business if they changed it to "We will pepper your small towns with cast iron sunbursts."

That is the problem, in a nutshell, of the malaise that strikes at the heart of all commerce in Britain today; no vision.

Chalk Hill Works Revisited

Chalk Hill Works Revisited, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

I first posted a photograph of this 1930s building to flickr two years ago and it has lain empty since then. The fabric of the building is starting to rapidly deteriorate and clear signs of subsidence can be seen in the car park. Doorways and gutters are becoming choked with weeds and parts of it appear to have flooded. The boards that have appeared on the windows since I first photographed it are there to prevent trespass rather than protect the building.



The site started off as Thomsons ironmongery works in the 19th century and manufacture continued there until after the war. (Production was given over to making shell and bomb casings 1939 - 45 and bombs fell near the entrance to the works during the so called Baedaker Raids). It was Thompson's who subsidised the Ferryman at Pulls Ferry until the start of World War II to allow their workers to take a short cut to the factory.

The factory has a hidden surprise. The buildings go back into the hill behind and join the Chalk caves (really flint mines)that riddle the whole of Thorpe Hamlet.) I was allowed to go down a little way some years back (although not take photos). The metal bunk beds that they used when it was air raid shelter during the war are still there..

Manufacture stopped and Thomsons turned into Decco and the works became a local distribution centre (that's a warehouse to you and me)

Two and a half years ago Decco moved their operation to their Ipswich works and the works have been empty ever since.

The building has Grade 2 listing and in spite of this outline planning permission has been given to develope the site for offices and housing. Industrial buildings are the most difficult to preserve as those of us who mourn the demolition of the fine Art Deco façade to Jarrolds Printing works a few weeks ago well know.



The site presents a lot of difficulty for any developer; Rosary Road used to be called Chalk Hill Road and chalk is not the best medium to lay foundations on. In addition because of its industrial history and because of the presence of at least two petrol tanks under the ground the site is heavily polluted. In addition the presence of 250 housing units will put a lot of pressure on local traffic. For all of the aforementioned reasons it seems likely that it will be a while before the site is developed and probably the land will be banked leaving residents with a view of a gradually rotting building.