A new angle on progress

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On my way around the city centre redevelopment site today, in search of new photographic perspectives, I found myself climbing the stairs of the sole remaining multi-storey car park that hasn't been demolished, in Mary-Ann Street. I don't know why I didn't ever think of doing it before, as I soon discovered that it offers a grandstand view of areas I have been photographing regularly since the beginning of the year. If offers a view of the whole site westwards, close to the remains of the 'New' library, and the huge multi-screen cinema that has pagoda-like pretensions with upturned roof edges as if it was beamed in from another continent.

Apart from finding fresh views I ran into the Safety Officer for Cuddys, the demolition contractor, who was up on the roof with his video camera, logging the scene for the firm. He told me with satisfaction that over the past six months there had been only one non-serious accident on this vast, dangerous looking site. He also remarked with pride that the demolition of the car park sited within three metres of the cinema had taken place with only two cracked windows on the neighbouring building as collateral damage. Now that's something I reckon is worthy of pride, looking at the hundreds of photos I've taken of Cuddy's monster machines munching away at steel and concrete. It's a tribute to the skill of their drivers, who truly deserve their 'significant' wages.

I had wondered why the last wall and end section of the Library was still standing when the rest had been taken down without interruption. It turns out that the final stretch overlooks the ramp which serves as a service entrance to the St David's One shopping centre, in use 24 hours a day. The external wall is clad with heavy stone panelling which cannot be allowed to fall and demolish the ramp. So, very careful preparation has to be made to guarantee that when the walls come down they are sure to fall in the opposite direction. Nothing can be left to chance when the impact on business in the main shopping centre is so critical.

One last thing. That tree growing next to the outer east wall of the Tredegar Street car part, which survived through to the levelling of the entire site, offering first its blossom and now its bright green leaves to the delight of all passers by, is doomed. It sits inside the line of walls soon the be built and will have to be removed. It could have been trashed ages ago I guess, but something in the hearts of all those demolition site workers has left it in place as long as possible. Hopefully when it goes it will be lifted out carefully and given a home somewhere else, even if it's in the garden of one of those involved in site clearance.

There is also the last remaining flowering cherry tree on the Hayes, still tucked in at the base of the last remaining stump of Oxford House. Will it stay? Unlikely. But I did learn from my conversation that its roots are contained within a structure that make its removal and its transplantation possible. Let's hope someone responsible at the other side of the site knows this. The rest of the trees on the Hayes were grubbed out unceremoniously and dumped - something which scandalised me when I noticed this in an early photographic foray.

Lobster claws

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That's what they call them on the demolition site - I just found out. Those hundred foot long articulated arms that reach up and bit a chuck of concrete, as if it were merely a biscuit are called lobster claws, obviously but I didn't guess it, though they even look at bit like claws. Two of these huge are chewing away at the face of the Tredegar Street car park now. An orange one and a yellow one that's been redeployed from chewing down Oxford House,at a standstill for the moment.

Recently I noted that the closing of Currys Digital in Queen Street left the city centre without no retail outlet selling mainstream PC computers, although the new shop selling Apple Macs seems to be doing well. Well, I was wrong. Jessups the photography retailer, having lost a shop on the Hayes side of Oxford House, has opened a new superstore on Churchill Way, and this shop, uniquely among its stores is selling PC and Apple laptops. It makes sense, since the use of digital still cameras, and even more so video cameras, requires use of a computer to process picture data. The store also provides a very full direct 'camera to print' service as well as a 'print via the internet service'. Nice to see a business opportunity taken up which is up to the moment, rather than lagging behind. Interesting though, I found this out by going into the shop, not by their advertising.

Conversations and entrances

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On really horrid days, it’s good to have one like today to remember.

I walked down to church for the Eucharist – for a while at least it wasn’t raining and the sun came out. The lady who stands in the City Hall underpass quietly witnessing to her faith,(see 14th Feb posting) looked up as I passed and for the first time caught my eye and gave me a beautiful radiant smile, which (I hope) I returned when I said : “God bless you.” as I passed her. Contact at last.

After the noon Eucharist I had a conversation with a visiting couple from Toronto – she was a Quebecoise and he an Italian Canadian of fifty years standing. They were trying to work out what sort of church St John’s is, as well as fascinated by its history and relationship to the city and country. Coming from another bi-lingual city, they were impressed by the visible evidence of two languages in the way the city presents itself to the world, and wanted to know what degree of political autonomy Wales has. It was one of those moments of feeling pride in our particular social experiment, and feeling that our little corner of world Anglicanism has made a strong contribution to healthy pluralism - living together with our differences – despite apparent problems elsewhere in the Communion.

Oxford House South section demolition is now under way, and I was able to grab some quite spectacular photos of the demolition machine in action. Being half term there were more people causally watching than usual. I must find out what the site workers call these machines. I don’t even know their proper technical name. When this one toppled sections of a brick and breeze block end wall, or smashed a window and grabbed out its entire frame and mounting in one blow, there was an audible gasp of amazement from passers by. Live entertainment for half-term week!

I had a chat with Gerald (it said on his hat) one of the site foremen, who in between sentences was redirecting traffic at the junction of Bridge Street and the Hayes. Although the NCP multi-storey car parks had finally been closed for demolition three days ago, the banner notice announcing they were still open was not taken down until two days ago, and out of habit, motorists were driving in search of parking right in front the building site, before having to turn around and exit frustrated and denied. Gerald told me that he had worked on a similar development in the centre of Plymouth for four years, and how he’d got to know the local photographers, including a septuagenarian who’d researched old film archives of building, rebuilding and redevelopment of his city over his lifetime, as a way of documenting social change. That’s a bit more ambitious than my photo-blog, but I fully understand the kind of enthusiasm that drives such a project.

I left Gerald sorting the chaos and went to visit Nia Wynn-Jones in her workshop behind the ‘temporary’ city library over the railway from Bute Terrace. (Check out Nia's website) She’s making the ornate wrought iron gates that will grace the entrance of the south churchyard, once the new east-west path has been completed. She's copied the fleur-de-lys motif from the existing railings to use as decoration - hundreds of them ! She's also replicated the corner ironwork pillars from the churchyard, and will be re-cycling the pieces of fencing taken out to create a gap for the path, to use in the gates. It's going to be an eye catching design, that will fascinate visitors and enhance civic pride. I'm determined to get Nia to do some work on the church tower porch gate which could do with something kinder than renovation. It only fills two thirds of the gothic arch it encloses. Extending and embellishing it to fill the complete space, in a way that echoes the design of the gates would give the entrance a lift.

The churchyard site manager, Danny McGee was consulting with Nia when I arrived. He and I had spoken on the 'phone, but so far I'd not succeeded in finding him there, so it was good to have a face to face with these two people whose labours are going to transform one small ancient corner of the city centre into an open air sanctuary from all the hustle and bustle. I got some great pictures of the ironwork too.

Last but not least, I had an email from someone I know well, who has been thinking through life the universe and everything for some months, and has shared some of the journey with me, now asking to be prepared for Confirmation. It’s one of those things that crowns any day, no matter how bad or good it may have been.

Snow business

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Two days running we woke up to discover that snowfall had transformed the view from our house - a brief delight only, since the not so low temperature ensured the few centimetres quickly melted underfoot. I was glad of the new hiking boots I bought last weekend, having binned a tired 22 year old pair at the end of my visit to Switzerland. The fresh enjoyment of the comfort and warmth of my late sale bargain purchase, as I strode in to church, made me aware of how few other pedestrians about were wearing either boots or Wellingtons. I noticed many expensive damp pairs of trainers, and 'indoor' shoes with slippery soles being worn on slushy streets, and looks of discomfort being worn on the faces of their owners.

It struck me how ill-prepared most 'townies' are for a bout of bad weather. People appear poorly clad, without top coats or pullovers or rain gear when it's cold and wet, dashing from cover to cover, through shops, malls and arcades (thank God for Cardiff's arcades), hardly anybody can stand around and enjoy a brisk winter moment out doors. And it's not because people are poor, for often their scant clothing is expensively branded, and most pairs of damp trainers cost double my bargain boots, if not more. It's not as if we're unused to bad weather - we get too much wind and rain for my pleasure too - but we seem to have difficulty in being prepared. Six inches of wet snow causes traffic chaos. Motorways get closed. People scurry home early from work, just in case, causing all-day traffic jams. City buses stop running because they can't get up the mild gradients with which the city's flood plain environment is blessed (or affilicted if you miss having a decent viewpoint). We seem altogether less prepared to cope with the vagaries of weather, individually and socially, than I recall in my youth. Or was it that I just didn't notice in those days?

Work goes on

Anyway, I noticed that the weather didn't stop the demolition machines from getting on with chewing up Oxford House. But those pieces of equipment, menacing though their countenance may may be, are the epitome of robustness. Further south, on the John Lewis store construction site, there were fewer people in evidence on foot, but the cranes were active, drilling in the steel tubing piles. Some slightly well meaning person has cut large observation holes into the blue painted wooden shuttering that surrounds the site, covered with mesh grilles, to allow outsiders to see the work going on within. One problem. There's no pavement there, on which to stand and peer through the holes, and it's near a traffic junction, so that only car drivers could safely see through as long as they were stopped. But this is, of course nothing more than a distraction from being attentive to the traffic lights, and a potential safety hazard.

Taking advantage of the snow induced lull in traffic, I went and surveyed the scene on-site. Already dozens of piles and steel shutters have been sunk to define the boundary of the excavation area from which tens of thousands of tonnes of material will eventually be removed. In place where it seems as if excavation has begun, once can see the reason for this in the form of smallish concrete platform bases sprouting steel re-inforcement rods, already inserted as mountings for the framework of the building to be erected above. The excavations will work around these. It's a little glimpse of the immense forethought and planning that must go into construction work of this kind, to ensure time (and thus cost) efficiency in the overall run project - many small projects, all conducted in a huge chorus of engineering activity.

Inspiring stuff here for curious kids - better than video and computer games any day.