Does anyone care that the Vega memorial on Albert Pier is damaged?Can we afford to fix it?
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Broken Memorial
Does anyone care that the Vega memorial on Albert Pier is damaged?Can we afford to fix it?
Monday, 21 June 2010
A Little Protest
Time 4 Change's "Stop the cuts" protest didn't draw a massive crowd...
(caption contest, anyone?!)
OK, to be fair, in the run-up to midday there were about 20 people milling around, and the above shot captured Monty asking them to draw closer. Shortly afterwards there were about 50 assembled...
(caption contest, anyone?!)
OK, to be fair, in the run-up to midday there were about 20 people milling around, and the above shot captured Monty asking them to draw closer. Shortly afterwards there were about 50 assembled...
Friday, 11 June 2010
Wobbly Lines
I've noticed a number of badly repainted white lines lately - have we lost the art of painting a straight line in the middle of a road, like the sadly lost art of smooth tarmac on resurfaced roads?Has someone been drink-painting?
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
It's like a jungle sometimes...
.. it makes me wonder how they keep from going under.
Recently announced cutbacks on Jersey Zoo (or whatever they're calling it these days after a couple of name changes - JWPT/JZ/D) staffing levels look like the begining of the end. How sad.
Fellow local blogger Tony today had this to say about entrance fees
tonymusings.blogspot.com/2010/01/durrell-and-membership-fees
I know I can do a great impression of a skinflint at the best of times, but I really do balk at that price to get in the place, even when taking into consideration the Good Cause aspect of it all.
Many's the time where I feel like a nice walk around the peaceful gardens and a look at the animals, even if I'm on my own with an hour or two to spare I'd have a nice stroll around, see if I can get some nice photos, but 13 quid is too much for a pleasant walk compared to the free scenery on offer elsewhere.
Surely the huge turnout at the free entry day last year proved that demand was there but that price had been a barrier? I suppose that brighter minds than mine have done the sums and who am I to question their policy, but is there really nothing that can be done to tempt the locals up there more often? Discount vouchers for repeat visits within a number of months, for example? Anything that makes people think that they're getting a good deal and that would help to get people into the habit of going there more often - would be a good thing.
If they can't depend upon us locals to support them, then the writing's on the wall. As Tourism is a faded shadow of its former self, and I suspect that an attraction like the zoo absolutely depends upon the levels of mass tourism we used to enjoy but no longer see... then it's hard to escape the conclusion that the show's over before much longer.
We have a great place there, fellow islanders.... and we're in danger of losing it. Place your bets on how many years it will be before they say enough is enough and close it down. Will it follow in the Living Legend's footsteps (and numerous others) and revert to a private manor house with a luxury housing development around the sides before long? Will we moan about it? Will we do anything to prevent that outcome? Will the States do ANYTHING to halt the complete destruction of Tourism and actually support what little we have left?
I think we can easily guess the answers there. This rock gets worse year by year!
Recently announced cutbacks on Jersey Zoo (or whatever they're calling it these days after a couple of name changes - JWPT/JZ/D) staffing levels look like the begining of the end. How sad.
Fellow local blogger Tony today had this to say about entrance fees
tonymusings.blogspot.com/2010/01/durrell-and-membership-fees
I know I can do a great impression of a skinflint at the best of times, but I really do balk at that price to get in the place, even when taking into consideration the Good Cause aspect of it all.
Many's the time where I feel like a nice walk around the peaceful gardens and a look at the animals, even if I'm on my own with an hour or two to spare I'd have a nice stroll around, see if I can get some nice photos, but 13 quid is too much for a pleasant walk compared to the free scenery on offer elsewhere.
Surely the huge turnout at the free entry day last year proved that demand was there but that price had been a barrier? I suppose that brighter minds than mine have done the sums and who am I to question their policy, but is there really nothing that can be done to tempt the locals up there more often? Discount vouchers for repeat visits within a number of months, for example? Anything that makes people think that they're getting a good deal and that would help to get people into the habit of going there more often - would be a good thing.
If they can't depend upon us locals to support them, then the writing's on the wall. As Tourism is a faded shadow of its former self, and I suspect that an attraction like the zoo absolutely depends upon the levels of mass tourism we used to enjoy but no longer see... then it's hard to escape the conclusion that the show's over before much longer.
We have a great place there, fellow islanders.... and we're in danger of losing it. Place your bets on how many years it will be before they say enough is enough and close it down. Will it follow in the Living Legend's footsteps (and numerous others) and revert to a private manor house with a luxury housing development around the sides before long? Will we moan about it? Will we do anything to prevent that outcome? Will the States do ANYTHING to halt the complete destruction of Tourism and actually support what little we have left?
I think we can easily guess the answers there. This rock gets worse year by year!
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Rallying Cry
Someone in the JEP was criticising the Jersey Rally the other day, saying that so many miles of public roads shouldn't be closed for motor racing enjoyed by so few people, proportionally per head of population.
Let's examine this. How many people enjoy the rally? Apart from the drivers and navigators themselves, organisers and numerous unpaid volunteer marshalls, we can only guess how many spectators there are. The Victoria Avenue stage was reported to have three to four thousand people enjoying the action (on a chilly damp evening), and other stages usually have plenty of little crowds assembled at good vantage points. Let's take a guess at 5,000 out of 90,000 islanders, and as we're guessing we'll be generous and round it down very slightly to 5.5% of us. Personally I think that may be a bit low, but I'm going for most believable credibility here.
Now, a quick websearch revealed that Jersey has about 350 miles of roads. So, proportionally, if our JEP commentator believes that it would be fair to close 5.5% of Jersey roads, then that accounts for about 19 miles worth.
Now, I welcome being proved wrong, but the two or three stages active at any one time during the rally don't really appear to be 19 miles long, even taking into consideration all the through-routes temporarily blocked off, most of which do remain passable for access to premises.
So, nice try Mr Anti-Rally, but your sense of scale and proportion is somewhat lacking. Better luck next time!
Let's examine this. How many people enjoy the rally? Apart from the drivers and navigators themselves, organisers and numerous unpaid volunteer marshalls, we can only guess how many spectators there are. The Victoria Avenue stage was reported to have three to four thousand people enjoying the action (on a chilly damp evening), and other stages usually have plenty of little crowds assembled at good vantage points. Let's take a guess at 5,000 out of 90,000 islanders, and as we're guessing we'll be generous and round it down very slightly to 5.5% of us. Personally I think that may be a bit low, but I'm going for most believable credibility here.
Now, a quick websearch revealed that Jersey has about 350 miles of roads. So, proportionally, if our JEP commentator believes that it would be fair to close 5.5% of Jersey roads, then that accounts for about 19 miles worth.
Now, I welcome being proved wrong, but the two or three stages active at any one time during the rally don't really appear to be 19 miles long, even taking into consideration all the through-routes temporarily blocked off, most of which do remain passable for access to premises.
So, nice try Mr Anti-Rally, but your sense of scale and proportion is somewhat lacking. Better luck next time!
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
Blog fault
Why aren't my latest postings showing up on other blogs via RSS properly? A much older entry is showing up instead!
This is problem has been reported by many people some time ago (see 'support' forums), and yet nothing has been done to fix it. In the editor to define the list of other blogs displayed here, many of them have a red cross with no explanation of why or what it means. Removing a blog address and adding it again makes no difference.
Until blogger/blogspot shows a bit more commitment, then I shall have to deduce that they don't really care, and treat the service accordingly. No more blogging until they get their act together.
Waiting....
This is problem has been reported by many people some time ago (see 'support' forums), and yet nothing has been done to fix it. In the editor to define the list of other blogs displayed here, many of them have a red cross with no explanation of why or what it means. Removing a blog address and adding it again makes no difference.
Until blogger/blogspot shows a bit more commitment, then I shall have to deduce that they don't really care, and treat the service accordingly. No more blogging until they get their act together.
Waiting....
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