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The Isthmus Years: 1919-1939
Dec. 16th, 2017 08:31 pmI enjoy the word "isthmus". And it rhymes with Christmas! What could be more festive? (I have worked out that if I keep doing an entry every second day, plus one extra, the last entry in December should coincide with the last ever Cartland title. What a way to end the year.)
Someone has flicked the City by the Sea's switch to holiday mode today. When I went to the beach this morning there was a small ferris wheel being set up where the summer carnival always goes. Caravans have started filling in the beachside caravan park. Shops have put up signs up with their Christmas week hours.
The City by the Sea's skyline is dominated by what is technically an elevated steel water tower, but which is generally known as the Silver Ball. It's in the grounds of a former clothing factory, as seen in this old postcard:
The factory has changed hands and uses numerous times over the years (I used to work in it when it was the council's IT department and business incubator). The gardens have been made low-maintenance, so they're just kind of... there. But no-one has looked after the ball, which has faded and rusted and looked a bit sad. But this year, the site was bought by a guy who is turning it into a vintage car museum, and his workers have repaired and renovated the ball for Christmas. Last week they painted the ball and the legs yellow, obviously some sort of undercoat, and yesterday it was back to being shiny silver with bright red legs. It looks terrific, and there's more to come. Apparently there will eventually be a permanent light show on it.
Coming home last night, I saw them testing the lights. After scrolling through a variety of colours, they left it lit from underneath by a bright white light, and it looked exactly like the Death Star. So that's not threatening at all.
Something I have learnt today: the singer called SZA is not pronounced Ess-Zed-A, as I thought. It's Scissor. I am now hip to sounds of the hit parade.
Someone has flicked the City by the Sea's switch to holiday mode today. When I went to the beach this morning there was a small ferris wheel being set up where the summer carnival always goes. Caravans have started filling in the beachside caravan park. Shops have put up signs up with their Christmas week hours.
The City by the Sea's skyline is dominated by what is technically an elevated steel water tower, but which is generally known as the Silver Ball. It's in the grounds of a former clothing factory, as seen in this old postcard:
The factory has changed hands and uses numerous times over the years (I used to work in it when it was the council's IT department and business incubator). The gardens have been made low-maintenance, so they're just kind of... there. But no-one has looked after the ball, which has faded and rusted and looked a bit sad. But this year, the site was bought by a guy who is turning it into a vintage car museum, and his workers have repaired and renovated the ball for Christmas. Last week they painted the ball and the legs yellow, obviously some sort of undercoat, and yesterday it was back to being shiny silver with bright red legs. It looks terrific, and there's more to come. Apparently there will eventually be a permanent light show on it.
Coming home last night, I saw them testing the lights. After scrolling through a variety of colours, they left it lit from underneath by a bright white light, and it looked exactly like the Death Star. So that's not threatening at all.
Something I have learnt today: the singer called SZA is not pronounced Ess-Zed-A, as I thought. It's Scissor. I am now hip to sounds of the hit parade.