Sun, Stars And Short Sightedness

It’s SUNNY!!!! The deluge of biblical proportions has stopped for a couple of days. It isn’t warm, but the sun is shining. So Husb and I went for a walk on the beach yesterday and finally went for a coffee at the top of ‘The Tower‘; we’d been promising ourselves for ages. It’s a fairly new building on Swansea Marina and is the tallest building in Wales. It’s right on the edge of the beach and the views across the sea and over the city are incredible. And the coffee was pretty good too.

I scribbled the view along the beach to the East, taking in the Swansea Observatory. This is also a fairly recent building, built in 1989 and previously on loan to the local astronomical society. Unfortunately, about 3 years ago, the local council demanded a rent increase that the society couldn’t afford, so they moved out and it’s been empty ever since. The council were trying to sell it off, but I don’t know if there have been any buyers. It’s very short-sighted in my opinion to turf community groups out of subsidised buildings and sell them off for short-term gain – if they can be sold at all, especially in a recession. Wouldn’t it have been better to let community groups keep these places open? The city is full of empty premises falling into disrepair and the previous council seemed determined to add to the problem. Let’s hope the new, recently-elected council have a more proactive policy towards buildings, community groups and culture in the city. Fingers crossed.