A corner of town...

I love this street corner in Parliament Street.... because it has so many interesting elements, like your classic corner store, or the very acute angled corner building in the background, and the view of the sea peeping over the horizon.

And if you stand and look down the street to the left, you get a stunning view across Russell Road to the graveyard, and the historic old NG Church in Richmond Hill...... a scene I painted recently.

I had a phonecall from an artist friend this morning, apparently her neighbour got an e-mail from a friend in UK who is a regular reader of this blog, and who was surprised to spot my friend in one of our recent photos, attending a pastel demonstration. Small world! Just goes to show, if you are out and about in PE, make sure you are having a good hair day and are not with anyone you shouldn't be with, because you never know when there are bloggers lurking with their cameras! hehe.

And finally, we went whale watching at Cape St Francis last weekend, and to the Grahamstown Art Festival last week, so if you are interested in seeing pictures of either, check out my latest posts.

Smelly creek

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned Smelly Creek when looking around the Swartkops River Mouth area. Last week the carbon black factory was belching particularly voluminous clouds into the early morning air.

lest we forget....

Cenotaph at the entrance to the Art Museum in Rink Street. The names of those Port Elizabeth citizens who died in the Second World War are listed around it.

Determined .......

Some plants will attempt to grow in the most inhospitable places.... like this Cape Fig which has attached itself to the rough plaster on the side of an old building in Russell Road, which houses the Handlebar Pub.

City Hall

While I was dropping off my tax returns at the SA Revenue Service Office, Suzi-k took the opportunity to photograph the City Hall. The building in the foreground in Plein Huis, which as far as I recall houses the Town Clerk's depatment.





With all the upgrading that has taken place in the City Centre it is now well lit up and one feels quite safe going there at night.

St George's Park

One of the delightful features of St George's Park is this large wooden summerhouse structure, covered in Wisteria. In spring it is a glorious sight, and we will try and return then to show you how it transforms, but here it is in its bare-boned winter state.

Hopeful signs

Depending on whether you are an optimistic sucker (like me) or a pessimistic cynic (like local counsellor Terry Herbst) you will either be delighted or unimpressed to see the scaffolding

on the Old Post Office Tower, one of the really important landmarks in the City Centre. (If you want to read more, check the labels on our sidebar for denton and old post office.)

Recently it has literally been falling apart, and one of the lead sheets from the tower fell off and nearly hit a child on the street. Thus galvanised into action, the owner Mr Denton is finally doing something about it. After years of going through the motions, and making and breaking promises, the sketicism of many locals is not unfounded, but let's hope something really does come of it this time.

Pursuing the cultural theme....

This is another well loved art gallery in town, Montage Gallery in Main Road, Walmer. There is always a fabulous selection of art by respected local artists, and they do framing too.

The gallery is something of a landmark, thanks to its distinctive round stained glass window.

Cultural Pursuits

This is the EPSAC Gallery, which is housed in one of the lovely old historic buildings in Bird Street, Central. EPSAC (Eastern Province Society for Arts and Crafts) is a community based society, and provides a great place for artists to interact, exhibit, teach, learn, borrow wonderful art books etc.

Last week the gallery hosted a useful pastels demonstration by French artist Dominique Guillot.

In the background, you can see the parrot, one of the works he has done in pastel.

A "No" and many "Refrains"

This sign at the Southern entrance to St George's Park has the usual restrictions that the bureaucrats feel are needed to, "maintain good order in the park". With all the restrictions the the sign writer has managed to use only one "no". The polite use of "refrain", makes it sound a bit friendlier and more welcoming.

Perhaps they should have added "please refrain from throwing eggs or other messy fluids on this sign!"

We were too late to register for the monthly theme, but there will be many City Daily Photo Blogs around the world showing their "no...." signs today, so pop in and visit, the more organised members of the community will be able to link you to those participating! You MUST visit Elise in Hungary, I want a sign like that for our park across the road!