Thursday, February 15, 2018

Will it be "Time, Ladies & Gentlemen, please" for the very last time at the Air Balloon?

Plans may finally be afoot to put a road through the Air Balloon.

CHM spots this in Gloucestershire Live.  This too.  And this on ITV.

And here's the Highways England consultation.

3 comments:

Christopher ('Training') Bentley said...

Oh my word!!! That's going to make a bit of a difference to the 'vibe' around C.H.! Where am I going to head after the next Reunion??? (since my circular tour around the Air Balloon, then off by the Star Centre and via the location of Ullenwood Civil Defence Centre...although las time I carried on walking right into Cheltenham along that road...has become something of a tradition in its own right). I suppose the decision-makers have their reasons, though.

It reminds me of my recent discovery that the place where I think my favourite 'Girl Of The Golden East', Valérie Čižmárová, began her singing career in 1966 at just fourteen with Otakar Krásensky's Jazz & Swing Band - a magnificently Modernist circular coffee bar called 'Espresso Kotva' ('The Anchor Espresso') by Lake Zemplín in the far east of present-day Slovakia - has been allowed to go to wrack and ruin. There are plans to replace the building with a 'look-alike' but it simply isn't the same as that place where a star destined to be discovered big-time in the UK by this strange novel medium called 'the Web' set out on her road to stardom.

It's called 'progress'...ALLEGEDLY!

Christopher ('Training') Bentley said...

Regarding that last contribution on the proposed demolition of the Air Balloon, that wasn't quite under the optimal URL, so this follow-up is for completeness' sake.

I hope all C.H.R. visitors enjoy the link, which (unlike the one I previously dropped off) provides a bit of an introduction to what 'Bananas For Breakfast' and 'Girls Of The Golden East' is all about. I'm especially proud of the fact that I've really seriously got into uploading Valérie Čižmárová videos to YouTube, embedding them into my new 'Valérie Čižmárová: A Life In Sound' page at 'Bananas For Breakfast' and in one case getting a 'SUPER!!!' from the one who appeared in a documentary on Valérie Čižmárová's life and work on Czech TV as a 'fan and friend' and who helped her create the only CD released during her lifetime of her greatest hits.

Maybe I should try to make the most of the still-remaining opportunity to take my new smartphone (I joined the 'communications revolution' late last August to see how my Blogs were behaving on mobile devices) that I call 'Valinka' in honour of Valérie Čižmárová as a sort of 'mobile jukebox' to play some of her songs there. I've got a Slovak flag with 'Made in Slovakia' stuck on the back to 'personalise' the phone!

What are you planning on doing about all this demolition business, if anything?

Nothing, eventually, like any lying down in front of bulldozers???

Comment posted (as the preceding one was) from 'Valinka'....'coz my laptops are in for repair right now!

Unknown said...

If they knock it down can I buy the window from what used to be the little snug room? Especially snug when filled to the brim with numerous diggers. I have happy memories of jumping out of the window to get to the bar/toilet as it was easier than trying to get out of the room.

Bob Roberts