Razed to the ground

The forecast snow did not make an appearance at all during the night or this morning - in fact it has been a pleasant and even sunny day, albeit with an icy wind.

I needed to walk into town for some messages at lunchtime so decided that I would make a start in documenting the High Street in Crieff as part of the One Street Project. There are a number of interesting buildings in the street so I hope it will of interest.

The High Street runs East/West through the town and in this shot I am looking westwards. The building site you see on the right hand side is what remains of a fashionable dress shop above which was a two storey flat. i think it might have been a listed building - but am not entirely sure. Anyway one night last year it was devastated by a fierce fire which rendered the building so unsafe it had to be completely knocked down. Thankfully no-one was hurt although the occupants of the flat escaped with just their night clothes and a laptop... as you do! It has taken a long time for the exact cause of the fire to be identified and until then restoration work had to be put on hold. The issue must now be resolved as last week i saw some diggers working there so thought it would be a good idea to document the progress and start my "one street" contributions.

The building across the road from the building site is the Pretoria Bar which is over 110 years old. It has a long-standing relationship with the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment of Scotland who were involved in the peace celebrations on Church Square, Pretoria, South Africa in 1902, hence its name. The clock tower which you can see further down the road on the left is the Town Hall and I will blip and describe this another day. Somehow I seem to have been there on a very quiet part of the day as no-one is around! They must have seen me coming with camera in hand.

Thank you all for your very kind comments on my watercolour of Yosemite - it made a bad day so much better .