From the Ruins

Enough is enough!! I had been sick for a week. Dare I say it .... even a woman would have been ill with this flu. I won't burden you with the catalogue of symptoms except to mention the constant sense of "fatigue" and "listlessness" that really laid me low. By this morning I was ready to risk some reversals and make some sort of effort to get out of the house .... which I finally did. The sniffles and headaches were refreshed but the lift to my spirits was worth it.

I stayed out of the cold for the most part but we DID visit the Hydro Majestic site. In this journal I had several times pronounced this listed grand Edwardian establishment a relic of history. Recent spectacular failures to revive this place had convinced me that it would never live again - let alone return to anything like its former glory. I freely admit it. I was wrong! Many millions have now been spent restoring and extending this place and creating a business plan that looks as if it should work. Once this place opens again, it promises to be "blip heaven" and a centre for local exhibitions, events and entertainments.

There's a lot more to be said and shown, believe you me but pictured above are exterior renovations to the "casino" building. Casino in this usage means meeting hall or pavilion. It was never officially used for gambling. It is an ornate late Victorian italianate wedding-cake structure which served as the grand ballroom of the original establishment. It was shipped from Chicago in the early 1900s and assembled by 1903.

The casino was also the venue of the first performance of Dame Nellie Melba's famously long farewell tour in 1928. Dame Clara Butt also performed in the venue. It will re-open as a great elaborate period entrance to the complex. Should be worth seeing.