Porty People and Places

This is Arthur. I met him on the promenade taking photos of the demolition of the Fun Park with his chemical Olympus camera. He does have what he calls a Digie but never uses it as he is not really a computer person. His interest in the demolition was due to his former employment at The Buchan Pottery on this site. He served his apprenticeship here and then worked beside the bottle kilns for twenty years until the pottery relocated to Crieff. He recalls his days at the pottery with great affection. He told me that the shifts were sociable with a half hour break in the morning and three quarters of an hour for lunch. Smoking was permitted throughout the workplace in those days and his gaffer was a chain smoker who had his Woodbine on a special wooden block by his tools for ease of access between each piece of craftsmanship. Arthur still has some of his own Buchan pieces in his house and has been keeping his hand in on the salvaged potter's wheel that he hopes will be restored to a heritage component of this building development. I asked if he could still throw a pot and his reply was a very dismissive "of course!" He also told me that the day before one of the two bottle kilns suddenly collapsed, a few years ago, local kids had been in the derelict site looking for pigeons. The kilns, the only ones left in Scotland are now being restored as part of the redevelopment. Arthur also told me that there was still going to be a small amusement arcade in this complex but I have yet to see the plans and am not sure about whether this will actually make the final plan?

As you can see, the sun was shining and the tide was a very long way out this morning adding half a mile to my daily beach run!