it's broken isn't it?

All logic I mean.

I live in a place called Swansea.  Geographically it's absolutely perfect; right on the coast and a half-hour to reach the mountains at the southern end of the Brecon Beacons.  Right on our doorstep are some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  Not my claim, but one regularly seen in a multitude of surveys.

Then we have the city centre.  

lovely

It's going the same way as most provincial centres as shops and retail outlets fail, being replaced by charity shops and hairdressers.

The council is trying its best to develop it though, with a new arena and at last a means to reach the bay from the city without risking life and limb to cross a busy dual carriageway.

But then there's the parcel of land right at its heart - Castle Gardens.

When I was growing up this was a leafy green square, with trees and shrubs and pathways and benches.  It was lovely, if a little unkempt at times.

Then the council ripped it all up and replaced it with a concrete monstrosity with a fountain at one end and a giant TV screen at the other.  The fountain, although quite nice was regularly targeted by vandals who filled it with washing soap meaning it quickly turned into an Ibizan foam party.

ugly

Anyway, the council now has new plans for this important location.  Guess what?  They're going to turn it into leafy green square, with trees and shrubs and pathways and benches.  Sound familiar?

Swansea council has long been mocked for its waste of public funds.  It transformed the main arterial route through the city into a disastrous one-way ring road which was never, ever actually finished so the centre always looked like a building site.  Then when it actually got near to completion and people finally got used to it, they dug it all up again, reverting to the same two-way road as before, only with two fewer traffic lanes and wider pavements.

They bought controversial "bendy-buses" despite the warnings of the dangers.  Then after too many people were killed by them and they realised that they couldn't actually run to the location they wanted because they couldn't turn around they were abandoned - again at what cost?

Now, if I performed my role in the council in such a manner I'd have been dismissed for sheer incompetence.  Seemingly the town planners were immune to any such action.

expensive

But you have to remember that this is the council that having the jewel that was the world's (yes the world's) first passenger railway thought it would be a grand idea to rip it all up and replace it with - nothing.  And chose possibly one of the most valuable parcels of prime coastal real estate to develop a white elephant of a civic administrative centre instead of touting it to leisure and hotel developers.  Then perhaps you won't be so surprised.

Finally though, the city does seem to be coming together.  Much of this is down to student development (the city is home to around 50,000 students in three institutions much of the year) and is fast becoming the place to invest.

That it has taken so long, cost so much in wasted money and needlessly lost lives is a scandal. 

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Something that isn't broken is the latest addition to my lens line-up.  You can find out just what it is and what I think of it by clicking on the video below.  What witchcraft is this???