106) Santa's Grotto - Aberavn Shopping Centre

Yes, the year moves on , and the decorations are already out in the Aberavon Shopping Centre. To be fair, Santa's Grotto, although ready, isn't actually open yet. When I first moved to Port Talbot there would always be a parade on a Saturday at the end of November, when Santa would arrive at the station, then make his way along station road to his grotto on a float dressed up to be like Thomas the Tank Engine. That has happened for quite a few years sadly.

105) Telephone Exchange - Eagle Street

I mean, I presume that this building, next to the Royal Mail sorting office, is still a BT telephone exchange. In terms of architecture, well, it's 50s'/60s isn't it. And as such, far from inspiring. In some ways it is similar to the old Police Station, which has been knocked down since I made this sketch - 39) Old Police Station
To the right, you can just see the back wall and the roof of the Plaza Cinema on Talbot Road - as of November 2017 still nothing has been done with it.

104) New Bus Station - Station Road

Yes, it's not just the railway station which has been built anew. The second part of an overall plan to create a transport hub in the centre of town here is the building of a new bus station to replace the old one - pictured here - Old Bus Station . 

As you can see, it seems to me to be nearly complete. There are posters in the billboards by each stop - mind you, they have been there for a while now. I will be honest, I don't know exactly when it's going to open. Work began on 3rd October last year, and was only scheduled for about 12 months, so it can't be long now, hopefully. 

103) Garage Behind Eagle Street

I haven't got a huge amount that I can say about this one. I was returning from town after having made a sketch of the nearly completed new bus station, when I noticed this large old garage in the alley way just behind Eagle Street. I don't suppose its exactly a classic in the architecture stakes, but I like it as a relic of bygone days - that door/hatch above the main door suggests a different, pre-automobile purpose, and I like that. 

102) Autumn Funfair Aberavon Beach

Yes, it's been a while, hasn't it? Been back at work, and away, that's my excuse. Still, half term this week, and I made this sketch last Saturday, early in the morning before anything started happening with the fair. This was all part of the annual Bonfire Night/Halloween festivities. I recall that the council did once shift it to Margam Park when there was work going on at the beach. Utter disaster is probably the most accurate description of that evening.

I'm not going out of my way to make sketches of Port Talbot in the way that I did to complete the first 100, but on the same hand I'm not going to stop now just because I have completed the 100. So I've also made a couple of other sketches today.