On the left in this sketch is the Honeyfield Fountain. It's pretty old and is along the Coastal Walkway and a railway. The original idea was that was for people coming into New Plymouth by train. It would light the way at night and was a good idea if you were thirsty. (Soft drinks companies make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen anymore.) The train station would have been behind the the large round tree somewhere. The station and the passenger rail service here are long gone. Now it's just a fountain but it is at a corner where two roads feed cyclists and pedestrians on to the popular sidewalk by the sea. I guess in a way it's still doing it's job of refreshing the travellers.
Last year a car missed the corner and drove right through it. I actually thought that was it since it was a direct hit. Just the base of it was left where it used to be. After a year with some specialist fix-it guys, it's back and looks maybe better than ever.
(Of a sketching side-note, every time I draw a phoenix palm tree, I tell myself, 'this is the last time you draw one of these!' But... I'm always happy with the result, so I don't know. We'll see. It's like a chain-link fence that way.)
