One of the benefits of where I live is that I get to see both the River Ness from the rear of my house, and the end of Ness Islands. The Highland Council have recently taken to upgrade Ness Islands and make it a more attractive place to visit – for both tourists and residents.

I was, however, quite surprised to see a little truck parked near the end of Ness Islands earlier this week:

There is a cobblestoned area at the end, which I thought was going to be repaired (although the last time I visited Ness Islands everything seemed fine there). Still, I was pleased that the council was taking care of the place, and it’s always nice to see workers pottering about keeping things tidy.

But today, on top of the cobblestones is this:

A column with a twist in the middle, resting on the ground. Apparently, this is one of a series of commissions from local artists to create seating, bridge balustrades, a new landscaped meeting area and three gateway entrance features. I guess this is in the latter category – and when one uses the term ‘feature’ in this context, it means ‘not a bug’. It seems that we’re now getting the Windows Vista version of Ness Islands.

More about the art on the islands can be found here.