Tagged: gas
In which our intrepid hero levels up.
I keep on thinking there might be a quick way to Greville Smyth from here, but I think the only shortcut is up that muddy slope to the staircase on the left. And it's quite steep and very slippery-looking, so I've never tried it.
Quick Coffee
19 Nov 2020
A sunny day, and though I should have probably headed for less well-travelled territory I just headed over to the Marina to grab a flat white from Imagine That's horsebox café.
I'm not entirely sure why this little pole seems to need so many red lights, or what the tiny circular thing that looks like a specialist antenna is at the top (there's clearly a few other antennas, and I also have no idea what they're for.) Just part of the varied harbour infrastructure I walk past every day and would probably be fascinated to hear about if I knew who to ask...
Clifton Village Mini Wander
20 Nov 2020
Just a quick wander up the hill to get a flat white from Twelve. I really enjoyed the spooky mannequin (?) in the window.
Bedmo and Ashton Court
21 Nov 2020
A rather more wide-ranging weekend wander with Sarah and Vik, taking in some mock Tudor bits of Bedmo (I should note that I've subsequently been corrected to "Bemmie", but I'm an outsider and have been calling it "Bedmo" for short for decades...), a chunk of Ashton, a path up Rownham Hill called Dead Badger's Bottom(!), The Ashton Court estate, a bit of the UWE campus at Bower Ashton, and some of the Festival Way path.
I have no idea how anyone managed to smack this street furniture so hard, or what direction they came from to do it. It's a pretty straight 30mph road right there, and this is only one side of the dual carriageway. Never seen so much as a near-miss there.
That a BMW came a tad too fast out of Clifton Vale, lost it completely and trashed the main control box for the traffic lights. It took them quite some time to fix it. I'd imagine his insurance company is getting quite the bill...
Underpass
25 Nov 2020
A quick lunchtime jaunt for coffee. I've often wondered about the dots on the wall of the underpass. Apparently they're not intelligible Braille. Maybe it's Marain :D
A swinging footbridge, designed by Brunel, but not quite as famous, or these days as functional, as its counterpart in the distance.
Coincidentally, I deployed the word "corral" in an email the other day. I double-checked my spelling first, though.
Apparently this isn't Braille. Could be Marain, I suppose. It's also on some of the pillars, from what I remember.
And Back Down the Hill from the Flu Jab
21 Nov 2020
This is my return from getting my annual flu jab at Christ Church, as explained in more detail in my wander up the hill.
encaustic | ɛnˈkɔːstɪk |
adjective
(in painting and ceramics) decorated by burning in colours as an inlay, especially using coloured clays or pigments mixed with hot wax.
For some reason I'm reminded of the time I was browsing the sadly-now-gone Avon Books (which used to occupy 4a Waterloo Street, next to Kitchen Artillery, which occupies 4b) and found that all the books on subjects like this were collected into a section labelled "Mumbo Jumbo"
Up for the flu jab
21 Nov 2020
A trip up the hill to get my winter flu jab. I'm not sure I really needed it this year, what with avoiding Covid—I haven't had so much as a sniffle in more than a year—but seeing as they offered... Instead of the doctor's surgery on Pembroke Road, they'd taken over Christ Church, presumably to give more room and ventilation for the necessary social distancing at the moment. As usual, it was their typically efficient operation, and I was in and out in about three minutes.
On the way there and back I snapped as much as I could, but I wanted to be home in time for the first online Times Crossword Championship. As it turned out, I needn't have bothered, as the technology at the Times couldn't keep up with the demand from competitors, and their system just collapsed under the weight of page-views. They tried again the day after, and it collapsed just as badly. Maybe next year...
This wander is split into two parts, as I turned my tech off to go into Christ Church for my jab. The walk home can be found over here.
Avoiding the Accounts
26 Nov 2020
I took the day off my day job to do my accounts—or at least do enough bookkeeping to send them to my accountant. I hate doing the books. I woke up late, tired and with a headache and decided to bunk off for a walk around Cliftonwood, Clifton Village and Clifton instead, taking in a couple of good coffees along the way. Thanks, Foliage Café, and Twelve for the flat whites.
In Bristol, as in many other large cities, "1B" normally means "someone managed to cram a tiny extra flat into somewhere improbably and now the postman needs help finding it."
A month after I took this picture, a 40-foot sinkhole opened up inside the square's garden, along the edge of this side of the square, apparently into vaulted chambers below. Makes you wonder exactly what was built below Canynge Square and why! Maybe it's where the Merchant Venturers sacrificed the poor to Cthulu...
Elizabeth Blackwell, born in Bristol in 1821, was the the first female physician on the medical register of the General Medical Council, and the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.
The Elizabeth Blackwell Medal is awarded annually to a woman who has made significant contribution to the promotion of women in medicine
More Cliftonwood
05 Dec 2020
Back to Cliftonwood for a wander that included some of the belle views of Bellevue Crescent and other bits of the easternmost part. Highlights included watching someone bump-starting an elderly Nissan Micra in the narrow confines of Bellevue Crescent.
Part of the wall has collapsed. It seems like the Council don't want to do anything about it until they can figure out the exact ownership, though local residents are urging them to fix it and worry about recovering money from anyone who might be responsible for some of the repair costs later.
I'm not sure why this door in particular caught my eye. Maybe it was the lion, or the fact that it's number 42. However, talking to my friend Gary (whose house is also featured in this walk!) about One Mile Matt, I found out a fascinating tidbit: this house has a built-in pipe organ!
“Charismatic and eccentric” is certainly one way to describe a home for sale in Bristol that comes with an inbuilt pipe organ taking up much of one floor.
The four-bedroom house has been owned by the same family for three generations and is now for sale for £500,000.
Bristol24/7 understands that the house most recently belonged to a former church organist who who died last year just before her 99th birthday.
Her husband built her the organ at their home on Cliftonwood Crescent in Cliftonwood so that she could practise at home.
