| Week Ending July 29th |
| Last Saturday night there was a Rownham Mead resident's potluck party. Diane from upstairs had organized the party with the help of several other neighbors. Diane has been living here since the beginning and is one of the cheerleaders of our little community. The party was a huge success. The party was set up in one of the courtyards, near but not on the water. Everybody brought some sort of a potluck dish so the food available was in generous supply and of surprising variety. I would guess that at least 25-35 couples with lots of interests, stories and lies attended. Everybody brought their choice of beverage. It was very interesting and we will try to pursue a further relationship with some of the people we met. Nancy volunteered to work on the "clean-up committee" on Sunday morning. When she arrived (first - surprise) she found that the people from the night before had done a fantastic job of picking up and the only thing left to do was the structural stuff - like tables, BBQ's and shade covers. All signs of a party were removed within an hour or so. Before the party on Saturday, Jerry left Nancy at home and explored a bus option that we had seen on Hotwells Road but hadn't pursued. There is a bus company called "Eurotaxi" that runs a regular schedule but weren't sure where it went. I found out. It turns out that its route could be really quite handy. The bus circles the downtown north to the north of us. Bristol buses are mainly set up so that you have to go into the city center, change buses and then go out to the desired neighborhood. In order to climb the hill behind us to Clifton Village - take two different buses. The Eurotaxi buses avoid the city center. The bus leaves here and climbs the hill to the "Cifton triangle" - one of the three shopping/ grocery districts that we use on a regular basis. The bus then travels along the ridge above us to the Clifton Village - the second of the shopping/grocery districts that we use regularly and then wanders off into various neighborhoods and smaller shopping centers that might be periodically useful. It gives us the option of grocery shopping without having to climb hills. The bad news is that Wednesday's paper announced, that even with a city subsidy, this particular bus company was going broke. The city council says that they will come up with a different plan but there is no hint what that might be. Sunday was a quiet day, we wandered down to the middle of town near the Industrial Museum to visit a gallery we had spotted. Picked a couple of nice prints depicting Bristol scenes. Bought some really tasty ice cream cones (I had rhubarb and custard) and did some shopping at a "Marks and Spenser." M&S is really big in England. Store sells groceries and underware. Tuesday we went to Plymouth. That adventure has already been posted on our website. Thursday, we went to the zoo. Knowing that the Eurotaxi bus was going to be discontinued and since it goes directly from our doorstep to the Zoo, we figured this was as good a time as any. The zoo was a little expensive, but once inside, in was quite delightful. The Bristol Zoo is a small collection, but they have some quality exhibits. Like every other zoo in the world the funding tends to come in lumps. So, the displays are a mixture of really old style holding cages and some of the most modern and innovative available. |
| Without any fear of dispute the penguin display was our favorite. The flock was large (over 50) enough to see a variety of personalities, the enclosure looked like a natural setting and we got there at feeding time. Before feeding the enclosure was alive with milling, moving birds, but once they had a hardy meal they all settled down for a little nap. One of the nicer features of the Bristol display was that it also had an underwater viewing area. A glass tunnel allowed visitors to walk under the penguin pool and look up - really neat! The penguin display shared a facility with the "fur seals" and had most of the same features, but we were out of the feeding cycle so the seals were pretty quiet - just like the seals we see in the wild. We had a great time with a whole array of displays and we enjoyed each and every one. If we had to pick a second favorite, it would be the kea bird. The kea is a bird from New Zealand, of the parrot family, about the size of a chicken, with colorful feathers and is nicknamed the "the wrecking machine." These birds are so high strung and curious that they are constantly always picking, poking and pulling. Destroying everything within reach. The kea have been known to pull the rubber mouldings off cars and eat them. |
| All in all, the zoo was a good outing and we enjoyed it a lot. The photos above shoe a Lemur and an African Tortoise. One of the features of our flat in the summertime is that on nice evenings we get balloons. Hot air balloons take off from Ashton Court and fly directly over our complex - beautiful! There will be a balloon festival in August and we'll have lots of photos then. |
| On Friday we went over to the Floating Harbor Locks to watch the latest crop of boats/ships come in for the Bristol Harbor Festival. The tide was pretty close to max and it was surprising how dirty the river water was compared to the floating harbor. The lock was doing a land-office business and was stuffed before they closed the gates. The locks are always fun to watch and once the boats have cleared the locks they still have to clear the two bridges. They have two bridges for a very good reason. As you come upstream from the locks you come to the first bridge. The first bridge, the Plimsoll Bridge - major traffic bridge, has to be opened with the upper lock gate to get the boats out. Once clear of the first bridge the boats wait in the Cumberland Basin. The whole time the first bridge is open the cars are rerouted over the second bridge. Once all the boats are in the basin, the first bridge is closed and the second bridge, the Junction Lock Bridge, opens and traffic resumes on the first bridge and the boats proceed into the floating harbor. If all this is a little confusing there is a third bridge under the first bridge, the Burnel Bridge, which is left open all the time - unused. This weekend is the "Bristol Harbor Festival". The town goes all out to celebrate its maritime heritage. Ships come from as far as Ireland to join in and the downtown part of the harbor fills with boats. Around the harbor, the city has set up a whole series of entertainment venues, carnival rides, street performers, and vending booths. The foot traffic gets really crowded but never gridlocks - detours are common. |
| We met up with Ruth at Bristol Centre and started by exploring the "French Market." The French Market was set up in Queen Square and featured food vendors from France. From Queen Square we wandered around the Stair Fountain at the Centre (the stairs were dry and used as seating for a small musical venue) to the Millennum Square for the largest of the musical venues. It was crowded, noisy, somewhat like a twenty-ring circus, but it was fun. We didn't stop until the rains moved in. I'm told that it always rains at these kinds of even |
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| This music stage uses the Floating Harbor as a backdrop. The buildings on the right are "Watershed" - Nancy's knitting group meet in the Pub upstairs. |
| The "French Market" is set up in the Queen Square. I have no idea why they bring in french vendors for this event. |
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