England – Page 37 – Where is Phil now?

Bristol – one cool city

Day 159/160/161, Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday 11/12/13 June 2012, Bristol

I spent three full days staying with Mel in Bristol, Mel worked on the Tuesday and left for a festival late afternoon on Wednesday, but we had a day and a half together which was great. The weather was average for most of my time there, a touch of sun on Wednesday morning mean we got out to have a big breakie in a cafe in the sun, but most of the time it was cloudy and drizzly.

Everyone in Mels flat works so it was another big lie in for me as Mel is not exactly known for early starts. Mel’s Spanish flat mate Jess made us a great Spanish omelette for breakfast, and then Mel and I went walkies. I wanted to get a couple of clothing items and a hydration pack in case I decided to get in a longish run while Mal and Tom are out on the trail.

I must say, even though the weather was less than average – it was raining, that Bristol is still a nice city, even in the more run down sections like St Pauls where Mel lives. There is a good mix of new and old buildings and really old buildings, parts of the cathedral have been there since the 1100s ! But what I really liked about Bristol was the street art, the council have allowed artists to paint a number of walls and some of the work is massive and a lot of it is beautiful – I took loads of pictures over a couple of days. There is also some quite good graffiti and slogans as well, especially around the Stokes Croft area where the riots were last year – outside Mels old flat, in the BBC footage of the riots you can see Mel and her friends sitting on the roof of their house. I have posted seperately about the stree art, but here ar my two favourites. This one is massive, two-three stories high !

Mel showed me all around the main parts of Bristol including the markets at St Nicholas’s I was tempted to buy a hoodie there, expensive and quite cool, but want something basic while I am in Cornwall anyway. There was an awesome record shop in the market – all it sold was punk and metal! And the coming gigs, awesome – and I am not going to be there for any of them. Next time I come to Bristol I will tie it in with a good show.

We visited St Mary RedCliffe church, a sign inside the door said daily services had been held here for over 800 years. (I so LOVE this old stuff)

An effigy of Sir Robert Berkely from the early 1200’s.

For lunch on Monday we went to the Hatchet Inn, open since 1606 – wowsers. I had half a pint of Doom Bar ale – not bad…

Bristol Alms houses, founded in 1483.

We wandered back to Mels and then took a marathon walk up to the Sportsman Bar so I could watch England play France in the football, we got there just after kick off so there was no seating free. At half time we decided to go another of Mels old flats that was quite close by and watch the second half there with some of friends. We grabbed four assorted polish beers – the cheapest in Bristol and watched footie, ate curry and talked crap for a few hours. I met a load more of Mels friends, most of the DJ’s in the Jungle Syndicate – they are all into dance music here and Bristol has a big scene. It was a good night, a nice bunch of people, Mel has always made really good friends and they welcomed me into the group which was most cool.

Mel worked Tuesday so I got up late and just went on more walkabouts in Bristol, I took a lot more street art photos and walked up to the museum for lunch. I got a bit lost a couple of times and then remembered Google maps on my phone !!

I had a walk around Bristol Cathedral, this chapel was built in 1220!

The grave of Abbot William Hunt from 1441.

Richard was making one his famous curries for dinner, so there was a very full flat at dinner time, another fun time with Mel and her friends. The large shared dinner seems to be the in thing here, which is great for an active social life, but I would not cope with all those late nights!

Wednesday Mel and Richard were off to work at a festival a few hours away so were leaving town mid afternoon. I was staying one more night which was cool. Mel and I were up and out the door for 9.00 and went for a walk in some glorious – though sporadic sun shine, we stopped up the Gloucester Rd for an expensive big breakie in the sun then shopped a bit before heading back to hers she could pack.

It was sad to see Mel and Richard leave, but I am so pleased to have been able to see her a few days and have some fun. Once they had gone I walked up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge about an hours walk away. The bridge is over the River Avon and was most impressive !

This old uni building was for sale, I was quite tempted : ) If only, it is next to the bridge and would have a monster view over Bristol city.

I was very fortunate to get invited to one of Mel’s friends place for dinner with some other people, which was incredibly nice of them and again I had a good time, and couple of drinks : ) a couple of her friends worked in Chamonix in the French alps, (where in my fantasy world I will get a job doing something completely unrelated to computers.) they have given some contacts there, and one of their friends has said I can possibly stay at their place as well and I have his number – how cool is that !!! very cool I think.

My baby girl and I

Yay yay yay – I get to see Mel : )

Day 158, Sunday 10 June 2012, St Johns Wood – Bristol

Off to see Meliesha – Triple yay’s, really excited to see her, meet Richard and hang out in Bristol. A photo in the next post – its all about context people!

I slept on the couch at Kate and Dave’s place, awesome couch, had a good sleep and a massive lie in as no one moved until well after nine when Trudi came out of her room and made some coffee. Dave meandered in a bit later on and made an unexpected but much appreciated breakfast – albeit just before I left at eleven !

I caught a couple of tubes to Victoria station, I was a wee bit concerned that on a sunny Sunday morning I would be trying to manoeuvre a pack, a wheelie bag and my very over loaded camera bag onto crowded tubes, but it was all fairly quiet. Victoria train station was still in a festive mood.

After a bit of vacant wandering around I found the coach station out the back of the train station. Meliesha had booked me on Megabus and there was one in the station, as I was so early I was not concerned there was no driver on the bus, or sign to say it was going to Bristol. I hung around until after the departure time and as there was still no driver I rang Megabus and found out I was in the wrong place – by about two hundred metres…. Once I found the real Victoria Coach Station, I found I had missed my bus, bugger !

Now I was in the right spot I realised how completely stupid I was waiting where I was, there are loads and loads of buses – and so few at the other place. I found myself another bus in an hours time and rang Mel to let her know…

The journey was Ok, it took a heck of long time to get out of London and from there we were pretty much on the motorway all the way to Bristol, so there was not huge amount to see. There were small touches of little villages and church spires in the distance and I was getting quite excited about what I was going to be able to see while I am in Cornwall later in the week.

I arrived in Bristol twenty minutes late at 4:30 and Meliesha and her partner Richard were there to meet me. So cool to see her again, I really miss my babies and being able to spend a few days in her town and meet all the friends, especially Richard, she has made was very exciting. We had a twenty minute walk from the bus station back to Mel’s place in St Pauls via Stokes Croft. St Pauls is one of the less “middle class” suburbs of Bristol city so it was an interesting walk, lots of street art to look at as we wandered though the constant drizzle to their shared house. The landlord and I are not entirely sure of how many people live in Mel’s house. I am not 100% convinced that at any one point anyone knows how many people are actually under the roof – a constantly flowing succession of people moved in and out of the main room. Mel and Richard (M n R) have given up their room and have moved in with one of their friends to allow me a room in their house. Very cool – and hugely appreciated.

After dumping my pile of stuff we went walkies though Stokes Croft looking for a roast dinner, we tried a bunch of bars but seemed to be too late for most of the locals and ended up back almost where we started at the Canteen. We didn’t get the roast but had a great meal and a couple good pints (Gem and Seven). On the way back to the flat we picked up a couple of drinks and I got meet some of Mels crew. it was a good night in the flat.

So good to see Mel and meet Richard and the Bristol crew 🙂

A quiet day

Day 157, Saturday 9 June 2012, Brentwood – St Johns Wood.

Yes – a great sleep was had ! back to normal, which is so good. I also mooched in bed a bit longer today as i was trying to catch up on a bit of interneting and reading. After breakfast I walked back up to Brentwood town and picked up my repaired sandals, looking at the weather forecast I think i will be needing them in Cornwall over the next couple of weeks, not because it is sunny, because it is wet and i have no gumboots !

Once back at home I packed up for the few days with Meliesha (my daughter) in Bristol and for the following two weeks as I support the guys on the Coast Path Run around Cornwall. For the first time in five months I am travelling with two bags and a camera bag – as well as humping what seems to be a hundred kilos of camera gear around with me. (And I left my e-reader behind !).

My cousin Paul, his partner Helene and their two year old twins, Charlie and Andrea came round for lunch, it was great to see them again and meet the twins. They had just got back from France so everyone was a little tired. After lunch Paul dropped me and my hundred weight of gear off at the station and I went back into London to St Johns Wood where Kate and David kindly let me stay the night on their couch so I could have an easy ride down to Bristol tomorrow.

Pizza for dinner and football on the TV !