A few days away

Just returned from three days in Bristol - a thoroughly enjoyable and much needed (after our pretty grim year, so far) Christmas break. We took advantage of the Thistle winter-warmer offer of half price accommodation, staying at The Grand, on Broad Street, in the heart of the older and more interesting part of the city. Having travelled there by train, we soon settled into our comfortable room, and it wasn't long before we began to explore the surroundings. Just around the corner was the excellent St Nicholas Market (in the old Corn Exchange building), and named as one of the ten best independent markets in the country. At the entrance to the building, on Corn Street, are the nails where deals were settled, and put to use for a display of squashes on Wednesday, when it was the Farmers' Market.

At the rear of the market is a whole lane of ethnic food stalls, with indoor seating and a few tables and chairs outside most of them. We settled down inside an Italian one (it was a bit cold outside at the time), watching life go by, and taking in all the different aromas - African, Moroccan, Indian, Spanish etc, not forgetting good old English pies. The first evening we continued with the Italian theme for our evening meal in a local restaurant.

Each morning we enjoyed a full English breakfast at The Commercial Rooms (Weatherspoons), a former gentlemen's club and meeting place, built in 1811, with an amazing, brightly painted, domed room, and once the haunt of such eminent people as Brunel.
The hearty (and cheap) breakfast set us up for our days of exploring the harbour area, visiting the SS Great Britain, the M Shed (a free museum), the City Museum and Art Gallery, and the Cathedral where pupils of the Cathedral School were rehearsing for their Christmas concert. As we wandered around the magnificent building, we listened to them singing
everything, from an Adele song, Bohemian Rhapsody, carols, and a Scottish love song. We just wished we could have been around to hear the actual concert, as their singing was wonderful. I knew there just had to be at least one Green Man in the Cathedral!

Everything was a great success - the hotel, the interesting city of Bristol (well worth a return visit, but perhaps when it is a bit warmer) and our train journeys .......that is, until, after a return journey to Birmingham, we tried to board a train from New Street to Four Oaks! All trains to our part of the world had been cancelled due to some problem or other, and chaos ruled on Platform 8. Eventually we were told to go to 7, but on reaching that platform we were all turned back. Fortunately we met up with a friend who offered to share a taxi home with us.

I spent some time in the garden yesterday, cutting back, tidying up and trying to keep busy so that I didn't get too cold. There's still plenty to do, but as there is quite a lot of green foliage I am leaving it for a bit. Nature has become rather confused. Things are flowering and shooting when they shouldn't be. At the bottom of the garden, the snowdrops are an inch or so up already. Before I went away I visited the plot, and thanked John for burning my rubbish, before the end of the month deadline. After he had left his plot I continued to cut down the remaining raspberry canes, so now I have another pile to burn - when we are allowed to do so. It will be roast chicken, this evening, so if I feel inclined later (I don't at the moment) I might go down to the plot for some parsnips to go with it.