A Day In Bristol.

It was a good day and a not-so-good day yesterday. First the not-so-good. When the consultant looked at my tooth he said it was too far gone for a root filling and I had to have the tooth pulled out. He wouldn't say if the tooth might have been saved if I had had the treatment a year ago so I will always wonder. I've have toothache in that area for some years but each time the x-rays have shown nothing and the dentist has said the pain was due to my persistent sinus infection. So probably the tooth was decaying away for all that time. The consultant was very kind and as I only have a problem with drills the extraction was fine. He had to warn me of all the possible problems such as having to drill out the jaw bone, or there being a hole between the root bed and the sinus but luckily none of these occured and it was all very straight forward.
I went up by train and the first stage to Exeter was so beautiful. The early morning sun was burning the mist off the water meadows through which the shallow river meandered. (The photos below were taken in the fading evening light on the way home). It was such a tranquil rural scene.

As always I kept my eyes open for otters, this is Tarka country, but all I saw were ducks, a heron flying along and small groups of sheep & lambs, cattle and horses and some proud geese with one gosling. That particular house also had a Gloucester Old Spot in the next field.

It is a beautiful valley with not many buildings even at the train stations, until you get nearer to Exeter. I've been mastering my mp4 player and I was able to listen to music, while refraining from singing along as I do at home! on the way which helped drown out the clatter of the very rickety train which as well as a having peculiar side-to-side corkscrewing motion also shuddered a lot at slow speeds. My reserved seat in the train to Bristol was in the quiet carriage so I was able to listen to an audio book, once I'd worked out how to stop the mp4 playing random selections. Unfortunately on the return journey I couldn't turn the thing on so I resorted to sudoku. Quiet carriages are a very good idea with not even the sound of loud conversations which can be so annoying.


My last trip to to Bristol had begun badly with the most awful 20 min walk by a 6 lane main road surrounded by anonymous corporate buildings. All the things I hate most about cities, noise, dirt & ugliness. I decided to be more enterprising and found a bus to take me to the centre. It was only my 3rd trip to Bristol but I had a picture of where things were in my head and managed to navigate myself with no problems.



I made my way to the brand new Cabot Centre. Here the streets have been pedestrianised and covered with interesting glass canopies. A lot of the shops are high end clothing stores with marble floors and beautiful decor and are aimed at the younger market with lots of cash. It was nice being able to have a leisurely wander but most weren't my type of clothes at all.



There was also a very good selection of food places. Normally my frugal nature keeps me away from cafes etc and I might buy a sandwich or a treat to take away. I decided that as I was going to the Dental Hospital I would splash out first and have something special. It was so hard to choose, should I have a wholesome jacket potato or sit down on a squashy leather sofa in the Chocolate Hotel with a bowl of drinking chocolate ? Should I choose Mexican or Spanish,visit the creperie or try a Starbucks ? In the end fate decided, I found Patisserie Valerie - when I was a small child a VERY big treat would be to have a pastry from Patisserie Valerie in West Kensington.

So after some deliberation I settled down with a latte and piece of cheese cake even lighter than the one I used to make for parties. Expensive but worth it for once.



One of the shops I really enjoyed was an Asian run shop selling thousands of pieces of cheap jewellery, bindis etc. It was like being let loose in a sweet shop. With the Bollywood music playing it took me back to the days of living in East London where a walk down Green Street would transport you to a different continent with the people, languages, spices, music, food, jewellery and clothing shops of Asia all around.



As I tried to find the bus back to the station I came across signs for a ferry to the station. That sounded like fun so I made my way down to the industrial canals and waited in the sunshine for the ferry. I spent my time sitting crossed legged on a bench eating soft chocolates from Thornton's looking like an ageing free spirit.

Here's the guy driving the ferry, he does this all year round and they also go right down to the Clifton Bridge. If I ever go back to Bristol I'll have to give that a go. The landing stage where I waited for the ferry is just behind him.

It was less than 10 mins to the station but was cheaper than the bus and there were lots of photo opportunities as we went past house boats moored by new and refurbished corporate buildings. I was thrilled to have found this exciting way to travel.

The old industrial area of Bristol has been undergoing a lot of refurbishment with elegant walkways which I presume are well used by the office walkers. This was the landing stage at the station, all limestone blocks and slate very well designed. I can just imagine throngs of commuters jumping on the ferry to get to work.

More photos of Bristol's architecture later.