Symbolic Forest

Last month we popped back up north, for a family wedding; and fitted in a side trip to Whitby.

Keyword noise: acrobatics, alcohol, Banksy, beach, boats, breakwater, drinking, drunkenness, graffiti, handstand, harbour, lifeboat, lighthouse, Mary Ann Hepworth, North Yorkshire, photography, RNLI, sea, shoreline, Venn diagram, Whitby, Yorkshire.

More around Bristol.

Keyword noise: Ashton Swing Bridge, boats, bridges, Bristol, chains, ferry, Floating Harbour, footbridge, Gas Ferry Road, harbour, Harbourside, Hotwells, No Swimming, photography, sign, Spike Island, swing bridge, warning.

This week, it’s mostly been model trains. Not my own – I don’t have any – but at an exhibition.

Keyword noise: Bishop's Castle Railway, finescale, Lydham Heath, model, model railway, photography, railway, S gauge.

It took me until yesterday to realise that there was another bug with the new theme, that nobody had so far noticed. Which isn’t too surprising: it didn’t affect any functionality, and it was only a problem on some days of the week. It’s fixed now, at least.

This week, there aren’t many photos; or, at least, not many cheerful ones. It’s all Bristol in dull January weather. Particularly: photos of the Grosvenor Hotel, the disused hotel, alongside a disused railway embankment, on Temple Gate. It’s due to be knocked down; so here are some photos.

Well, it was due to be knocked down, to make way for a road scheme and a bus stop, before the City Council’s cabinet resigned the other week. What will happen to it now, I don’t know.

Keyword noise: Bristol, derelict, Grosvenor Hotel, hotel, photography, Temple Meads.

Keyword noise: Avon, bridges, Bristol, cats, Coronation Road, Cumberland Road, maze, New Cut, photography, Redcliffe, Redcliffe Bridge, river, River Avon, Southville, Spike Island, swing bridge, Totterdown, Troy Town, Vauxhall Bridge, Victoria Park, Windmill Hill, Windsor Terrace.

A month or so ago, we took a trip to Clevedon, Somerset. I wrote about it at the time, although, I realise now, didn’t explicitly say which town we’d been to. Here, though, are some of the photographs.

And, as that’s not very many, here’s some of Bristol just after Christmas, too:

Keyword noise: abandoned, Bristol, Christmas decorations, Church Road, Clevedon, Clevedon Pier, coast, derelict, frozen, hotel, ice, lake, moon, night, North Somerset, park, park bench, photography, pier, resort, Royal Pier Hotel, sea, seaside, Somerset, St George.

Back in December, for K’s birthday, we took a day out to Bath.

Keyword noise: Bath, Bath & North East Somerset, Brunel, chapel, Great Western Railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, photography, railway, Somerset, Sydney Gardens, telegraph pole, Walcot Chapel.

Another day with no morning bus services, and the roads gridlocked. I walked K to work, taking the camera with me, and watched a lorry get stuck on the hilly part of Bedminster Road. Trying to get towards Ashton, it stopped in a queue of traffic, then realised it couldn’t get started again without risking sliding back down the hill. It sat there, impotent, with its hazard lights flashing, as everyone else tried to drive round either side of it.

And then, I nearly broke a leg trying to take photos of the local station. Slipping at the top of the stairs, I grabbed the handrail frantically as my feet disappeared from underneath me. Best to stick to taking photos from the bridge, I thought.

At least the train that came was – to a train geek – quite an interesting one. 2D04, from Taunton to Bristol, one of the services on the Taunton-Bristol-Cardiff route that runs with retro 1970s carriages restored to their original condition, although the engines are rather newer.

And finally: I’m sure it says in the Bible that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Before we went to bed last night, we looked out of the window to see it snowing again, the street covered in a fresh pristine carpet. We couldn’t resist getting dressed again, and going out for another walk with the camera.

Keyword noise: Bedminster, Bristol, carriages, Class 67, falling, falling snow, First Great Western, ice, night, Parson St station, photography, railway, snow, weather, whiteout, winter.

We didn’t think that this part of the country got much snowfall. Indeed, compared to elsewhere, it didn’t; and it was late, when it started. But by yesterday lunchtime it was coming down thickly, although not so thickly that I was dissuaded from wrapping up in hat and gloves and going down the street with the camera, hastily pulling it out from under my coat to take a shot and shoving it back away before too much snow melted on it. This morning, still, there was the telltale glow from behind the curtains.

Keyword noise: Bristol, February, photography, snow, weather, winter.

More buildings around Bristol.

Keyword noise: Avon Gorge, balcony, Bristol, ceiling, cliff railway, Clifton, Clifton Rocks Railway, Clifton Suspension Bridge, column, Corinthian, door, Freeland Place, funicular, Hotwells, market, photography, railway, River Avon, St Nicks Market, toilet.