Cabot’s ship The Mathew in the Underfall Yard for maintenance. 22 January 2013.
The Underfall Yard, in Bristol Harbour, was constructed in the early 19th century with revisions by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 1830s. Following restoration in the 1990s, this Victorian work yard is now a Scheduled Monument that includes several listed buildings. The harbour and its equipment are still actively maintained, and host a cooperative of boat builders.
We’ve just walked from one end of Weston-Super-Mare (the southern, golf club end) to the other (Birnbeck Pier) and back. Millions of pounds have been spent on Weston in recent years, upgrading the sea defences, Grand Pier and other facilities. The trouble is, one can’t help comparing it with Deauville or, better, Trouville, or Le Touquet, or La Rochelle or, well, dozens of European seaside towns. Admittedly, any town looks sad out of season, but it’s not helped by the lowest-common-denominator shops. Identical, down-market cafes selling low-grade, unimaginative, fast food, “Pound” shops, national chains, etc. In France, the place would be packed out with restaurants selling fabulous, fresh, locally caught sea food, with good value wine, beers. Waiters in crisp white aprons. And they’d be full of all age groups. Something to be proud of. The best we get here is a choice of battered cod or battered plaice. And chips.
Well, is was a Monday.
This was taken along Hadrian’s Wall in the Autumn of 2011. More photos HERE. I’ve used the picture as a test for uploading pictures. I think the file is much larger than it needs to be and will, presumably, count towards my maximum allowed disk space. There is no need to make the file bigger than the number of dots it displays on screen, so I guess I need to reduce it and upload again. Just feeling my way with this blog at the moment…
Saw Life of Pi the other day. I read the book a while ago and thought I’d find the film rather tedious, all that time in the boat, plus I’m not that bothered about 3D.
I was wrong. It was fantastic. The animals looked very realistic. The story was bizarre, as expected, but in a good way. And the 3D! I don’t know why we should find it so amazing, given that those of us lucky enough to have two eyes see in 3D all the time, but the effect was, I thought, quite moving. Sally felt a bit sick though, with the boat movement and choking stench of popcorn, and had to close her eyes for about twenty minutes to avoid throwing up! I was desperate for the toilet for the last half hour, which detracted somewhat, but that’s old age, I suppose.
Martin's Mag. 