The Dower House

The Dower House is a striking old house, very conspicuous from the M32 motorway. Some bits of it date from the 16th century, but most of it was built about 1760.



The House was rented to the Reverend Burden in 1908 for £150 a year for 21 years. Rev. Burden had just returned from missionary work in the backwoods of Canada, but he and his wife were keen on social work and used the house to set up a colony for "backward children". He must also have had a hand in the Burden Neurological Institute which was nearby for a long time. This whole area is big on hospitals, psychiatric institutes, asylums, etc.





Duchess Pond, below, is a recently made pond below the Dower House.
Here is a heron and some ducks. This area is about half an hour's walk from Easton, through Eastville Park and along the Frome valley.




A fallen log reflecting the trees.

Broadmead Six O'Clock

Night time views of the new development.



















The Big Wheel next to St Mary-le-Port church on
Castle Green.
































St Mary-le-Port lost its roof in the wartime
bombings. You can see inside, lit up by the
Wheel.

Tin Openers Ancient and Modern

Have you ever wondered how the tin opener has evolved over the years?

No?

Um...well...


Anyway, below is a typical World War Two tin opener of the sort used by noted chefs such as Mrs Beeton and Fanny Craddock. It is of robust design and could be used as a bayonet in the event of invasion by hostile forces. Nowadays they are banned under the Geneva Convention.





This is more of a Swinging Sixties tin opener. Compact, functional, but a bit rusty.




Finally we come to the modern tin opener. A stylish design classic, popular with the gadget-concious man about town and the perfect accessory for an I-Pod.




What does the future hold for tin openers?

I don't really know, I'm only writing this because I can't think of anything else to write about.


Tin Opener Fact of the Week: Did you know that the tin opener wasn't invented until fifty years after the tin can? They were a bit slow off the mark there.

Find out more interesting facts about tin openers here

Weighty Matters

This is the famous weighing machine on Temple Meads station, Bristol. Built in 1862 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the machine is still going strong and attracting visitors from around the world.

The machine is very simple to use and shows weight to an accuracy of plus or minus 25%.

A word of warning if you're making a special journey to weigh yourself - not everybody is allowed to use the machine. Potential weighees should be neither excessively over or underweight, not unusually tall or short, smartly dressed with attractive features and should be able to speak fluent English with no trace of a regional accent.