Purdown Tower

East Bristol is overlooked by this giant hill figure.



It's guarded by robots on poles.


You can sometimes sneak past by tying a sheep's
fleece to your back.





The sign on the gate says it's owned by BT.

I fooled the anti-spam robots

I've been given the all clear by the anti-spam robots, but this is what I really look like...



Fooled you!!!

A walk

A nice old wall and door, in the shadow of the motorway at Stapleton.



A bit of Bristol from afar.






Does anybody know who this bird is? It was attacking crows twice its size. Perhaps it had just cause, but what species is it?

PS I can't publish this yet because I've been identified as a "spam blog"! I have to wait until they look at it in person and decide that I'm not a spam blog. They will also delete blogs two weeks after they put this prohibition on if they don't hear from anyone. So, if you've got any dormant blogs you should check them.

It's not very good for people who go away for a few weeks or can't blog for another reason - say a computer problem which may take more than two weeks to fix. They come back to look at their blog and there it is - gone.

It's also not very good for anyone whose name is Spam Bloggs.

Writing a Blog

This picture is by Henry Holiday and is taken from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. It reminded me of what I imagine writing a blog must be like.

Snowdrops

Doctor's Orders

My doctor thinks that blogging is the cause of my brain whistling and has told me to lay off for a while.
If you're stuck for idle amusement in the meantime, could I recommend these comedy shows from BBC Radio Four?

Click on each link and then click on Listen to The Latest Edition.

Each episode is only available for a week after its first airing and I think all these shows are coming to the end of their runs, so be quick.



Laura Solon New comedian with a range of voices and wacky characters.
I like the irascible old German lady in a care home.


Down The Line Spoof phone-in programme.
Sometimes very funny, but what is point?
Laughing at different accents,what is point?


Recorded for Training Purposes Comedy featuring the automatic voices that we hear all the time these days.

Warning: Comedy programmes can be unfunny as well as funny.

Hang on to your Pen Tops

Hang on to your pen tops - that's my motto. That's what I always say. You never know when you might need them.

I find that shouting at my pen tops helps relieve all my pen top anger.

Two Cans Short of a Pyramid

Great News! I've got a new hobby and it's called Collecting Tin Cans.
I've got thirteen so far and only need two more to complete a human pyramid.

When finished it will be the world's first human pyramid made entirely of tin cans.
If it's sucessful, then the potential labour-saving costs to the circus and acrobatic industry could be enormous.

You'll notice that the labels have all been removed. I've very particular about avoiding product placement.

I think it's important that people can trust this site to give frank and honest opinions, unsullied by commercial sponsorship deals.

I've accepted no payments from Heinz,for example, who do a nice can of vegetable soup for 65p (on offer at the moment at two for £1:18p)

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.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

As you probably know, 2007 has been officially designated as The Year of the Sprout and to celebrate I intend to attempt to break the world record for the most Brussel sprouts eaten during the course of a year.

The record is currently held by Elmer Hogwash of Des Moines, Iowa, USA who ate over 280,000 sprouts between January 2002 and the following September when he suddenly gave up for reasons that still remain unclear.


Well, I'm going to try to reach the magic number of 500,000 sprouts eaten. That's half a million sprouts eaten over the course of a year. This works out at about 77 sprouts an hour, assuming I'm eating for 20 hours a day.

I'll be helped in my quest by the knowledge that every sprout I eat is raising money for a good cause. I'm asking people to sponsor me so that I can raise money for the Greater Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Little Children.

So that's where you can help. Even if you only sponsor a penny a sprout that will still be 50,000 pounds raised just by your contribution alone.

So don't be stingy. Anyone offering ten pence or more per sprout will be entitled to have a sprout named after them.

And now I must go to get in some practice before the serious eating starts tomorrow.

A sprout-related link:


Sprout record

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas, Chaps*

Christmas isn't what it was though, is it?

I remember when I was a child, on Christmas morning our parents would give us all a haircut and then make Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. . .

I heard a strange story concerning Christmas from Australia. Don't know if it's true or not.

Some years ago, a family emigrated from the UK to Australia.
During their first Christmas there, their 11 year old daughter was suddenly struck dumb. No amount of doctors could find out what was wrong with her, despite all sorts of tests.

So she had to endure many years of not being able to speak a word. Then, when she was in her mid-twenties, she had a sudden coughing fit and coughed up an object and her speech immediately came back. It turned out that the object was a sixpence that had been put in the Christmas pud all those years ago.**

Funny thing was, when she started talking again she had a broad Aussie accent despite having an English accent when she first lost her voice.

Still, it's a funny old world, innit eh? Eh?





*Using the word 'chaps' in its non-gender specific meaning of course.

**It used to be the custom to put coins in Christmas puddings. Nowadays people use credit cards.

The North Pole

Here are some photos of Santa's North Pole Grotto, located in the Galleries shopping centre.
It is such a realistic depiction of the North Pole that it's fooled several leading polar explorers.

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE, the famous explorer, recently turned up with half a team of huskies (he'd had to eat the others), only to find he was in the wrong place.

"When I arrived there something seemed wrong," said the posh git, "there were far more people there than I expected. Then it dawned on me that I was in a shopping mall. I felt a right Wally"

The Polar Exploration Society has urged the council to improve signage to prevent a repeat of this tragedy.

Bristol T-shirts

A clothing stall in St. Nick's market is doing a good line in Bristol-related
T shirts.
Above - Severn Beach.
In reality Severn Beach is a sad place, full of ghosts. It used to be a seaside resort but fell out of favour, probably because it isn't near the sea.

It's on the Severn Estuary and the only attraction now is the nearby second Severn Crossing.



Nempnett Thrubwell. A village south of Bristol, near Chew Magna




If you're looking to make it in the movies, make sure it's Hollywood you go to and not Withywood, which is a bleak suburb on the extremities of Bristol and, as far as I know, has no film industry to speak of.



Some of the "Bristol" expressions seem a bit suspect ("Gert Lush"? I've never heard anyone say that). However, I can vouch for "Cheers, Droive" when leaving a bus. Don't they say that everywhere though?

Stay safe this Christmas

A popular Christmas decoration this year is a little model of Santa climbing in the window.

However, police have warned against them. They say that these decorative Santas could provide cover for murderous, red-cloaked dwarves (like that one in the film Don't Look Now) to carry out their nefarious activities.

So the message is: Stay safe this Christmas. Don't put up decorations. Keep all doors and windows locked. Don't go out. Don't let anybody in your house, even if you know them (Often people you know are the most dangerous).
Wear a crash helmet and protective goggles at all times. Avoid food and drink unless it's really essential.

Concorde

Today a lorry from Concorde Couriers stopped outside. They weren't delivering Concorde, only furniture. Just as well really, a small terraced street like this is no place for a supersonic aircraft.
I think they've got the nose wrong on the picture. Surely the most prominent feature of Concorde was its pointing down nose?

I wonder if anybody else has had a lorry with an inaccurately drawn plane on the side stop outside their house recently?

Trees in Eastville Park

Jellyfish Alert!

If you were thinking of taking a dip in the sea today, then think again.
Last night, in the wee small hours, I heard a disturbing radio programme about jellyfish.

It turns out they're increasing by the bucketload, especially in areas that have been overfished.

As well as being able to kill people with their stings, they have recently brought a US warship to its knees (I know warships don't have knees, but you know what I mean), by blocking the water intake.

They've also caused similar problems to nuclear power stations in the Phillipines and Japan.

I've forgotten what else they've done, but the main gist is that jellyfish are taking over the world and we're all going to die or become slaves to jellyfish and have to live under jellyfish laws.

Some bits and bobs about jellyfish:

They haven't got a brain. Is a brain what separates plants from animals? Do all animals, however tiny, have a brain? They must be very small. Can you imagine an aphid's brain? It's no wonder you never hear of brain surgery being performed on aphids. You'd have to have very tiny surgical instruments and a keen-eyed surgeon.

There's lots of old computers around these days. Surely someone could wire one up to a jellyfish as a rudimentary thinking device? I would have a go, but I find that when I tamper with the fundamentals of nature, I often end up unleashing deadly forces that I can't control.

The Box jellyfish is the most venomous creature known to man (they didn't say what's the most venomous creature known to women).

Some jellyfish have twenty-four eyes. But what's the use of two dozen eyes without a brain to connect them to?

The Portuguese Man O'War is known as the Bluebottle in Australia. Seems a bit of a comedown.
It isn't really a jellyfish at all, but a colony of four different sorts of polyps.

Don't ask me what a polyp is. Although I do know that young jellyfish are called polyps.

That's about it for jellyfish.