Cabot Circus

A journey to Bristol's new shopping centre - alone, on foot and without a native guide.




A couple of weeks ago I set off on a mission to visit Bristol's newest shopping centre - Cabot Circus.

To get there, I followed the course of the river Frome - one of Bristol's oldest rivers.
In fact, there's only two - the Frome and the Avon and it's at their confluence that someone built a castle and that's why Bristol is where it is.

Frome means "fast running" in Anglo-Saxon and at one time the river used to provide power to at least five mills along its course. At Baptist Mills (now Junction 3 of the M32) Abraham Darby set up a brass mill using the power of the river. He eventually moved to Ironbridge, Staffs and was a key figure in starting the industrial revolution.

While our ancestors saw the river as a source of free energy, we see it as a nuisance and have covered it in concrete with a motorway. Along its margins is an urban wasteland. Not very attractive, but a good place for putting up posters like those shown.




This advertises bands such as Skiplicker and Filthy Habits ( a NunPunk band?). There used to be a band in Bristol called Maggotslayer, which I think is the best band name I've heard.


Witty graffiti. In case you don't know, these are the two robots out of Star Wars.




The river Frome makes a brief appearance. Giant Hogweed grows here. Boys use the stems as blowpipes and then die when the sap makes their throats swell up. Kingfishers have also been seen here, as have crack dealers.


At last! The inspiring sight of Cabot Circus itself.




I went through the car park. Lots of pretty lights.

They still seem to be working on it.

Good views from the roof. This is St Judes, a very poor area five minutes
walk from a shop selling T shirts for £150.



The parking bays are pretty.



A Bounty bar costs 70p!!!




Here's the shopping centre itself. I wanted to take some interesting photos, but
the whole place is just too dull.

They say that Cabot Circus isn't a shopping centre but a "retail destination". They've created shopping streets in the area around it, but they're not streets in the sense that you and I understand the term. You can't ride a bike or walk a dog in them; you certainly can't busk or preach or beg or sell the Big Issue. They've (reluctantly?) left the Quaker Meeting house there.
A couple of weeks ago the Quakers organised a meeting between the Cabot Circus bosses and the local residents to discuss the impact of the centre on people living nearby. One of the Quakers stood outside the hall giving out leaflets advertising the event. Or at least he did until the security guards confiscated them.
So there you are, a little totalitarian state right in the heart of Bristol.

One little tip I learnt there: if you get lost, put your ear to the ground and listen carefully for a few minutes - security will soon come and escort you out of the complex.

What's Posterity Ever Done For Me?

Sorry, I just can't think of anything to write.

I might do something about the new shopping centre soon - that will be worth avoiding.

I was just wondering ... what will happen to all the words and images in years to come? Will they still be here after we're dead and gone? There's already lots of out of date stuff on the internet; nothing seems to get deleted.

Will people be reading these words in hundreds of years time?

If you are reading this in hundreds of years time ... well, thank you. I'm very honoured, but isn't there anything else to do in the year 3000, or whenever?

I'd have thought you'd be living on Mars or flying about in your personal rockets or something. Or maybe you're living up trees in a flooded world.

Anyway, do drop in if you discover how to travel back in time - though come to think of it, you'd probably be here by now if you could. So, I guess we're destined never to meet.

But let me extend greetings across the centuries to my fellow human beings. Or giant slugs, or whatever you've evolved into.

Er, will this do?

Billy Big Gob

Sorry I haven't posted anything on here for a while.
To make up for it, here's a picture of a sweet wrapper I found in the street.

"Gob" is British slang for "mouth", in case you didn't know.

Some derivatives of it are - "gobby", meaning vocal and opinionated;

"gobbing", meaning spitting - a popular pastime in ye olde Punk Rock era;

"gobstopper", a large sweet that fills the mouth - probably what Billy Big Gobs are.


So there you are, you've learnt something by visiting this site.

Do call again.

Wall Paintings in Montpelier

Wall Paintings in Montpelier

Moss on a Wall

They said it couldn't be done, but I've proved them all wrong!

I've managed to take some photos of moss on a wall near my house.

To be honest, it wasn't really that difficult.

Aye,Aye. You've got to hand it to them.

From painting on the side of Easton Community Centre.

Draining Board

I thought you might like to look at a picture of my draining board.




Here it is. The spanner is to turn on the tap that''s broken.



Some shelves - coincidentally, these were in the kitchen too.
The objects hanging on the front of the shelves are called 'cups'.

Boring

Have you noticed how boring this blog has been getting over the last few years?

Well, here's something different - I've branched out.

I've got two new blogs, one about music and the other about comedy.

In fact the links are in the side bar, there ------------->>>>>>

But for the benefit of people unable to turn their heads ten degrees to the right, I will also put them here ...

BLUE SICK MOGG
This has got music clips on. I was going to call it Music Blog, but I guessed that name would already be taken, so I swopped the first syllables. Clever, eh?

BLUE MOGG COMEDY
Various comedy clips I've been digging up from YouTube.

Have a look. I command thee.

Front Doors

In Bristol people are allowed to paint their front doors whatever colour they like, within reason.
Many play safe and opt for brown or unpainted PVC white. However, some more adventurous types paint their doors with every colour of the rainbow.

If you've never heard of colours or you don't know what a rainbow is, then read on and learn ...


Green Doors























Red Doors










two examples of rare "double reds"




Blue Doors












Some rare "double blues"







Purple Doors







Yellow Doors

I photographed most of these in what we doorspotters call
an AWLOYD - Area With Lots Of Yellow Doors.



















... and finally a very rare pink door.
Unfortunately it's lacking in several essential door
features such as a letterbox, knocker and, most importantly,
a lock to open and close the door.




So there you are! That's a look at doors in Bristol.

What are doors like where you live?

Perhaps you don't have doors. Perhaps you don't have houses.

Maybe you live in trees or holes in the ground.

Do write and tell.



PS. Please don't get the impression that I'm some weirdo with nothing better to do than spend ages photographing people's doors and then uploading them on the internet.
I am definitely not like that at all.