Robertson Road

From the top of Robertson Road.
It looks steeper than it is


A few of the houses have stone heads above the doors.












At the bottom of the road is Kebele, an anarchist collective.
They've been there about ten years now


Graffiti on Kebele's wall. I like the cartoon below.
It shows a cat drawing a picture of a cat kicking a dog,
blissfully unaware of the heavy-looking dogs approaching.


They're not great fans of the U.S.



Some window decorations


The view from Robertson Road towards the cemetery.
You could almost be in the countryside.

Sorry.
I got knocked down by a lorry and I've been in a coma for some time.

I'm feeling a lot better now though; I was able to crouch under the sink for several hours today.

So here's an update:
Haircut. I have had one haircut.
Hedgehogs. One hedgehog.
Graffiti. A work team cleaned all the graffiti in the alley. It's gone.
Ramadan has ended. Monday for Kurdish people and Tuesday for Pakistan. I saw the new moon tonight in a clear sky.
Golf. I've still never played golf and don't intend to.
Ben Nevis. Never been there. I hear it's the highest mountain in Britain.
Corkscrews. I've got two. But one is falling apart.
The cat killed a frog.
Here's a link to a slightly amusing video.

Mivart Art

Here are photos from the Mivart Street Exhibition.

Above: Shelly's Flag made mostly of found material.

Below: Flag detail


Someone made a bike out of a carpet.



The view from one of the windows - photoshopped a bit

Brandon Hill

I think this building is the Pro-Cathedral; by Pro-Cathedral Lane. It's gone to rack and ruin.

There used to be a nice cafe there, run by the Steiner people with the Steiner school next door.

It's all smashed up and overgrown by ivy now - looks dramatic though.





This is a grand building on the side of Brandon Hill. I think it is a school, the QEH.

What does that stand for - Queen Elizabeth House?

There's the QEH Theatre next door.







Brandon Hill is a great open area near the city centre and at the back of Park Street. It's a steep hill topped by the Cabot Tower, a Victorian memorial commemorating John Cabot's 1497 voyage to America from Bristol.

The tower wasn't open. It's a hard climb and a bit scary, so I didn't mind too much.

Ben Tillett

Ben Tillett Time Sign

Over the last decade, a group called Living Easton has been erecting Time Signs to commemorate people who have lived or worked in the area. These include Dr.W.G Grace, the famous Victorian cricketer, who had a practice on Stapleton Road, Ernest Bevan, Labour Party stalwart and this chap, Ben Tillett. Here is what it says on his plaque:

" Opposite this site, which was once John Street, is the birthplace of BenTillett, a tireless and determined defender of Workers' Rights, who led and fought for the "Docker's Tanner" during the great Dockers
strike of 1889.

As General Secretary of the then, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers Union, he played a leading role during the early 20's in the subsequent formation of the Transport and General Workers Union.

Ben went on to be a Labour Member of Parliament; an Alderman of London County Council and President of the Trades Union Council in 1929."

I attended the unveiling of this plaque (in the year 2000, I think) by Bill Morris, the then head of the TGWU. It was absolutely pouring with rain, but there was a good crowd.

The plaque is sited behind the Queen's Head pub, Easton Road, at the junction of Bannerman Road and Comb Factory Lane.

For more info on Ben Tillett, check out the Living Easton Website

PS. I've just been looking at the above website and it turns out that Ben Tillett's Dad worked as a "cart polisher" and in a comb factory - presumably the one in Comb Factory Lane.

St Mark's Church

St Mark's church and details of the gargoyles.

Galaxies

Galaxies are amazing things, high above our heads.

This is a French one.


In Reykjavik,Iceland they turned off all the streets lights for half an hour last week, so people could look at the stars.

Mivart Street

Mivart Street is the site of an old Victorian factory that has been put to many uses over the years. At one time they made bi-planes there.

Now it houses artists' workshops and every year they hold an exhibition. This year it promises to be bigger and better than ever. They've brought in a proper curator and increased the number of music and performance events.

To get there you can use the 585/586 buses (Bellevue road stop) or it's a short walk from Stapleton Road (buses 4,24, 48,49 - Job Centre stop, first one after railway bridge), or use the Severn Beach line (Stapleton Road stop).

For more details, check out Mivart Artists. The event takes place on the weekend of 14-15 October from 11am till 5pm each day.

Here are some photos that I took of last year's event.


View from the building. You can see St.Mark's Church tower in the background. The top photo shows part of the building, and where I'm standing is about the same size, so it's a fairly large area.


I think these are plaster casts of people's belly buttons. If you want to try this yourself, always get people's permission before you plaster cast parts of their body.



Space City. A replica of a Sixties school project.



A video installation.

Urgent Product Recall

Rajani's Dolphin and Planets tea tray





Pleased be advised that, due to the reclassification of Pluto, the above tea tray no longer portrays an accurate picture of the solar system and should not be used for the purposes of planetary navigation.

Old trays can be exchanged for updated versions with more dolphins.

The Alley

THE ALLEY

This being a true and accurate account of the passage between Greenbank Road and Co-operation Road, Bristol BS5, UK on or about the twelfth of September in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Six.

We start our journey at the Co-operation Road end of the alleyway. A shopping trolley has been provided in case you have a drunken friend, too inebriated to walk, who needs pushing along.



Some fencing


The Cure. I think The Cure were an Eighties band. Did they do "Killing an Arab"? Sounds a bit racist now. I didn't know there were fans of The Cure living in this area, but I do now.





Lots of broken down old garages. They couldn't be for cars, as the alley is too small. If they were built like that, it would be for cart access. I think the houses were built around 1900.



This plant has a flower like one kind of licorice allsort. There are dark blotches on the leaves that were supposed to be the blood of Christ as it fell from the cross onto this plant. I don't know if this is true or not.



The imprint of a trainer on a garage door. Trying to kick it in, I guess.



More dilapidated garage doors.


A fig tree. There are quite a few figs trees growing semi-wild in Bristol. I have seen the figs black and ripe on some trees, but I've never eaten them.


Graffiti. This one says "Royal Bitch". It could have been written by a female member of the British Royal Family; though I suspect not.



Reflecting Bristol's multi-cultural heritage.


Back of the United Reformed Church. The inscription on the stone is nearly worn away.




More back of the URC Church. It boasts a history of 350 years, though not all at this location. It was originally on what is now Castle Park in the centre of Bristol, but they moved to here either 100 or 150 years ago. It was a canny move, as Castle Park got bombed flat during World War 2.
Now they've got a small congregation. They did have plans to convert the building so it could be used as a theatre/community space as well as still being a place of worship. That doesn't seem to have got off the ground. There is a hall attached that is sometimes used for music events. There have been Performers' Nights there recently, but it is a bit lacking in atmosphere for things like that.