England finally decided to end the 3.5 months strict lockdown due to coronavirus and I jumped at the idea of travel. I even went to eat fish and chips in a nice, local restaurant so that I could refresh my table manners 😊
My friend at texted a horrible weather forecast of wind and rain weather. Dressed for the worst of weathers in my easily dryable trousers and wind cheater (both Chinese made and surprisingly durable), I walked with a light backpack to Hayes and Harlington station on my way to Weston Super Mare with a stop at Bristol by train.
The ticket checker thought I was going for a free ride and there I produced a full ticket from my oyster card holder catching him by surprise 😊
A train passenger did not as the prepaid oyster card is not applicable and she was caught in the train. In my view, it does not make practical sense to get down between stations and purchase a ticket because prepaid card did not work. There should be ticket machines inside the trains.
where I checked my favourite pasty shop only to find the prices hiked. Probably, a more attractive proposition would have been to lower the prices to attract customers. From Reading to Bristol Temple Meads (Named because of Knights Temple and marshy land), I sat by the window and admired the idle horses/ ponies/sheep/cows in the lush green meadows. I sipped hot earl gray tea as I watched vast patches of bright yellow fields of rapeseed dotted with pretty houses straight from Monopoly pass by my window.
It took some time to get my bearings in a new place. I followed the wind to the river, Avon but the river meandered quite a bit and a jogger kindly suggested a better path. I crossed over Bristol Bridge and walking to Castle Park (old part of Bristol). I got a semblance of St Peters church ruins (bombed during the blitz). Ah! The main shopping mall; window shopping after 6 months! What a feeling! The euphoria continued as I marched to St Nicholas Saturday market. Beautiful silver jewellery with semi precious stones from India (an earring I bought for 500 INR cost 3,700 INR here). Handicrafts, little glass items, cloth bags
(16 GBP vs 1 GBP at Poundland), paintings, wooden furniture, mounted fossils among others. Meanwhile, my friend called to say he to Bristol and we met at the stairs of lovely Harbourside after he made me walk the length to find him.
The imposing Bristol Cathedral was shut. There was a big statue of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. It was his birth anniversary (22nd May), a pioneer of the Bengal Renaissance. There was a private walking tour which unfortunately I was not allowed to join but the guide kindly suggested the city museum for natural history and for Bristol life. We walked up the steep road up to the city museum and my friends 9 year old daughter, did a brave job!
The museum was well stocked with artefacts of ancient civilisations, mummies, stuffed birds, snakes, sparkling minerals, exquisite paintings, ammonite fossils, life - like sculptures and others. My favourite was the giant deer skeleton more like the size of an Indian elephant excavated in Ireland. Oh dear Deer!
The handsome Mr Wright was trying to fly his machine from the roof of the building. There was the statues of little mermaid and a beautiful sleeping woman- one bored and other sleepy. Observing the inscriptions and stone panels from Egypt, and Assyria (present Iraq), I was reminded again of the insignificance of time in the vast universe.
In front of the Bristol cathedral, there were peaceful protests by the Palestine supporters to free Gaza from Israeli occupation.
the protests. I wondered if the little one did understand the issues. Would she think differently when she grows up?
Meanwhile, my friends daughter and I enjoyed a softie ice cream in the millennium square, where other children were splashing water in the water parks, having the time of their lives in the warm sunshine.
