Having made it through two flights and a family wedding, which were, respectively, tolerable and delightful, this past week was equally pleasant. The highlight was a trip to Bristol, ostensibly to see Grayson Perry’s Art Club exhibition at the Bristol museum and art gallery, but also to allow the Textiliste and I a short trip down memory lane.
That’ s the thing with nostalgia: it often isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. However this was splendid, the weather utterly unfamiliar – we were there from 1975 to 1978 and it pretty much seemed to rain constantly – and the opportunities to take in old haunts with a new spin very pleasant.
I’ll post separately about Grayson. Rather let’s explore Bristol.
It’s a special place for me and the Textiliste as that’s where we met, aged 19 and 18 all of 46 years ago. It took me two terms to ask her out. I nearly despaired when, hoping to take her to the cinema I asked if she liked Mel Brooks only to receive the reply, ‘No, is he in the second year?’ And I pretty nearly gagged when I discovered the mysterious paperweight in her room was not some interesting geological specimen but her large toenail set in resin – she’d lost it in some accident. I should have known that someone who was already making a patchwork quilt out of hexagons at 18 yet loved clubbing would be her own woman.
Bristol has had its dodgy past, linked to slavery. Some of its grand buildings were no doubt part funded off the back of that egregious trade. But I’m no puller down of statues and prefer to contextualise the past. After all the main driver of the wealth that build so much of Bristol was tobacco which has harmed more people than most businesses. This for instance is the Wills Memorial Building where she and I met over our law degrees. HO and WD Wills were tobacco magnates. Even knowing the background I’m not going to despise a glorious building or it’s place in my own history.
Bristol is full of architectural and engineering magnificence. We spent some time in awe of the continuing glory of Brunel’s suspension bridge and had a delightful Morning in the Clifton Observatory, taking in the cave underneath, home to the Bristol Giants, Goram and Ghyston. This gives yet more views of the bridge though the best were from the observatory level.
This also houses one of the three still working Camera Obscura’s in the UK. As a precursor to photography its creation in the first half of the nineteenth century helped with the early developments. The owner of this beauty used Fox Talbot’s new techniques to capture images and sell the photographic paper he invented. The images here are a trifle grainy but I hope they give some idea of what must have seemed magical to the Georgians and Victorians who first saw them.
We even had time to wander around Clifton Village where we both lived back then, though in separate flats. Even though the gentrification of this area has rendered it very dissimilar to our memories, there are still some triggers.
Like Reg the Veg the green grocers and the Arcade where I had my first ever American style burger at Carey’s (before Maccy Ds appeared) as well as mint choc chip ice cream with butterscotch sauce. Luxury! These days it was grilled turbot… I’m not sure the 19 year old me would have recognised this version, and certainly he would have wondered at my culinary choices.
At the end, while the Textiliste went in search of a haberdashery, I potted around to find a Banksy – Bristol is his home town and the museum has one piece – and some other street art.
Meanwhile, Dog was trying to get round the pet sitter….
TanGental 
Dog is not amused that he was left behind!
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He’d just been caught creeping upstairs onto our bed hence the guilty grin..
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My sister had a dog who grinned. People who didn’t know him thought he was growling, but he made no noise and his tail was wagging. He always grinned when he saw me and came to be petted.
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It’s only a thing for Dog when he lies back…
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Dogs haven’t yet learned how to hide that guilty look as cats have done!
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No that’s true. He gives himself away all the time.
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As Bristol is to you, Sheffield is to us. (You weren’t thinking of Blazing Saddles for a first date, were you?)
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Ha! That would have been brave. No, Silent Movie.
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For some reason I thought Bristol was a seaside village! Looks like a delightful place to go to school.
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It was. Slightly tattier and greyer back then but still a fab place.
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Lovely photos… Lovely break ….love that photo of dog 💜💜
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It is cool isn’t it?
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Yes it looks really brill.
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that smile…
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I know. To die for…
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A good tour; wonderful memories; and congratulations to both of you for staying the course
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The benefit of being indolent….
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My brother-in-law and his wife lived in Bristol for a while. We went there often. But that was decades ago. We’ve not been there recently, and from your pictures, some things have changed and some remain the same.
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The look on Dog’s face is priceless! Thanks for the tour of Bristol. Is the guy you are sitting next to in the photo a distant relative? There is something similar in your smiles. And what is the piece of artwork at the beginning? Looks like it could be an alien!
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The art work is based on a south American lucky figure that also incorporates Grayson’s Teddy from his youth called Alan Measles which features in his work…
The figure on the bench is essentially Wallace of Wallace and Gromit fame dressed like Isambard Kingdom Brunel the famous engineer. Many have noticed the likeness between me and the plasticine icon…
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I do see that!
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Oh Dog. You are such a scene stealer.
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He’s such a camera-magnet…
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You will not be surprised to hear that, yesterday, as you were writing this blog I was putting the finishing touches to a Camera Obscura, the largest one I have yet constructed.
They always provoke wonder in the viewer, even a visiting plumber who was curious as to the thing I was building said ‘Wow’, as soon as he put his head under the cloth to view the camellia at the end of the garden.
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I’m still stunned by both the genius of those who originally envisioned these wonders, those who built them and you for building your own. Keep up the good wok, sergeant-major!!
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PS am I right in thinking the observatory was shut during our years in Bristol or was I too drunk to have remembered to visit?
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Yes, I think it was closed. I remember visiting it when I returned to Bristol to visit friends in about 1980, but I don’t remember going to see it when we were at uni.
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Phew! Not down to ignorance then..
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