Briz skyline and the floating harbour from the train
For once our timing was just right. We arrived at the Industrial Museum (the starting point of the Bristol Harbour Railway) just as the train was getting ready to leave on its last 'long' (Museum to Create Centre) trip of the day (as opposed to its 'short' trip, two minutes along the harbourside to the SS Great Britain). The open carriages were full, but the guard let us ride in the brake van, to Kai's delight. We chuffed along the New Cut (photo on the right), stopped at the Create Centre, then came back again.
Kai loved it, and I must admit it was fun, if short. The railway is run by volunteers, apparently, and Kai now wants to volunteer to help with the running when he's old enough (the guard had a young lad training with him today). Well, that might change, of course, but if by the time he hits 16 he's still interested we'll check it out.
The weather was fairly kind to us, too, though the wind was a little cold along the New Cut. It was mostly sunny (we managed to be inside for the small showers, only knew about them from the damp pavements), if not very warm at the moment (and the temperature is supposed to get down to 6° tonight, somewhat unseasonable...)
Off the train, then it was back over the swingbridge and Pero's Bridge and into Millennium Square, which at the moment is hosting
WEEEMan...
This sculpture is amazing (that's Kai on the right at the base). It's "made from the amount of waste electrical and electronic products that an average UK citizen... will throw away in [their] lifetime,
if [they] carry on disposing of products at the current rate", and it's a very sombre tribute to an appallingly wasteful culture. Ken says it looks sinister, and I suppose it does, yet there's a hauntingly
sorrowful feel about it too - especially the face...
... maybe you have to see it in person...
Through Millennium Square with its water features and fountains and into explore@...
Hm. The place is now looking distinctly
tired, and several of the exhibits are closed for 'refurbishment' (read, they were battered so hard they had to be taken down): of the handful of new exhibits a couple don't work properly, which is very frustrating (and more so when plagued by truly obnoxious little brats like the one who thought it might be fun to annoy me. Never a wise thing to do). Still, we spent several hours there, and Kai bought himself a critter. Not sure how to describe it: it's supposedly a collector's item, all skinny wire legs and a wind-up motor operated by a Saturn shaped plug on a pull-out string... It skitters frantically around in circles when working. Very odd...
So, home, Ken cooked dinner, and we watched
Crocodile Dundee - first time Kai had seen it. Still a firm favourite of mine, so rare to find a film with such feel-good charm and gently bawdy humour...
Transposition part 11 now onto page 3: back to it...
The train heading off to the SS Gt Britain
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 11:00 pm
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