Great city, Bristol. Very green, and full of ships. Well, boats. Little boats tied up by the river-quay thingy. And not so green in the Occupy Bristol stamping ground, but grassed-up enough elsewhere. I headed up on Wednesday night after my crim lecture and stayed with Maddie and poor, unsuspecting, generous Jonny, who was kind enough to offer me a spot on his floor.
Wednesday night was fun. Glasses were ruthlessly smashed – and it wasn’t even my fault this time, Lucy and Mel. Jonny and Maddie met me at the bus station, and we headed out directly for The Apple, a pub-on-a-boat selling nothing but cider! My kind of pub. Sadly, Jonny may never be able to return, but it was a great time while it lasted.
Thursday morning dawned bright and not-too-early, so we swept through the flock of uni students and headed into town for breakfast. Jonny then left for work – together with my heavy bags, hurrah! – and Maddie and I started off on a day’s wandering through Bristol.
It was like Skins! Especially the bits that I recognised from the show. Sweet as. Admittedly, I only recognised about two places, but I made sure to get a Cassie-type photo of me on a park bench with Bristol in the background, because that’s just how cool I am. Shin, I missed your ring tone. Would have been most appropriate accompaniment.
Despite its slate-grey backdrop, Bristol turned out to be rather good-looking, all suspension bridge and cathedral and quay. There were some wonderfully colourful buildings sticking out in unexpected places, and a good slab of street art dotted here and there.
Maddie and I got lunch in the local market and ate it by the quay, surrounded by dodgy-looking pigeons and one enormous, evil duck. They got nothing from me.
We met Jonny for a coffee during his break, at which point Maddie and I rested our aching feet and admired our purchases. Yes, we went shopping. No, it wasn’t for us. We had a very successful present-buying expedition at one of the local shops, so felt quite pleased with ourselves.
Oh, and let us not forget the giant cakes we found in Sainsburys. So many ready-made cakes! Where’s Wally cakes, Smartie cakes, gargantuan chocolatey cakes… Coles needs to up its game, that’s all I’m saying.
And soon enough it was six o’clock, and time for me to head back to London. Bristol was the perfect mid-week adventure, and it was great to spend time with Maddie and Jonny. (And live Skins a little.)
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