Let it Snow!

I am having a beautiful Monday. That is extremely rare because Mondays are usually annoying, having to come to work after weekends, getting up early in cold and usually grey weather. But today is special because I woke up to a snowy landscape.

Just before I went to bed yesterday, the snow was already settled and thick, fat snowflakes were still falling, so this morning, I walked out in the bright, white snow - making my own trail at least for a little while on the residential streets where the snow was still undisturbed.

Bristol isn't exactly known for getting snow in the winter, but last year we had some snow that settled for about 3 days, and this year is looking promising. So hurray for that :-)

Of course England is not equipped to handle snow so traffic becomes a nightmare, buses stop running, trains don't work ---but what the hell....it's gorgeous.

One of my favourite places in Bristol

(c)photo by D.G.

This is the beautiful central library. In Bristol almost every area has a local library, and even though these do provide good selection of books to borrow, they are not very good for sitting around. They are quite small and feel like one open room. I prefer libraries to be big, with lots of little rows to roam through, and tons of books all around me. That's what the central library is good for. And it's in one of the old buildings, so the architecture is gorgeous.

Oh God the Horse Cop is Coming...

(c) Photo by D.G.

A cop on the horse in Bristol city centre. Is there a purpose to it? If someone does commit a crime, what are they going to do? A horse chase in middle of busy traffic? I see hollywood cameras rolling! Still, adds a bit of character I suppose to the city look.

A New Perspective for Familiar Places

Do you know people who have been to far flung countries in the world, but hardly visited different parts of their own cities? People who could tell you exotic details and histories of other culture, but might not know if anything significant happened where they live?
I am one of those people. It’s only since the last few years that I’ve realised it.

When you live somewhere, you think you’ve got plenty of time to go around and see things. There is no urgency to do something right now, because there is always tomorrow. It’s home. You will be there forever. No need to hurry. While for a lot of people that is true, in my case it’s not. Home is not a fixed place, or even a fixed country. So far I have lived in 3 countries, and no doubt there will be more in the future. So getting complacent about it means that when I do move away, I probably wouldn’t know much about where I live now.

From a superficial point of view, I am not really a big fan of Bristol. It’s not big enough or cityish enough to suit my definition of a city (think London, NYC, Berlin), public transportation is dreadful to say the least, and historical background doesn’t include the type and events of history that I am interested in. So I haven’t bothered exploring much.

But lately it has occurred to me that there maybe plenty I would like if only I see it as a traveller, and not as a resident. There maybe unexplored gems in the city somewhere, or fascinating stories that I have missed out on, by going only to my regular haunts and routes and nowhere else.

So a new goal then for the next year is to Explore Bristol. I don’t intend to get obsessive about it, but every once in a while, I will make the effort to go out and visit new places that I haven’t been to, and see how that effects my perspective of Bristol.

Autumn Has Arrived in Bristol

(c) Photo by D.G.

Autumn has arrived at least in some parts of Bristol. I am no gardener, but it must be some parts only because a lot of the streets I pass by, shows no sign of these wonderful colours. I went to the South-East last week, and strangely enough, the trees were much more colourful over there. But this gorgeous autumn vision picture was taken just outside my regular bus-stop, coming back from work.

Bristol Cathedral on an Overcast Morning

Overcast day in Bristol. Or I should say, normal day in Bristol. This year, summer totally skipped us by. Maybe we are shrouded under invisibility cloak??