Graffiti!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Graffiti........ You either love it or you hate it. Looking at this scene by the waterfront I'm not sure what I think but I feel that if a wall doesn't belong to you, then you shouldn't paint on it.

The City of Bristol has its share of people leaving their stamp on blank walls and buildings, some of it very ugly and rubbishy, though in some areas there are designated places for people to use for graffiti and this seems to work well.

However, there is graffiti and graffiti...........

Recently, I found myself queuing for forty five minutes outside Bristol City Museum to see Banksy's work! Yes...... forty five minutes!

For those who haven't ever heard of him but would like to learn more, go here.

Is it really possible, though, that people have never heard of Banksy, because he is very popular in the West Country. His work is worth thousands of pounds. He is tolerated, his work is unique and Bristol is very proud of this man. No one knows who he is. He keeps himself anonymous. People reckon that he must be around forty years old, but only a few trusted people know exactly who he is!

Well, after queuing for all that time and talking to many people from other lands who had come all the way to see his work, I got into the museum, feeling very tired.

Banksy makes a statement! This is the first thing that caught my eye, a burnt out ice cream van.

At first I thought, "Oh my Goodness, he has defaced all the statues!" However, I soon realized that they wouldn't have allowed him to do that. He skillfully made replicas. I expect the originals are some where safely hidden away.

This statue was supposed to be a Roman goddess or something but Banksy had made it into a person begging on the streets.

Many things caught my eye, in particular a cage with what looked like a leopard sitting on a log, with tail swishing back and forth. However, when I went to look at it front view, it turned out to be a fur coat!

Another cage held a nest and baby birds calling to their mother. However, when I went to investigate, I noticed a cctv camera on a branch and two baby ones in a nest calling out! This seemed so typical of Banksy to to turn everything around and get people thinking.

I think I will have to go back again and take more photos.

It was all a bit too much to take in on the first visit.

As I said before, you either love this kind of thing or you hate it!

What do you think?

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Good idea to look them up.

Mallard on a Wall

Don't you just love the luminous colour on this mallard's neck? I just happened to have my new camera with me and I tried out the special setting for pets! Quite pleased with this one.

Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy. For more lovely pictures look her up!

Secret Places

Not long ago I was beside myself with worry because of the problem that I had with rodents of the largest variety, nesting in my roof cavities and the whole roof had to be taken off and rebuilt. We found five dead rats up there that had come in via a concealed hole that couldn't be seen from outside. It was a crafty way in from next door's side that nobody would have guessed was there. Once settled the squatters had chewed up insulation and nibbled through live wiring and could have caused a fire.

If you look at the first photo, you will see a new hole, discovered only last week, when the men were hacking off plaster from the inside walls. It was a grim discovery as two more dead rats were found in there, mummified. They had obviously fallen in this hole and had been in there a long time. One of them was quite a giant, the grandfather of all rats, I should think! You should have seen the teeth. I didn't take photos so you are spared seeing them. They were quickly bagged up and disposed of.

Not long ago, the back of the house looked like this, and my garden was taken over by the scaffolding and was in deep shade most of the time. It was disheartening to see the disaster that all this caused to my plants.

I am somewhat amazed at how blue the sky looked then because I can remember some bad downpours that flooded the kitchen, even though we had the scaffolding canopy over the top.

This was the strange position I found myself in when there was a new roof on top of the kitchen but the old ceiling was still in place. It had all been cleaned from above and two holes cut because of the roof windows being put in there. The men did the job slowly like this, so that I wouldn't have be roofless while it was being done, as security might have been difficult with so many of us coming and going all the time. It also prevented the mess from coming down into the kitchen, as it was all cleaned away from the top.

However after the men had cleaned and removed the ceiling, I was able to see just how much loftier and lighter it was going to be in there.

My kitchen is still a long way from being normal again and I will have to wait for new units.

The men only ever agreed to get rid of the rats, you see, not to do a major revamp inside!

The outside is now fairly, clean looking and the scaffolding has been removed. I like the cedar wood on top that my son put up. However we decided, round the problem corner in next door's garden, to use brickwork and thick rendering and I would like to know how anything could get in there now. This is not a challenge to any rat reading this blog though!

Looking from the bedroom window upstairs the new roof looks really secure, so I am extremely pleased I decided to *risk* letting the two men in my life take on this task. I say to both of them, " Jolly well done and thank you!"

Pero's Bridge

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Like Liverpool, Bristol was very much a part of the Slave Trade, (was it 400 years ago?) The city prospered because of the buying and selling of slaves and many of the beautiful buildings that are standing now were built with *blood money* from the profit of it. I don't know all the ins and outs of what went on, but can well imagine the horrors of it and most people are repulsed by that era, so Bristol decided to *apologize* for it's part in the evil practice by naming this new bridge after a slave who was documented as being sent here. His name was Pero and this is now called Pero's Bridge.

It certainly can't make up for the horrors that went on, but maybe the bridge can be a reminder of the past and what happens when one race feels superior to another.

The two great, heavy horns on the bridge are used to balance it when the bridge goes up to let a tall ship go through!

Thumbelina, from Secret Worlds chose me and five others to take part in a photographic meme.

The rules were, that you had to go to your photo files and open the sixth one and choose the sixth photo in it and publish it. Then choose six more people to do the challenge.

I looked in my sixth folder at my sixth photo and found personal photos that I didn't want published, so I altered things a bit and reversed the challenge.

I went to the last photo folder and opened the sixth folder from the end of that and counted six photos from the end of the sixth and came up with Pero's Bridge and I am quite pleased with it.

Over to you now. I am not very good at choosing people, so are there six of you out there who want to do this meme?

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. For more lovely photos please look them up.

Water, Water Everywhere.....

This wall of water is quite refreshing to walk past on a hot, summery day. I wonder if you can see my reflection in it?

Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy. Look her up to see some spectacular photos.

Young Love

I wonder if it is possible to feel true love at seven years old?

John, who is seven, was writing a letter at the table where I was helping children with craft work in the after school club where I work. As he was sitting right next to me, I could plainly see what he was writing:-

Dear Kellie,

I do not love you,

From John.

As I always try to get any of the children to put themselves into the other person's shoes and show empathy, I suggested it might be kinder not to send the letter in the first place and then the girl wouldn't have to know that the boy didn't love her.

John responded by producing a letter from Kellie who had announced her love for him. He told me he didn't love her back. I asked him if he could write that he liked her? He shook his head. I decided that enough was enough and went on to do something else.

Some time later, I saw that John had finished his letter and he showed it to me.

Dear Kellie,

I do not love you.

From John.

I do like you and want you for my friend.

I felt quite touched by the fact that John had taken notice of what I had said and spared the girl's feelings.

Yes..... it is possible to love someone and experience a broken heart at seven years old because it happened to me!

I used to meet Michael every summer holiday and play together everyday until he had to go back to school. He stayed with his Nan in the house next door to ours, but he lived in Liverpool which was twelve miles away and that seemed more like a hundred in those days. I lived for those summer holidays when we could be together again. We roamed around the countryside all day long and the days seemed to be always sunny and there were fields, wood stacks and hay ricks to play on.

Then, the inevitable thing happened....... my father's work was transferred to the south and I never saw Michael again. I grieved for several years.

Yes...... it is possible to have a deep love at seven years old...... a very innocent kind of deep love.

Blaise Castle

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Blaise Castle is a lovely place to visit. There are adventure playgrounds for children from toddler age up until thirteen. There is a large open space of grass to play on with woods behind.

A museum stands to one side of the grass and a cafe is close by, everything that you could wish for to provide a good day out for children.

This is the lane that goes through the woods to eventually reveal another grassy area.

At the top of the grassy place is a castle with a little door, that is locked. You will see that this castle was built in 1766 and restored in 1982, so it is very old. However the castle was built on an iron age site, so there was always some sort of building and activity in this area.

Here is the castle in all it's glory. What a marvellous sight. For anyone who doesn't know it is there, it must be a magical moment when coming out of the woods and seeing that unexpected surprise. It is easy to imagine the people that might have lived in a place like this, in days long gone.

However, I don't think that this castle was ever used as a habitat or used as a fortress, but more as an ornamental building, to enhance the beauty of the surroundings. It certainly is in a very lovely place.

You can see the top of the blue door that I showed earlier, at the bottom of this picture.

I went for the day earlier in this year, with my son and daughter and all the grandchildren and there was something for all of them to do. While they were in the adventure playground we adults could read a book or do a puzzle or just people watch. The children didn't like the thought of walking, but once they got started, they really enjoyed it. A brilliant day out.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Why not give them a visit?