At weekends (which include Friday afternoon, natch) we choose our venues carefully.
The great thing about Bristol, especially in the summer, is how it becomes a very specific sort of visitor city (I don't think it was like this at all when I was growning up).
They're here for all sorts of reasons: the music scene (yesterday and today Idles doing a couple of outdoor gigs to kick off an international tour), the Wallace and Grommit trail (whatever the latest iteration of that is), beer festivals, cider festivals, harbour festivals...
...there are also, of course, the hen and stag parties: so many pubs, so little time.
Throughout the year there are sporting events (EFL season started yesterday) - football, rugby, basketball...
Obviously, then the breweries and distilleries, and taprooms and tasting rooms and pubs. There really is more than enough to make it a city worth visiting for a day, or more.
As a result, then, some areas of the city are HEAVING.
So - as I say, we try and choose carefully. This generally means staying on this side of town.
It goes to explain why we tend to go Moor on Friday or Saturday and yesterday it was particularly quiet there (there are reasons, but I hope that doesn't carry on for too long) and less beer on tap than usual.
Nevertheless we sat outside for one and tried to find photographs for one of our new silly cameras: a 1930's tiny (127 film size) box camera, since you ask. When we decamped inside we played a couple of games of Regicide and then got chatting with James which is always a fine way to spend a bit of time.
When we headed home we thought we might get one or two more pictures (there are only 8 to be taken, for goodness' sake) and a chap said "is that actually a camera?"...and that sparked a conversation about film photography and silly cameras, completely at random. It was a delightful 10 mins.
This morning I went out to try and take the picture on it and to try a "new" old camera: a Zenith 11 with a Carl Zeiss lens, so I strolled over the bridge and was greeted with countless people in "band" t-shirts arriving by train, and crowds at the 'spoons. I headed towards Martha's, assuming it would be quiet so I could take some urban pictures. I was staggered to see the arches next door have been turned into a pop-up plant shop with huge queues of people waiting (to pay???) and Martha's, the Pasty Shop and the Forest Bakery with loads of people in attendance. How brilliant!
I queued for some bread to take home for lunch and then was really relieved to remove myself from the crowds and look down on them from our flat.
When we bought this flat there were literally no people wandering around at the weekend but it's gone on to be a bustling little corner of the city. It's got its good and bad sides but it's lovely to see these businesses making the most of it.
