I was very much looking forward to visiting the M Shed, and went last week with my daughter. Oh the disappointment! We were expecting to follow a thread leading us on an exciting journey through the evolution of our home city and a celebration of its achievements. Some hopes. It is a mish mash of bits and pieces from Bristol’s past and present, with no chronology and no coherent story. There is scarcely room to move amidst the clutter and it is dimly lit. It is very noisy and in the few stations where there is a commentary no headphones are provided so the words cannot be heard because of the din.  

I’ve read elsewhere that something like £27 million of our money has been spent on this thing. Just a few weeks ago I visited two of our other (little) museums, the Red Lodge and the Georgian House. There were no guide books on sale because (I was told) there are NO FUNDS available to produce them. In the Red Lodge there is one Office Copy of a previous edition, so precious I was not allowed to handle it and the attendant read selected paragraphs to me; at the Georgian House once again there was not guide, just a single typescript! Think about it. A Cinderella story. The Ugly Sisters at M Shed got to go to the Ball.

Thursday 31st August. The baby brother rang to see whether I had spotted a meteor over Bristol that afternoon as “I’m due on Radio Bristol any minute to talk about it.”  A man called Gordon Busche had seen such a phenomenon and sent in a photo. Apparently it was a bright blob with a discernible tail and had been moving from east to west at great speed. Unfortunately I had been on the bus at the time and must have missed it. As Colin has now morphed from “Professor Beagle” to the resident expert on all things meteor/meteorite he had been contacted by local radio. He did not dismiss it and was hopeful that someone else had seen it;  in particular managed to get a moving picture so that it could be gauged how fast the thing was travelling. Sadly, at the moment, no-one appears to have come forward. If you saw something, now’s your chance….. 

This walk was organised by the Friends of Troopers’ Hill and South Bristol Riverscapes and explored some of the wonderful sites in our part of the Avon Valley, from Troopers’ Hill, through St Anne’s Woods, Nightingale Valley and Eastwood Farm. Who would believe that this verdant gem lies behind the roar of the Wick Road traffic? I understand kingfishers are regularly seen here (a flash of blue) but it’s several decades since I’ve seen one myself. The spraint of otters has also been found http://www.ottersite.btinternet.co.uk/spraints.htm showing they come upstream though have not yet settled here.  I only did the bit between the Somerfield Car Park and Allison Road. These are some of my photographs.

The archaeologist believed that it was possible that the stones in the stream below the pack horse bridge could have been part of an earlier pilgrims’ crossing.

The pack horse bridge – with signs of at least two historic “builds”.

The London Plane Tree, the inside strengthened by stones by the Friends after local yobs set fire to the inside. The tree, over 200 years old, perhaps the oldest in Brislington, is in “no man’s land” and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of “Elf and Safety” so that kids can swing on ropes, Tarzan-like, across the stream, just as they have always done – including my three, thirty years ago.

The inevitable supermarket trolley. What fun to push it into the stream. Ha Ha Ha. These same idiots also probably let their dogs poo on the pavement. Or they may be the neat and tidy sort who pick up their dogs’ poo in a plastic bag, neatly tie a knot in it and then throw it down in the countryside, thus leaving a memorial of their visit, lasting, give or take, a thousand years. (I am the person with a walking stick who goes behind you and removes the offensive object. You know who you are.)  And whilst I’m on the subject, what about those cultural vandals who arbitrarily change historical names?  – Arno’s Manor for Arno’s Court, Long Fox Manor for Brislington House, The Thunderbolt for The Turnpike, The Dovecote Inn for The Smythe Arms.  Bring Back the Stocks.

I have joined the Brislington Community Archaeology project http://www.brislingtonarchaeology.org.uk/ and am particularly looking forward to knowing more about the Pilgrims’ Way  and St Anne’s Well.