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A lovely morning for cycling, with bright autumn sunshine, a bit of mist, and lots of mellow fruitfulness. Ann had to go to Easton and wasn’t sure of the best route, so I cycled with her, which made a refreshing change from my normal route to work.
I was struck by the number of other cyclists on the road, and as we headed away from the centre on the cycle path, our progress against the flow of city-bound commuters was pretty tricky at times. I’ve been cycling to work for around 10 years now, and would be interested to know the statistics about growth in bike use during that decade – it must have more than doubled, and looks set to double again pretty quickly.
It was my birthday yesterday (51? Shome mishtake, surely?!), and for my treat we went to the zoo. I’ve always loved Bristol Zoo, one of the oldest and best in the UK – there’s something so reassuringly old-fashioned and well-mannered about it. When our boys were little, we had a season ticket, and we would often pop in for an hour or so, to see the new arrivals, catch up with old friends, or just play on the grass (which, ironically, was one of the few green spaces in Bristol guaranteed to be free of animal shit).
There’s inevitably a tension in zoos between the thrill of seeing beautiful, sometimes scary beasts in the flesh, and worrying about their imprisonment, but Bristol has always had a very progressive approach to the welfare of its animals, and they certainly seem well cared for and healthy. I especially enjoyed the seals yesterday, in their new enclosure complete with wave machine and underwater viewing area (I never realised before that seals seem to swim mainly on their back), and the Butterfly Forest, where they hatch all kinds of beautiful butterflies and release them into a big humid polytunnel which visitors stroll through, resisting the temptation to swat the butterflies when they get too close. I was glad to learn that it’s an urban myth that butterflies live only for a day – their life expectancy actually ranges from 2 to 12 weeks.
All of which reminded me of my birthdays when I was a boy, which also often featured a family trip to the zoo. In those days it was Chessington Zoo, only a couple of miles from where I grew up, which was part-zoo, part-funfair. Once we had seen the animals, the favourite ride for my sister and me was the “Boomps-a-Daisy”, which consisted basically of a tractor pulling a garishly painted open trailer. For a small fee, one could sit in the trailer and be towed along a track around the zoo. The fun part was that the cart had no suspension, and the track was very uneven, so the kids in the back would be thrown all over the place, squealing with delight as we incurred all kinds of bruises, gashes and fractures. The place is still there, but it’s now called “Chessington World of Adventures”. It’s become a theme park, complete with rollercoasters and people dressed up in cartoon character costumes, and although I quite like theme parks, I have such happy memories of the old zoo that I don’t really want to go back to see what it’s become. One thing’s for certain – health and safety rules will have ensured that the Boomps-A-Daisy is no longer there, long since replaced by something much more “scary”, but infinitely safer and much less fun.
Well, maybe all is not lost, weather-wise. This morning was absolutely beautiful, and I drew back the curtains to see a hot air balloon hanging motionless in the blue sky above the SS Great Britain (how lucky we are to have that view, and how ironic that exactly a week ago the Balloon Fiesta was ruined by the weather).
It was quite chilly, though, in an alarmingly autumnal way, all of which made for perfect conditions for my bike ride to work. Cycling through Bristol can be such a pleasure, especially with the lighter traffic during the school holidays.
So, the season has started again, and the magnificent City boys picked themselves up in their first proper game since the Wembley “disappointment” to win their opening game in style. In truth, judging by the radio commentary and TV highlights, we were rather lucky to win, but a win’s a win. And after all the shenaninigans around getting a decent striker on board, new boy Nicky Maynard wasted a couple of excellent chances, and it fell to substitute Steve Brooker, the old workhorse, to score the winner, from a very difficult angle, in the 90th minute. The City fans, including Brendan and me huddled over the radio in the kitchen, went wild, and the neighbours, unaware that the season had started, probably thought ”Oh no, not this again already…”.
Nicky Maynard provided the best quote of the day, saying afterwards that although he was sorry not to have scored, he was made up for Brooks, it was all about the team, etc., and he was just glad that “we are another step closer to promotion“. Well, Nicky, we are all delighted to be off the starting blocks, but let’s not get too carried away!
This was also the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta, which, of course, meant rain, wind, and an almost total lack of hot air balloons, all very disappointing for my sister and family who came over especially. It amazes me that the organisers persist in scheduling the event for August, which is such a famously shite month in Bristol – they’d stand a better chance of a successful event in the middle of January. But we did see the Red Arrows, a lot of mud, and a woman called Amanda in a pony and trap performing “stunts”, which consisted basically of her steering her unfortunate ponies over a series of speed bumps. Barking mad, but very funny.
It’s the Bristol Balloon Fiesta this weekend, one of the biggest events in the city’s calendar, so I thought I’d check the weather forecast:
Bristol weather forecast
Not quite what the organisers would have hoped for in the middle of August. I love living in Bristol, but I do wish we could have a decent summer every now and then.
Some good news for Bristol’s cyclists – the City has been chosen as Britain’s first “Cycling City”, a distinction which brings with it about £23 million for various measures to promote cycling. Although it sounds like a lot of money, it’s not a magic bullet and can’t possibly achieve everything, but it’s a great start. Read more about it here.
Predictably, the Evil Post has declared itself critical of the initiative, running various negative and anti-cycling features, which is really such a shame. I feel very lucky to live in Bristol, and often feel very proud of the city, and something like this really needs to be celebrated, rather than derided. But, given the readership of this rag, I suppose it’s hardly surprising – some of the Post’s readers make Daily Mail readers look liberal. Here’s a selection of comments from its on-line forum:
- “Stop whinging, get off your bikes and get a Range Rover like mine. Far safer and MUCH more comfortable.”
- “With all Bristol’s problems what do we get? A shed load of money to spend on those underachievers who choose to use bikes.”
- “Roads plus cyclists don’t work; Bus lanes plus cyclists don’t work. Solution? Get rid of bikes don’t give them more money. It’s a recipe for further strangling this city. Have you noticed what a pitifully small minority the cycle lobby is?”
- “If a prospective employee came to me and asked what provision I have for cyclists their application would be torn up in front of them: I want – and Bristol needs – people unencumbered by this narrow minded eco driven approach to life.”
Let’s hope that some of the money is spent on initiatives to promote understanding and tolerance between cyclists and car drivers – after all, in most cases, people are both,and the car drivers who also cycle make the best drivers, and vice versa.
