Feeding 5K

Forks ready, people! They will be serving free meal next 1st June in College Green. A menu prepared by the Thali Cafe and cooked by Pieminister will promote the issue of global hunger and food waste next Saturday between 1-5pm in the city centre. 

To do my bit on the global hunger awareness, I post a list of facts and figures on world hunger compiled by the World Food Programme:

1. 870 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. This number has fallen by 130 million since 1990, but progress slowed after 2008. 
2. The vast majority of hungry people (98 percent) live in developing countries, where almost 15% of the population is undernourished. 
3. Asia and the Pacific have the largest share of the world's hungry people (some 563 million) but the trend is downward.
4. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million
5. Undernutrition contributes to 2.6 million deaths of children under five each year - one third of the global total.
6. One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight. 
7. One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three. 
8. 80 percent of the world's stunted children live in just 20 countries. 
9. 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone
10. WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children. 

They will be serving free lunch to 5000 members of the public, all made from fresh food that would otherwise have gone to waste. 'Feeding the 5000' (that's how the event is called) comes this year with live music, children's activities, cooking demonstrations and more. Volunteers are needed to help chop vegetables, serve the massive vegetarian curry and other activities. If interested, sign-up here. 

More information: http://www.faresharesouthwest.org.uk/feeding5k/

All you need is love!

It has been a weekend full of love: Loves saves the day on Saturday, Love saves the night on Saturday night, Love saves Sunday on Sunday (obviously)... Online tickets for "Love Saves the Day 2013" festival were sold out last March. We ran late and didn't get any tickets for that day. However, we got some for "Love Saves Sunday". 

PICTURE: taken in Blue Mountain (BS1 3PR) 

The festival has been held in Castle Park, right in the city centre. The ruined St Mary-le-Port church stands to the west of the park which makes the part a very unique place for a festival. The area has been closed to the public at least since  last Wednesday.

I checked out some of the performances beforehand. Most of them were electronic music. Headline: Julio Bashmore; Clean Bandit, Ben Pearce and Walter Ego remind me a night out in Ibiza; Jacques Greene, a softer electronic music; Lulu James, very nice 80s essence; Lil Silva brasilian mix; Ms Dynamite, more vocal; Soom T (niiiceee); and Babyhead!!!

There was no reentry so we arrived at Castle Park after lunch. We first had a look around, the location of stages, bars, people... It is a very well organised event: food in one place, bars very well located next to every stage, enough toilets to avoid long queues (at least on Sunday), music in one stage was not merging with music in the closest stage... and we had an awesome weather for a festival!

The decoration of the event was very nice and I am sure it involved a lot of working hours. You could find anything related to love, hearts, red color, flowers... everywhere. 

        

We after decided to grab some drinks and lie on the grass. The weather was really good and most of the people were enjoying the sunshine. Colourful and funny sunglasses everywhere, as well as funny costumes and outfits. I couldn't say who wore them on purpose for that specific occasion and who wears them in their everyday life. Very funny.

We tried to be in every concert but it was impossible. Instead, we were rotating around the stages and checking out all the bands/artists we could. There are some few I didn't like. I am very critical with music and I found some of them were cheap versions of other artists, with no real talent. There were other groups that I suprisingly liked, though! And I can ensure you that we danced all the time, non stop. We did have a good time.

Definitely, it has been an awesome day and I'm sure we will come back next year!

Video: "All you need is love" by The Beatles

Walking trail: Banksy (1)

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls and bridges of cities throughout the world.

There are more than 18 graffities made by Banksy around the city. Today, I propose a 30-40 minute walking route around Stokes Croft, St. Pauls and St. Werburghs which will guide you through the six stencils located in those suburbs. All the pictures posted were taken in April 2013. I have planned to do two more trails like this one with the rest of the works, and another last trail with the ones that are gone now. I hope you enjoy them.

The proposed trail starts in Portland Square, St. Pauls, where you will find the first stencil.

Detailed map in Google Maps: click HERE

1. Blowpop Records: This is a design that Banksy did for Blowpop Records from around 2000. It is located in Cave Street. The house is not well preserved and the stencil is very faded, making the lettering difficult to read. But it is still visible in the right side of the column, as you can see in the picture.

From Portland Square, you should go towards Stokes Croft, which will be around 3 minutes if you go by walk.

2. The Mild Mild West: The artwork is at a side of Hamilton Building (BS1 3QY). The best best views are from the Jamaica Street Junction. After being around for 9-10 years, the piece was defaced with red paint in 2009. Fortunately, the clean-up work was quick, meaning it was largely restored. They are currently doing some cleaning work in the building beside and the artwork is partially covered.

The next work is located in Cotham. It will take you a little longer than before because it is slightly uphill. I would say 5 minutes.

3. Rose On A Mousetrap: The art work from early 2000s is located on the wall in Thomas Street North, next to a blue door. It is still there although it is framed around to protect it. 

Take other 6 minutes to go back the hill and keep Cheltenham Road to see the next graffiti.

4. Take The Money And Run: It is one of the longest surviving early wall pieces involving Banksy collaboration with Inky and Mobz. It is located in St. Andrews Road with Bath Buildings It is remarkably intact.

From Bath Buildings road, keep walking 5 minutes towards Shaftesbury Avenue.

5. Picnic Area: Old Banksy stencil from 2005 or perhaps earlier even. While it has probably remainded largely unnoticed, it certainly stands out now. It is located in Shaftesbury Avenue 39A, in a parking entrance. They painted the rest of the wall, leaving the stencil intact, although nowadays it is very difficult to read what it says: "designated picnic area".



Take a breath, as the way to the last stencil included in this trail will take 10 minutes uphill. :)




6. Elephant Misile: Judging by the fading this appears to be quite an old Banksy. It is located in the crossroad of St. Andrews Road with Balmoral Road, below the street sign. 

The way back to the starting point in Portland Square should take you around 18 minutes.

Parisian mischievousness

I know my brother will be green with envy after reading this post. He once introduced me to this electro-swing band, and now I am totally in love with them: Caravan Palace. The parisian group is playing in Bristol on Friday and I am proud to say that right now, I am holding my very own ticket.

They released two studio albums. The first one in 2008 called Caravan Palace and the second one Panic in 2012. The band has been playing electro-swing gypsy jazz based music since 2005. At the outset, I've heard that the band composed a soundtracks to silent pornographic films. The band became popular on the MySpace after releasing a number of demos and singles. They found a niche in some European album charts with their first studio album and remained on the French albums chart for 68 consecutive weeks.

This event is part of the VegFest happening this weekend and the concert in the Amphitheatre (BS1 5LL) does look very promising. There are still some tickets left which you can buy here (£17.85 including all fees). If you haven't heard the band before, I suggest you go on Youtube and check it out. They are simply amazing! I just hope their live performance is at least as good as the recorded one... I will let you know! :)

Dot to Dot

Don't you have any plan for next weekend? That's impossible! We are lucky we have a long weeekend ahead of us, otherwise we wouldn't have time to make it to all of them! Those who wanted to take the opportunity of having a long weekend to rest... good luck with it! Bristol is helding at least 4 festivals the same weekend, each one having its own specific topic and style.

I am not going to list them all in this post. I will talk about just one of the festivals this time: 

Dot to Dot Festival

Dot to Dot will be happenening between 24-26th May in one different places each day: Manchester (Friday), Bristol (Saturday) and Nottingham (Sunday). 

As early as 1.30pm, bands will be playing in 15 different stages spread all over Bristol. O2 Academy, Start The Bus, Stag & Hounds, Thekla and The Lanes are some of the venues where you will be able to enjoy varied styles of music for a 20-pound ticket (+2 online booking fee). However, you will not need to buy a ticket for all venues. The website says tickets will be eligible at Thekla, O2 Academy, Trinity, Exchange, Fleece, Start the Bus and Lousiana, so as far as I understand concerts in Stag & Hounds and The Lanes are for free, and probably Brewdog and The Birdcage as well. Last concerts will start around 2am. 

(Click in the picture enlarge the image)

Bristol will also be hosting other music-related events during the day. Check the Facebook page for updates.

As rainy weather is not forecasted for next weekend, I believe it could be a very nice pub/concert crawling event for you and your friends. I hope you enjoy it!

Buy tickets here

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Note that under 18 will only have access to O2 Academy and Trinity Centre as well as to Dry The River, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Lucy Roce and The 1975 concerts.  

Please, pick me a little flower

A couple of weeks ago, I sowed some seeds where my flatmate calls it "your mini-garden". Yet, I just have onions, chives, parsley, thyme... and strawberries should be about to sproud shortly. I also have a bulletproof plant that never dies, with very beautiful flowers that blossom every now and then.

There are hardly the people who do not associate flowers with joy and relaxation. A study published in 2005 reveals the presence of flowers triggers happy emotions, heightens feelings of life satisfaction and affects social behaviour in a positive manner. However, I personally like them planted. Although receiving a beautiful bouquet is always nice, especially from someone you love, seeing how flowers die day after day makes me very sad.

PICTURE: Broad Quay, April 2013.

The University of Bristol will be celebrating the International Fascination of Plants Day next Sunday 19th May 2013 in the Botanic Gardens (BS9 1JB). Plant hunts, plant studies under UV light, treks through Bristol's own desert or rainforest... are some of the activities for the event. Tours will be available throughout the day and no booking is required. Check the programme here.

MORE INFORMATION

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Day: Sunday 19th May 2013

Opening hours: 10am-4.30pm

Location: BS9 1JB

Fee: Adults £3.50; children/friends of the garden/university staff/students FREE 

Website: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden/

Planning the city

For the umpteenth time, Bristol City Council is encouraging citizens and neighbours to get involved in planning the city, keeping them updated and gathering their opinion about future possible works. One week ago, neighbours of St. Pauls were asked to attend a public exhibition where change proposals were displayed for the Decourcy House (BS2 8QN), which will be a student accommodation and retails space from now on.

The Trinity Centre (BS2 0NW), on the other hand, has now created an exhibition with the ideas of the communities and organisations involved. The aim is again to enable people to get involved in the planning of their own city. The entry is free and the exhibition is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, until the 25th May 2013.

I personally find this type of events very enriching. Me, as a citizen, I like being informed about the city I live in and I really appreciate they ask for my opinion. It is how it should always be; politicians asking what the population wants or prefers. They might ignore what we say, but then, it's them who are not being consistent with their beliefs.

Almost touching the sky

After a long development process, the A350 XWB is now a reality. In a familiar presentation ceremony and surrounded by employees, the first A350 XWB emerged from its hangar in Toulouse yesterday after being painted in its Airbus livery in just seven days. The company is working very hard for the latest aircraft to take off at next month's Paris Air Show, possibly next 15th June. The A350 XWB will be the first Airbus aircraft with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer and it will be able to carry beetween 250 to 350 passengers. Source

Picture taken from Airbus' Facebook Page

The aerospace industry remains a major segment of the local economy. The major aerospace companies are located in Bristol such as BAE Systems, Airbus and Rolls-Royce, all based at Filton. In addition, the aerospace engineering is a prominent research area at Bristol university and the nearby Univeristy of the West of England (UWE). 

Airbus UK produces wings for the Airbus aircraft family. When Airbus was incorporated as a joint stock company in 2001, BAE transferred its UK Airbus facilities in return for a 20% share of the new company. These facilities became Airbus UK. Airbus UK has two main sites responsible for the design and manufacture of the high-technology wings for all Airbus models as well as overall design and supply of the fuel system: Filton, where the engineering and design activity takes place along with some manufacturing, and Broughton in Flintshire (near Chester), where other major wing component manufacturing and all wing assembly takes place. Airbus Filton employs more than 4,500 workers in a variety of roles and there are other 6000 employees in Broughton.

End of The Croft

Last weekend, my friends and I went for the very first time to that red bar in Stokes Croft. Pure Rock & Roll night. Surrounded by pin-ups and rockabilies, we danced until all our limited twist moves were over. It was a very good and warm atmosphere, and we had a lot of fun. However, I couldn't foresee what I was about to read in the news today...

After 11 years of being the city's most popular gig venues, The Croft (BS1 3RW) will be closing today, Sunday 12th May. The popular and crowded red bar in Stokes Croft will no longer be there. A very sad post in their website announces they have decided to sell the lease for "a variety of good reasons" although they were "very emotionally attached". The majority of gigs that were booked into happen after today will be moved to Exchange (BS2 0EJ), a new venue where they will be supporting the local, national and international music scene, and all tickets will remain valid.

The Lanes, who posted a message on Facebook announcing it, will be the new owner of "The Croft", which will now be called "Crofters Rights", due to open in the next three months. The new bosses say they will be looking at creating another diverse and vibrant venue at the former Stokes Croft gig venue, in the same way they have with The Lanes.

I believe this is a very sad moment for those emotionally attached with The Croft. However, when one door closes another one will open. Let's see what is behind this new one!

More information

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http://www.bristol247.com/2013/04/24/bristol-venue-the-lanes-to-take-over-the-croft-when-it-closes-next-month-96984/

http://www.the-croft.com/whats-on/eventdetails/14-may-13-end-of-the-croft-the-croft/

Meat | Music | Mayhem

Although BBC does not forecast good weather for this coming weekend, it won't be short of plans. Apparently, the "original and true celebration of barbacue culture" arrives to Bristol. Grillstock Festival combines a two-day low & slow barbacue competition with international music artists, a barbacue academy, awesome festival craft beer bars, live entertainment, chilli-eating and hot-wing competitions, plus a vibrant mix of traders and exhibitors. 

Grillstock Festival 2013 will take place in the Amphitheatre (BS1 5LL) and rockabily, cajun, bluegrass, country and other south American rhythms will flood the environment.

In the BBQ competition, teams from all over the world will be competing against each other to decide who smokes joints of pork, lamb, beef and chicken the best. The Grand Champion will win the £1000 price.

Fans of authentic BBQ will be pleased to hear that there will be some  "smoky and juicy lunchtime treats" in St. Nicholas glass arcade.

The chilli-eating competition is one of the activities that drawns my attention. If you are mad enough to do this, you should get there early and sign up on the day. After filling a health questionnaire (!) where you will state you understood the side effects, you can join the competition. It will start of mild before scaling to the hottest chillis on the planet. The last person standing will take home a fantastic prize from a sponsor, which is not defined what will be. I guess the honour of being the winner would be enough for some of the contestants.

If chillis are too much for you, there are a hot-wing and rib eating competitions as well. It's all you can eat in 5-10 minutes! Contact them if you want to enter the competition in info@grillsock.co.uk.

INFORMATION
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• Dates: 11-12th May, 2013
• Location: Lloyds Amphitheatre, The Harbourside.
• Opening Hours: Saturday 11am-10pm // Sunday 11am-5pm
• Tickets: Weekend £15 // Saturday only £10 // Sunday only £7.5 // VIP £55
  Buy tickets HERE
• Website: http://grillstock.co.uk/bristol-festival

Flower Power

Leopard print is back. So are long mustaches, plaits and flowers in the head, extravagant second hand clothes, outrageous furry jackets, varied types of hats... At least, in Picton Street last weekend.

Picton Street hosted last 4th May a very colourful all-day-long party called Mayfest. The road was closed to the traffic and it was already crowded by the time we arrived there around midday. The party did not finish until 9 in the evening.

Beautiful market stalls with handmade stuff invaded the street. You could find all type of paintings, pottery, homemade muffins and other kind of food, second hand stuff, wooden furniture, jewellery, flowery crafts, protest T-shirts and many other things.

Apart from the stalls, there were also craft activities and maypole dancing for you to get fully involved with the festival.

Music was part of the party as well. This year there were two spots for the music: the main dome stage at the end of the road and an acoustic busking spot in front ot the Bristolian Café. In my opinion, the band "The Inexplicables" deserves a special mention in my blog. Nice and powerful voice over a beat-boxing base, along with other varied music instruments create a very original effect that surprises the audience.

At mid-afternoon, we found a free spot at the Bristolian Café and we had hot chocolate/coffee/tea, as the sun was not strong at that time. They have a very nice teacup design to avoid your hands of getting  burnt!!

Overall, a very warming atmosphere in the Mayfest and you can see in all pictures, the weather was superb. We couldn't ask for more!

Run Bristol, run!

Around 15,000 runners invaded Bristol City Centre on Sunday for the Bristol 10K. At 9.00am, most of the them were ready at the start line on Anchor Road while their families, friends and work colleagues took their places at the strategic points where runners would need to be cheered up.

The course had the start and finish point in Anchor Road, passing under the Suspension Bridge twice. It made a 10K loop to the city cetre crossing the river at Merchands Road, going along Cumberland Road and the city centre and finishing again in the Harbourside.

This year, one minute silence moment was observed to show respect and support for the victims of Boston at the start of the event. 

Weelchair participants left first, at 9.30am, along with the first wave of runners including some of the UK and world's elite runners. Then, the second one left around 9.45am.

Frank Tickner lead the first kilometres, who run a 10K for the first time, until the 7th kilometre, he was overtaken by Dave Webb, who won the men's race in 30 minutes. Gemma Steel crossed the line as the fastest lady at minute 32. Spider man was the first superhero to across the line at 10.30. 

The weather unbeliveably made its collaboration and the sun rised during the whole day. Great day!

For those who would like to participate, next 10K run in Bristol will be in Ashton Court on Saturday, 26 October 2013 and online entry is now opened.


More information:
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Bristol 10K official webpage: HERE

Who wants my vote?

For the last weeks, our mailboxes have been bombarded with loads of leaflets like these. Tomorrow, 2nd May 2013, we have local elections in Bristol.

It is said that voting is habit-forming: once young people learn how the voting process works, they are more likely to do so when they are older. However, do young people believe their voices matter and therefore, vote in local elections?

According to a research, although there is no data from 2010 local elections broken down in age groups in England, the turnout of young people voting in general is lower than the average population. For national elections, based on the 2010 election results, show that even though there was a seven per cent increase in 18-24 year-old voters, it is still less than half of all eligible young people compared with the overall turnout of 65%.

There are hundreds of local issues that affect young people, like bus services, more affordable homes, education, training, sport facilities, pollution, safety in streets, night buses, jobs... and many more.

Actually, young people do have an opinion about these issues and yes, we do care about them. Many people don't vote because in their opinion, voting will not make any difference. I disagree. What's more, I believe that voting is the act to try to make the world (at least, Bristol) a better place. It is our chance to shout how we want things to be done.

Who can vote? Anybody 16 years old or over, and a British/Irish citizen, qualifying Commonwealth or EU citizen resident in the UK. If you're a student living away from home, you can register and take part in some local elections from both your home and your university (term time) addresses.

How to vote? Now it is too late to be registered in time to vote for the Local Elections. For next time, you first must be on the electoral register. Bristol City Council sends an annual voter registration form to every household in Bristol in September. However, you can still join the register by completing rolling registration forms.

Interesting Links

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http://www.local.gov.uk/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=c85f23f6-7824-4eb7-b5f3-c6cbc74f7a48&groupId=10171

http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/council-and-democracy/young-voters-guide