Mulled wine: the drink served in a mug

The first contact I've ever had with the mulled wine happened last year, around this time. The German Christmas Market (here) was all set up and after having the time of our lives skating in the ring in Broadmead, we warmed up with a glass of mulled wine. Or shall I say a "mug" of mulled wine?

For those who don't know what I am talking about, mulled wine is n alcoholic beverage made with red wine and various other sweet ingredients, which is served hot or warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially between Halloween and Christmas. Don't worry, I've never heard of it before coming to the UK either!

According to Wikipedia (here), British mulled wine was popular in Vitorian times, although there are other famous German and Nordic versions of the same drink, and mulled wine is drunk almost everywhere in Europe except in Spain.

Drinking an alcoholic drink from a mug is weird, and even more when it's hot. I have to say that I did not like the mulled wine first time I had it. It seemed to be a sweet hot soup. It took me around 1h to drink it all! Too sweet and too hot in my opinion. However, during the Christmas Press Show in House of Fraser, I have been offered mulled wine again, and I loved it! And I am sure the quality of the mulled wine this second time was way better than last year in the German Christmas Market. So, hey! If you didn't like mulled wine the first time you had it, give it a second chance. Maybe it surprises you!

RECIPE for MULLED WINE (By Adam Grey)

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This is all you need:

• Red wine (750ml)
• Orange juice (250ml)
• Water (100ml)
• Peach schnapps (50ml)
• Orange (1/2)
• Star anise (5gr)
• Cloves (3g)
• Juniper berries (1g)
• 1 Cinnamon stick 
• Cardamom pod
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme

How to do it:

1. Combine the red wine, orange juice, peach schnapps and water in a saucepan. Add the bay leaf, cardamom pod, cinnamon stick, cloves, orange zest, juniper berries, thyme and star anise and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes
2. Carefully pass the mulled wine through a fine sieve and into a jug. It is now ready to serve 

You might also be interested on Bristolian Cake recipe.

German Christmas Market

For the 5th time, the German Christmas Market set up in the shopping quarter in Bristol. Why go to Germany or Austria, when a the market itself comes to your town? 

The market opened its doors the 8th November in Broadmead and they will stay open until few days before Christmas day (22nd December). The 38 festive stalls will be selling food, drinks and all kind of gifts. 

Home Christmas decoration, traditional handmade wooden games, all kind of cheese and ham, wool clothes and blankets for cold days, scented candles, salt crystal lamps, chocolates, glass crafts, hot chestnuts, bags... Everything!

In the German outdoor bar, they claim to have an authentic German Sausage which you will be able to enjoy in exchange of 4 pounds along with a mulled wine (3.5 pounds). They also have other choices such as hot chocolate, coffee, German beer, and something I've never heard about called "Grog", which is actually hot water with rum. Very interesting! They serve the drinks in very nice wintery mugs and you will have to give a 2 pounds deposit. 

The market is open 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, and on Sundays, it is closed an hour earlier. It gives you plenty of time to buy a couple of nice presents for family and friends and warm up afterwards with a glass of mulled wine.

Congrats musicians: today, it's your day!

Music defines us, it makes us feel we are not alone, we are understood... and we understand each other. Music is art, virtue, passion, love, sadness,... and many other things we cannot define. It is a hobby for some of us, a profession for others.

Today, 22nd November, it's St Cecilia day, the patroness of musicians. I am not sure it is celebrated in the UK, but many people back in Spain they don't even know this day exists... unless they have some close connection with a musician. In my case, I have been raised surrounded by music, and celebrated this day bringing music to the streets, singing and playing music for the streets, for the busy people walking them. Today, this post is dedicated to all of them, known and unknown musicians all over the world.

I would say Bristol is a very musical city. You can find concerts of every kind of music anytime, anywhere. For instance, if you walk to the centre right now, I'm sure you will find at least 3 groups or individuals playing, singing, dancing... despite the cold weather. Music even warms us up!
And at bars and pubs in Bristol, there is a concert going on every day. Jazz, classical, pop, rock, folk, metal. Anything!

Tonight, Mallory Knox @ The Fleece, Ramshackle @ O2 Academy, Handel's Messiah Soulful Celebration @ St George's, Emily Barker @ The Folk House, Barb Wire Dolls @ The Lousiana, Molotov Jukebox @ Thekla, Sack Sabbath @ Bierkeller... The choice is infinite. Chosse your own! :)

North Bristol Art Trail

As the West of Bristol, the North also is also exhibiting its art works this weekend in North Bristol Art Trail 2013. It is a free event were galleries and private houses will be open for you from 10am to 6pm this coming 23rd and 24th November. In addition, some of the venues will be opening also on Friday for a preview night from 7pm to 9ish.

Venues will be located in Montpelier, Westbury, Redland Bishopston, St Andrews and even Golden Hill and Henleaze, full of arts& crafts for you. Art works include watercolours, oil painting, glass design, ceramics, photography, scupture, handcraft jewellery, textiles, basketry, t-shirt printings, hand printed postcards and calendars... Artists will surely appreciate your visit!

This time on Sunday, I will be looking for postcards and calendars, and I have selected some venues that I will visit.

• Cath Read, 78 Radnor Road. 
  She is involved in a 2014 calendar which I saw in the shops. Very beautiful artwork, perfect for a gift! See calendar here.
• Julie Taylor and Clare Cutts, 34 Monmouth Road. 
  I am not sure I will find Christmas cards on their collection, but their fine cards will surely be a good purchase for any occasion.
• Maita Robinson, 9 Burghley Road 
  Singer, making quirky cards, mixing newspaper style shapes with colourful patterns. Beautiful!

NOTE: There is an artist directory in the official webpage of North Bristol Art Trail (here) if you want to check other artist's work and biography.

Gift Tokens in £10, £30 and £80 values will be available to buy before or during the trail. If you are interested to have some tokens before, contact Sandra Cocks on 0117 924 7254 or visit Artemis at 214 Gloucester Road. Additionally, you can purchase a token during the weekend at 4 of the venues in the trail (check map).

As done on the West Bristol Trail, event organisers recommend public transport or bike to visit through Art Trail, as parking is very limited in most of these areas. In the West Bristol edition, each venue was easily recognizable as they displayed red balloons in each venue door. This North Bristol edition, you should look for the bunting outside each venue!

Related Posts: West Bristol Art Trail 2013

LINKS

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Website: www.northbristolartists.org.uk

Twitter: @NBArttrail

Contact: info@northbristolartists.org.uk

Cath Read: www.cathread.co.uk/

Julie Taylor: www.northbristolartists.org.uk/members-2/julietaylor/

Clare Cutts: www.clare-cutts.co.uk

Maita Robinson: www.northbristolartists.org.uk/members-2/maitarobinson/

Lebanese bites for dinner

I just discovered a very nice Lebanese restaurant in 13a Small Street, Bristol, called Mezze Palace. Although our intention was to have some Chinese food, we found ourselves going down the stairs to the rythm of some background Lebanese music.

The restaurant, located at the basement, has a cavernous layout with curved ceilling and no windows. It was possibly a wine cellar before and even though the description could suggest it was a cold place, the restaurant was so cosy that we didn't even think of going back to the Chinese restaurant next door, which was actually our first intention. Instead, we sat down in one of the nicely decorated tables and we instantly had one of the waiters welcoming us. 

It took us short to choose what we wanted. There is a dinner option which includes a variety of starters, a main of our choice and a tea for just 10.99 pounds. There are a couple of mains you cannot choose in this option, but there are enough main dishes to find your favourite.

It took them just 10 minutes to serve the starters with pitta bread. They were 8 different starters in a plate. The hummus had a natural chickpea flavour and the baba ganoush was simply perfect. The salad in the centre was also great and the rest of the starters was OK. I didn't really like the taste of the black thing, which I cannot remember how it is called. LOL

20 minutes later, our main dish arrived. They were four of lamb mince meat, with some roasted tomatoes and kebab sauce accompanied with Lebanese rice to share. I was not able to finish the whole thing as I am not a big eater in dinner time. My friend, on the other side, finished the whole plate like a big boy. So, it was enough food quantity for a normal eater.

The mint tea arrived, which for my surprise, was actual mint tea, with natural mint leaves. It was a simply amazing tea.

It was a fantastic dinner, we didn't leave the restaurant being hungry (which is something you always worry about). The restaurant is very attractive, with great service who were often checking if everything was OK. Something else I always pay attention are the toilets, and specially the toilets in this restaurant are very nice. When we arrived, it was a very quiet night; just 8-10 tables were full. However, when we left a big group of around 20 friends arrived and the place became a bit noisy. 

MORE INFO

--------------

Mezze Palace Lebanese Cuisine

13a Small Street, Bristol
BS1 1DE

Opening hours:

Mon-Sun: 12-3pm & 6-11pm

Offers:

4.99 Lunch

9.99 Dinner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MezzePalace 

Another day at the museum

The fact that I like of Bristol the most is that most museum are free. Every time I don't have special plans for the day I visit one museum. Today, it was the turn of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery at the top of Park Street.

Situated in Clifton next door to the impressive Wills Memorial Building, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery holds sections on natural history, national and international archaeology, french and eastern art, pottery and wildlife, among others.

In summer 2009, the museum hosted the largest exhibition about Banksy, the world wide famous graffiti artist. The exhibition was developed in secrecy and with no advance publicity and still, some people faced six-hour queue to see the exhibition on the last day.

Admission to the museum is free (3 pound donation is suggested at the exit) and the opening hours are Mon-Fri 10am to 5pm and 10am to 6pm during the weekends. This post will just focus on the permanent exhibition of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. I hope you find it helpful!

Ground Floor

As you enter, the gallery on the left, South West Wildlife, gathers natural history of Bristol region. A fantastic way to learn more about animals and nature of the region.


The topic of the gallery on the right, on the other hand, is Egypt. Belief, Life, Death and After death of ancient Egypt are captured through over 600 objects, most never displayed before. You will find painted coffins, human mummies, animal mummies, figurines, offerings, amulets and many more.

First Floor

Geology exhibition will take you back in time through the last billions of years of the history of the planet. Dinosaurs and fossils are the main focus. 
The exhibition about minerals will allow you to discover curious characteristics about minerals and you will learn what Bristol Diamond is.
Wildlife is the exhibition about the animal kingdom, to see common but also rare (and in many cases extinct) animals from the UK.

In the middle of the balcony, there is a great view of the Bristol Boxkite, which was the first aircraft produced by the British Aeroplane Company. 

The founder and chairman of Bristol Aircraft, Sir George White, wanted to build licensed copies of the Zodiac biplane. Initial attempts to get the first design fly were unsuccessful, they built a total of 78 Bristol Boxkites until 1914, when the production stopped. Read more

Second Floor

French Art gallery features paintings from famous french painters such as Renoir and Pissarro. There is another gallery with Eastern Art, which I found it small and dark. Pottery, Ceramics and Silver collection are at the upper level, and the collection includes British and European pieces.




In general, I found the museum very interesting. Galleries have very interesting and varied topics, and if you don't like one, you can easily jump and go to the next gallery. It is a good plan for a rainy day, for example, and it is free. However, there were several things that I didn't like.

On the one hand, I found it confusing how authentic pieces are mixed with fake pieces. Let me explain: in the geology gallery, there were real fossils next to plastic dinosaur miniatures or plastic skeletons. I guess it is because it is very children-focused and they want the exhibition to be attractive to them too. 

On the other hand, you should bear in mind that Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is very kid-friendly museum, they have interactive games and exploration area as well. The museum can get quite busy and noisy if you go during "family time". Avoid weekends if you want to get a more silent visit to the museum.

To finish with, I would like to add that the second floor was the least crowded of all. I have to admit that it is probably because the galleries are more boring and less interactive than others. In my opinion, they should try to improve then and promote them more.

LINKS

------------------
Website: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/leisure-and-culture/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery
Banksy in Bristol Museum: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/jun/12/banksy-bristol-art-exhibition

A little bit of fashion, beauty... and loads of christmas decoration

I went to the Christmas Press Show today. House of Fraser in Cabot Circus invited me and many other fashion and design bloggers to their annual Christmas Press Show today. It took place at Zest Bistro and it was "by invitation only" event (it feels so cool to say it!).

The show was already ready by the time I got there, sharp 6pm. Some of the guests were there but most were not there yet. I had been offered a mulled wine and I went to browse through stands.

Beauty stands were at the very end.  I got my nail polished by a young lady at the Nails Inc stand, who also gave me some advise; I also got a fully revitalising massage in both hands by the very nice girl at the Molton Brown stand (who I hope gets to read this post), and I got the chance to smell Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, which I haven't heard of even though I consider myself a "fraganceaholic".

After the beauty section, I woman showed me around the decoration area.

Since I was a little girl, I have always enjoyed setting up the Christmas decoration at home. The earlier, the better. However, mom didn't allow me to set the Christmas decorations earlier than December, "They are just gathering dust, there!", she used to say. And she was probably right.

House of Fraser exhibited four themed Christmas trees in the show, very different styles, and very different colours. I liked the art-deco style tree in brown and golden colours!

Most of the bloggers actually write about fashion in their blogs, so you will probably get more detailed and specialized review in their blogs.

I was expecting more fashion! There were three evening dresses for very different occasions. Either the black or the cream dress could be used in a fancy dinner while the purple dress maybe not. However, if I had to buy one of the three, I would have bought the purple one. I don't have parties fancy enough to wear the other two! 

What did I get in my goody bad?

• 113g Seville orange marmalade by Mrs Bridgets
• 30ml Amber cocoon liquid hand wash by Molton Brown
• 30ml Patchouli & Saffron body wash by Molton Brown
• 4ml Cream colour nail polish by Nails Inc
• A nail file by Nails Inc
• Spicebomb fragance sample by Viktor & Rolf
• Beige rose foundation sample by Yves Saint Laurent
• Personal invitation for a "complimentary facial makeover" lesson at Yves Saint Laurent

LINKS

---------------

House of Fraser: http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/

Cabot Circus: http://www.cabotcircus.com/

Nails Inc: http://www.nailsinc.com/

Molton Brown: http://www.moltonbrown.co.uk/

Zest Bistro: http://www.cabotcircus.com/shops/zest-bistro

Blaise Castle in Autumn colours

There are some days you know you want to spend them outdoors. Last Sunday, we woke up relativelly early, took the First Bus number 76 at Bristol city centre and we set our feet in Blaise Castle Estate around 45 minutes later. The weather was excellent; sunny, blue sky... Lovely! Oh, and Autumn colours are so beautiful! ("Fiery woods and golden trees"...) Especially when we have such good days to enjoy the views as we had last Sunday. 

Blaise Castle Estate is a 2.6km2 parkland in Henbury open to the public, which includes a museum, a gorge, a castle and very nice views. In this post, I propose a 6km walking trail. Let me know how it goes! 

The bus stopped at Crow Lane, the closest place from Blaise Castle Estate due to road works. Normally, it would take you through Henbury Road, which is closer to the park.
We took right at the crossroad towards the Golf Course. There is an entrance to Blaise Castle Estate on the right side (1). You will find a map there whith loads of things to see! I suggest you check the map, decide which route you will take and what places you want to see before you enter to the park... and just follow the path!

As it had been raining for the past few days, the path was muddy at some points. Keep it in mind if you go after a rainy day!

Going through the woods, the road will drive you down to the river called Hazel Brook, which cuts the Gorge through Bristol's limestone. There is a bridge (2) with an old mill to the right and a very beautiful way along the river (3). At the southern end, Hazel Brook joins the River Trym and continues its flow towards Sea Mills.

Instead of following the path, we took some stairs to shortcut the way up. There are two panoramic viewing spots before getting to the castle, where you can admire the gorge (4) and take a picture inside Butcher's Cave on the way up (which is a disappointing cave).

The colours of trees and plants in Autumn make the views even more beautiful. 

The path that goes along the Gorge will take you directly to Blaise Castle (5) on the hill above the Gorge. From the Castle, you will be able to see Bristol, Avonmouth and even South Wales on a clear day. The building dated 1766 was design by the architect Robert Mylne, the Scottish man particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Even though the castle is opened most Sunday afternoons,  it was closed today, for some reason.

We decided to take a different route to come down (6) following some stairs down until the Blaise Castle Museum (7).

The museum is a late 18th century mansion which contains wonderful objects to show how people used to live in the past. How much have households changed!!
Old toilets, mechanically powered vacuum cleaners, children's games and toys, costumes and shoes (this gallery was under construction), a victorian school-room... There is a beautiful picture room with red flock paper walls which can be hired for marriages, civil partnerships and naming ceremonies. A 2-pound donation is suggested, although the entrance is free.

Close to the museum, there is a place called Blaise Hamlet (8). It is composed of a complex of small cottagesaround a green designed by John Nash. They were built around 1811 and the cottages are now owned by the National Trust, occupied and not opened to public. However, it is worth it to go there and admire the beautiful Picturesque style.

We took Henbury Road back until Crow Lane, where we took the bus back to the centre. 


LINKS
--------------
Website: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/leisure-and-culture/blaise-castle-house-museum
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Castle

TEDxBristol has NOT been a failure!

At last, I have been in a TEDx event, something I can already cross from my bucket list. Two months after purchasing my ticket for the event, the day finally arrived. And it happened to be a success: very inspiring people with "ideas worth spreading".

The day started at 9.20am, when I arrived to Colston Hall for the registration. I got my very own blue wristband which would give me access (and also discounts) and the official programme which had all the information I needed about speakers, organisers, sponsors... There was already a queue to get the best seats, but once the doors were opened, we all went inside very fast. Obviating what was written in the programme ("be seated by 9.50"), most of the audience arrived few minutes before the start of the event. 

We were around 1000 people in the audience, most of us around our 30s, but I could also see people in their 20s as well as 50s... or even older!

The event started at 10.15am with a video, then some useful instructions given by Becky Sage (the Project & Logistics Manager), and followed by a welcome presentation of the Curator of the TEDxBristol, Nat Al-Tahhan.

The first speaker, Professor David Nutt, introduced his presentation about drugs with Amy Winehouse, explaining how he got dismissed from his Government position for "repeteadly clashing with ministers over issues of drug harm and classification". Then, there was a change on the original schedule, and it was Simon Edwards who talked next about how "it takes courage to fail" in the military world. At sharp 11am, there was a 2-minutes silence for the Remembrance Day.

Brian Goldman was next and he told a very touching story of his own failures as a doctor, and the period of shame and recrimination he suffered after failures happened (video). As the event was behind schedule, they skipped the video-talk of Stanley McChrystal and we went directly to break time. We were asked to change our seats after the break to have new faces around to network with.

Paul Burden, who came up to the stage after the morning break, emphasized how "failures are actually valuable discoveries" and that "avoiding failure is not a success".

The video of Eddie Obeng's talk came next. Dressed with a bright orange shirt, Eddie explained how he did 60,000 miles without even moving from his desk in a very funny and entertaining way. I could tell that the audience really loved this talk. Then, Tomas Rawlings talked about news video games, and failures he experienced when launching a new idea for a video game.

After, the start of the day arrived: Sarah Abell. She clearly connected with the audience with a very touching second presentation about herself, adding personal experiences and giving us some tips on how to build "Authentic Relationships" in our lifes. I really loved her talk.

Matt Smith's video had some technical issues and couldn't be played. Michael Johnson then came up to the stage to give us a great engineering presentation about pocket space crafts. Karl Loudon was the next speaker, the managing director and co-founder at the Responsive Website Company, who used some slides that spoke volumes of his graphic design abilities.

The last speaker before the lunch break was Luke Williams, who explained the workshops which have been run during lunch time. Then, Hepzibah Theatre, did a very modern artistic performance, mixing dance, music and spoken word poetry. It is probably the only thing I didn't like from the whole event.

Lunchtime - Just by flashing our wristband, some venues were offering discounts to TEDxBristol delegates: a 10% discount at Beatroot Cafe, Roll for the Soul and Friska, and a 20% discount at Brigstow Cafe, MyBurrito, Quick Crepes and the Birdcage. I decided to go to The Birdcage, in Clare Street. I had a goat cheese toasted sandwich and a latte for as little as 5.35 pounds.



The afternoon session started with Ed Ley, a gym owner who told us Angela's story, a customer who wanted to punish herself with a hard diet and strong physical exercises to go from a size 16 to a 14. At one moment, he went silence for longer than expected. I wonder if he forgot what he had to say next. However, he wisely managed to go on with the speech and get the applause he deserved.

Jian Jiang (video) spoke about how donuts had changed his life in his "rejection therapy" to lose his fear of failing; a very funny speech which deserved a very big round of applause. Paul Robertson involved the audience asking for their experience during the driving learning process, and highlighted the importance of practicing and also understanding in order to improve.

Karl Belizaire, policy manager at UnLtd, made two questions to the audience: "what is failing in your community?" and "what are you going to do about it?". Sophie Mather, founder of Biov8tion sustainable textiles experts, brought a big mountain of old clothes to make us aware of the amount of waste we create in the textile market. I also loved her presentation slides using Prezi, a very cool software alternative to Power Point.

After the afternoon break, we travelled around the world with Paul Archer's stories (and failures), who wouldn't have got good stories if everything had gone according to the plan. Regina Dugan's (long) video introduced us into the aerospace industry, where there is "no big success without numerous failures happening before".

The event came to final stage with the aero acrobat Sven Hopla and his presentation about failure in the circus, and the scottish wildlife cameraman Doug Allan and his experiences when filming animals during 8 days to get 1 minute video.

Overall, I say that TEDxBristol has NOT been a failure, although there were some technical issues that could have been prevented. There were genious speakers who left no one indifferent.
I have to also congratulate the TEDx team for organising such an ispiring event. However, I must also add that the blog "Great little place called Bristol" wanted to get involved and volunteer for the event, and contacted the TEDx team to offer help back in August. The reply I got from the Curator was that I would be "added to the list of volunteers that we will undoubtedly be calling on nearer the time to help with logistics". Today, I am very disappointed: I have never got that call.

LINKS
------------------------

Webpage: http://tedxbristol.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TEDxBristol
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxBristol

Donate a Christmas meal

Last week, I received a letter from an organisation called Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people. In the "Crisis at Christmas" appeal, they are searching for people who feel generous enough to make a donation to reserve a seat at a multitudinous Christmas dinner for someone who is homeless. It automatically reminded me of the couple from Atlanta who, after cancelling their wedding, they decided to donate their four-course wedding reception meal to 200 homeless people (read here).  

I am not sure if I have become a more generous person since I am in the UK, but as soon as I read the letter, I actually considered making a donation. During my time in the UK, I have noticed that British people are much more concerned of this kind of stuff and are willing to make what is in their power contribute. Even though a report published the 13th September 2013 says "one in four do little or nothing for charity", I think it is very positive that the other three out of four do "something". 

I have never donated money to an organisation before, mostly because I am not sure the donated money will ever get to them. I don't like those kind of people who donate to feel better persons and I don't even like the idea of donating JUST because it is Christmas time. We might be able to solve more issues by doing a caring action to the guy you see everyday playing his flute on your way home, for example.

Nevertheless, I should start with one step, first. This first step will be a hot Christmas dinner for somebody who will be very thankful.

LINKS

--------------------

Website: http://www.crisis.org.uk/

Reserve a dinner for homeless people here.

Christmas lights switch on

8th Noveber: Christmas officially starts tomorrow in Bristol. Cabot Circus will switch on its Christmas lights. I was there last years "switch on" event and I can tell you Cabot Circus gets very busy. There will be people hours before the procession starts, standing on the balconies, intending to see the whole performance from the best perspective possible. 

As far as I can see, Cabot Circus Christmas event organisers love Disney, or at least folk tales. Last year, it was a Peter Pan-themed event, this year it's Cinderella's turn. Suzanne Shaw, a 32-year old English actress, singer and television personallity known for winning the talent contest Popstar, will perfom as Cinderella at the Hippodrome show until 5th January, and lead the procession of tomorrow which starts at The Galleries at 5.30pm. It will then go through Broadmead, until it gets to the interiors of Cabot Circus. Music, acrobats, singers and dancers will entertain us until the Christmas lights will be switched on at 6.20pm and we will able to officially start buying Christmas presents.

WEBSITE: http://www.cabotcircus.com/news-events/bristol-city-centre-christmas-lights-switch

Quiz night and free food @ Mothers Ruin

'Drunk for 1 penny, Dead drunk for tuppence, Straw for nothing'

This is the notice which would be seen in London in the 1930s. Gin started out as a cheap medicine, becoming also poor men's drink, with 10 million gallons of gin were being distillated just in the capital. It rendered men impotent and women sterile, and when the government decided to raise the taxes on gin, its sales went underground. Much of the gin was drunk by women, whose children were neglected and daughters sold into prostitution. That is the reason why gin is  commonly called "Mothers Ruin" after all.

A pub located in the heart of Bristol adopted the name and took the dark atmosphere of the Mother's Ruin to convert it into a pub which has live music played around three times a week (80s music, indie and rock n' roll), very cheap drink before 7pm and quiz night on Tuesdays. Established in 2007, the three-level pub has had steady clientele looking for strong cheap drinks, music and fun. Do not expect luxury here, even the smell of the bar is strange. But I have to admit that there is nowhere else like it in Bristol.

The quiz this evening started 9.15pm and 8 groups in total were trying to guess all 10 questions in each round: general knowledge, science, TV and music intro (they normally have "picture" round too, but apparently the printer was not working this time). Each participant has to pay a pound which will be the price for the winners. After two rounds, they had free hot curry for all participants.  We lost, I must say. We were quite pathetic but we said to ourselves we need to improve (actually it's impossible to get less points), but the odds were in favour and we got the chance to win the bonus game (which we did not succeed).

We will train for next time, though. And maybe recruit some other participants for our team. Wanna join?

LINKS

-----------------

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mothers-Ruin/6965366519

Webpage: http://mothersruinbristol.weebly.com/

Information about Gin taken from: http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Mothers-Ruin/

Walking trail: Missorts

There is an app for Android that I accidentally discovered when I was in the Central Library. I tried to download the app into my phone more than once but every time, there was an error before the installation was complete. I finally succeeded when I installed in my tablet and last weekend, I did the trail.

Missorts, "an urban soundwork delivered directly to your smartphone", is an app created by Tony White in 2012 which you can download for free to your Android or Iphone smartphone, and listen ten stories by ten distinctive new writers. The GPS tracks your location all the time and Missorts delivers stories to your headphones when you get to certain locations around Temple Meads area.

As you can see in the above picture, I have created a 4km trail starting and finishing in front of the Arnolfini which goes through all the story locations in Missorts.  I did it on my bike and it was obviously faster than doing it on foot, but less comfortable at the same time, as I had to stop to take my tablet to listen to the stories. If I were on foot, I could walk around while listening to the story at the same time. More fun!

The first stop (1) is located in Friary where we will be introduced to Betty, one of the characters in the stories. The second stop (2) is located between two buildings in works. There are stone benches in the third stop (3) in front of a business building where a woman's voice will share her thoughts with us, about the surrounding area, the noise, the traffic... and she will explain that, once upon a time, there was a fairground located at the same place we are.
The next stop (4) is the first one in Redcliff Way, where you will be able to admire the St Mary Redcliffe Church perfectly while listening to the poem "Witness to the tides". Further in Redcliff Way (5), a woman's voice will tell us about an island between Bristol and Redcliffe, about how landwater wants to be the sea. 

Taking the second exit at the roundabout, we get to (6) and listen "A bricked-up doorway". When you get in front of the St Mary Redcliffe Church (7), a woman will complain about how did this happened to them in "Losing her again but forever this time". "Everyone heard the scream" when you get to the back side of St Mary Redcliffe Church (8) and as you follow Colston Parade until Prewett Street (9), you will realise "How it happened". The last stop is located close to the Ostrich Inn, just on the other side of Thekla, where you will travel "Forward and backward in time".

I found the project very interesting, the fact of creating an artwork from a simple thing as a walk. However during the trail, I had some issues regarding the app. In between story locations, there is an organ background music that is cool at the beginning, but gives headache after a while. Some of the stories were triggered before the background organ music finished, and I missed the first part of some of the stories. As the app does not allow to stop or rewind the story, the only way to restart is actually restarting the whole application. 

LINKS

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Website: http://www.missorts.com/

About Tony White: http://www.situations.org.uk/projects/tony-white-missorts-2012/

Download the app for Android here and Iphone here.