Diving into poetry: Bristol Poetry Festival

After wandering around the streets longer than I would have expected, I finally got to the Landsdown, a traditional British pub located at Clifton Village. Honestly, the pub is not very difficult to find but sometimes it is just better to simply follow your instinct rather than trusting the navigator. The Lansdown Pub is a very welcoming and cosy place. The main bar has a personal touch which makes the pub very special and there is a great range...

Whoever says the UK summer is not sunny is a liar

"Summer in the UK is when rain gets warmer", someone told me once. However, this sentence is not entirely accurate if we have a look back and review weather statistics of this summer. A heat wave hit the UK from the 3rd to 22nd July this year, bringing the driest, warmest and sunniest summer since 2006!  It has been the driest since 1882, when continuous rainfall records in Bristol started. Between June and August, the rainfall...

Tokyo Dub

Castle Park has a non-stop programme. This Saturday 28th September takes place the Tokyo Dub Festival. Tickets can be purchased online (http://www.bristolticketshop.co.uk/events.aspx?q=tokyo+dub) for £32.50 but can also be bought in The Bristol Ticket Shop (BS1 2DP), Idle Hands (BS1 3QY), Cooshti (BS1 5NU) and Shop Dutty (BS6 5RW). Tickets are expected to be sold out by Friday so you must hurry up! Click here to see the...

Gromit fever

After being spread around Bristol for 10 weeks, the 80 Gromits of the Gromit Unleashed exhibition (plus a secret one) have been one next to each other in the show called The Greatest Dog Show on Earth. They have been displayed in Beacon House from last Wednesday 18th until today, 23rd September.  The "Gromit Fever" grew fast and many people wanted to visit the exhibition to raise money for Bristol Children's hospital, creating...

Bristolian Cake

A little bit of cooking this time. The other day I came along this recipe while surfing the web. It said it was called Bristol Cake, but I am not really sure how Bristolian it is. Whether or not it is a real Bristolian Cake, I decided to give it a try. And it happened the result was pretty good!! This is all you need: 100g Butter 150g Sugar 175g Flour 75g Currants 3 Eggs 1 Grated Rind of Lemon 4 tablespoonfuls of Milk 1 tablespoonfuls of Baking...

BrisFest: an excellent way to say 'goodbye' to the summer

Yet another festival to come before Autumn hits the city: BrisFest is a non-profit celebration 'showcasing rising stars and future talent from the region alongside international hearliners', as the official website describes the event. The music festival will be held 21-22 September in Ashton Court and 15 stages will cover many music genres as well as comedy, circus and art. The weather is forecasted to be nice (English speaking), between 13-19ºC...

First Bus smartcards coming in 2014?

Five days ago, BBC published in their website that the director of transport Peter Mann announced new smartcards could start next year for Bristol First Bus travels. The company has been considering the implementation of the cards since 2008. On the other side, The Post announced beginning of August that Bristol smartcard may not be introduced "as quickly as many would like". The most recent change First Bus introduced in their fares is the 3-stop...

Bristol Cathedral

Founded in 1140, Bristol Cathedral located in College Green is one of the most magnificent religious buildings in the city. This romanesque gem presents a combination of Medieval architecture, with stone walls decorated with series of patterned carvings, and Gothic and Victorian additions. It was Bristol's doors open day last Saturday 14th September, and the tour up to the impressive tower of Bristol Cathedral needed to be booked on the day....

I will never miss the bus again!

It's been a years since the application Bristol Bus Timetable has been in my Android phone and I have barely used it. As far as I remember, it took too long to upload the app and it was the least user-friendly application I have ever seen. However, and I am not sure why, I switched on the app this morning while waiting for the bus and to my surprise, it was converted in something useful, somehow. You can configurate your Bristol...

Bristol opens doors to you!

If you have friends visiting, this weekend is the ideal weekend! For its 20th time, Bristol is inviting everybody to visit its many historic buildings. During the day of Saturday 14th September, Bristol Doors Open Day 2013, many Bristol's buildings will be open to the general public to visit between 10am and 4pm (unless otherwise stated) offering free visits and tours.  There are brochures available in the Watershed, which is...

Picasso's Gernika in Bearpit

When I passed by Bearpit today, my heart skipped a beat when I saw Pablo Piccaso's most famous painting (on the right). Guernica, or "Gernika" with basque spelling, is the name of a Basque town in the province of Biscay, very close my hometown, sadly famous because Nazi's air-bombed the town the last Monday of April in 1937. Pablo Picasso showed the tragedy to the world through this world-wide famous artwork. When I first...

When the Mongoose Hunts

Mongooses are small carnivorans who live in southern Asia, southern Europe and Africa. They are between 0.3 and 1.2 metres long and there are 33 species; some lead predominantly solitary lives, seeking out food for themselves, while others travel in groups, sharing food among group members. You will probably ask: "Why is she talking about mongooses when mongooses cannot even be found in Bristol?" And you are right, mongooses do not live in Bristol....