An Urban Wander along the Gloucester Road in Bristol

It wasn't until my phone storage had become full, and I was forced to upload my pictures to my PC, that I realised I did have a few other blog-worthy pictures to share. A few weeks ago we visited one of our kids who's at university in Bristol. Living just off the Gloucester Road now, we walked from his new house down the hill and into the city. The weather was a bit overcast so I didn't take anywhere as many photos as I would have had the weather been a bit brighter. The few pictures I did take however are of a recent passion of mine, doorway mosaics. I'm constantly, and pleasantly, surprised at just how many of these are still intact, and have not been destroyed as part of some modernisation scheme. This is a particular sore point for me at the moment as recently we visited the centre of Nottingham, again paying a visit to another of our kids at uni, and had cause to go to the Victoria shopping centre. I knew at one stage it was the location of a station but it wasn't until I returned home and did a quick internet search that I realised just how magnificent it was, and what a travesty it was to have bulldozed it in the 1960's to be replaced with a shopping centre. There's a good article on it on the BBC news site and a curiously intriguing book called Nottingham Victoria: The story of a slum, a station and a shopping centre. Sorry, I digress and seem to have become a bit melancholy, so back to the more upbeat purpose of this blog post, doorway mosaics.

Doorway mosaic, Gloucester Road, Bristol

Doorway mosaic, Gloucester Road, Bristol

So, just a short post today, but hopefully I'm back on the path to more regular blog postings.

    

A late afternoon wander along the River Thames from Battersea to Putney, London

Well, I am doing a pretty poor job of posting to my blog this year. Theoretically I have more time now as am working closer to home, and only rarely staying away from home, but my spare time seems to be getting eaten up with other interests.

Firstly I am still hunting down 1970's and 1980's punk, post punk and new wave vinyl that I used to own as a spotty teenager which now, as a 50 something, I am desperately trying to find again. Plus there are records that passed me by at the time which I'm discovering for the first time, wondering how I missed them first time around. Punishment of Luxury for example ... this was precisely the sort of music I was listening to in the late 1970's and early 1980's post punk movement but somehow never came across them until this year.

I've also discovered Netflix. Well, this isn't so much of a discovery as we've had it for over a year now, it's more of an addiction to several Netflix series, like House of Cards, Gotham, Hemlock Grove, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage. I used to tut at the kids as they binge-watched their way through series after series, but now I can see why.

Finally, I changed jobs back in April and am now working out of a pleasant, semi-rural, business park. The environment is tranquil but means my lunchtime wanders are restricted to the river. This isn't to say that the wanders along the river are not enjoyable, but they don't have the opportunity for the seemingly endless discovery that my urban wanders through London gave me.

So, where does all this rambling leading me? I guess it's just a reason for my posts being somewhat sporadic this year, but I do have some recent pictures to share. These were all taken late on a sunny, winter afternoon along the River Thames in London, as we walked from Battersea to Putney.

River Thames, looking towards Lots Road power station

River Thames, looking west into the setting sun

River Thames, looking west into the setting sun

This was the night of the super moon but unfortunately my phone pictures don't really do it justice.

River Thames, looking east towards the rising super moon

River Thames, looking east towards the rising super moon

River Thames, looking east towards the rising super moon

So, that's all folks. Hopefully my next post will not be too far away, but you never know what my next distraction may be.