Author: Carleen Dekarski

St Paul’s Carnival

This year was the 40th anniversary of the St Paul’s Afrikan Caribbean Carnival. The highlight is always the parade of colourful, themed costumes. Vivid blues, intense greens, vibrant purples all mix together with feathers, beads, whistles and bare limbed bodies to wiggle and jive to incredibly loud hip shaking music. The atmosphere was fantastic, the photo opportunities incredible. Everyone was keen to have their photo taken, no shy ones on display here! With so many colourful outfits it was hard to pick a favourite but I loved the blue ship with the faces in the sea. The faces were actually plaster cast moulds of all the people in the band that led the one for this outfit. About 3 months ago the St Pauls Carnival was in crisis and was not going to be able to go ahead due to issues over permits that hadn’t been issued in time. A petition was run to move the carnival from its traditional June to September. Thankfully we signed this petition in order to support our community and what a wonderful outcome. Yet another free and entertaining event. Keep them rolling in! Visit their website for more info.

Local wildlife

The local wildlife around here is pretty interesting as well. Still can’t get over the fact that they have squirrels here. I was a great fan of the “Secret Squirrel” cartoon as a kid so I am still fascinated to see them in real life. We came across this one in a local community garden. I am sure Steve has probably given it diabetes by feeding it chocolate muffins.
During our wanderings we also discovered this spider in its web next to a local church. I love the design on its back. It looks very similar to the Fleur De Lis (sorry Axel if my spelling is wrong!) 🙂 If anyone knows what type of spider this is I would love to know.

Archaeology, churches and museums

With nothing too grand planned for this weekend we thought we would go for a coffee tour of the city. With the first and best coffee place being shut on our arrival we were rather miffed as to what to do next. Until that is a young lady in her fluro yellow safety vest approached us with a brochure. Normally we would supply a nice smile, polite no thank you and quickly avoid making any eye contact to get away in a hurry however her brochure immediately caught our eye – Archaeology Open Day conducted by Oxford Archaelogy. We were there in a shot. We had previously walked past their dig site awhile back but couldn’t see over the fence so didn’t know it was a dig site. We managed to nab ourselves a very passionate young archaeologist who took us on an hour long tour of the site (instead of the standard 20 minute tour). It was very fascinating. Steve even managed to spot some animal bone protruding from the dig site. The area is going to become a multi storey car park with apartments and retail shops in the future so they have 6 months to pull what they can, record and map everything. So far they have found pottery, coins, shoes, evidence of the tannery works that was once there and animal bones. It has had medieval (AD 1066-1485) and post-medieval (1485-1800s) activity on site. The picture I have uploaded is of a well that is being excavated and three ovens found. Here is a link to Oxford Archaeology www.thehumanjourney.net

Second: Churches
St Stephen’s Parish Church was having an Open Day so we went up the tower. Great view from there of Bristol. The photo I have attached is looking out to the floating harbour. The tower on the hill in the top right handside is Cabot Tower. A bit of a steep and narrow staircase to the top but well worth the view. The same goes for St Stephen’s. The staircase was rather steep, narrow and passed by the bell tower. Fabulous day to get up there and the church stained glass windows were rather fascinating as well. Some dating from 1602.

Lastly: Musuems
On Sunday after having attended church we again went for a wander into town. This time heading for the Egyptian display at Bristol Museum. It was a bit of a let down for all the advertising around town for it. So we left and finally came across the Red Lodge an Elizabethan House built in around 1590. Situated on the corner of Lodge Street and Park Row it was free to go in (always a lovely price) and had a great big inviting red door. What more could you ask. Inside it is just stunning. On the second floor is the famous oak paneled room. I have attached a picture. Oak paneling floor to ceiling, elaborately carved and with a huge stone fireplace to boot. In one of the other rooms is a painting of one of the owners of the house (Mary Carpenter) who turned it into England’s first girls reform schools. I have attached a photo of the room as it is today and the painting as it was in the 1800’s. Not much has changed. Outside those windows is a very small but quaint knot garden. Lovely place to visit if you ever get the chance.
What a great weekend.

Happy Fathers Day

To our dads. Happy Fathers Day.
Hope you both had a great day. Even though we are on the other side of the world we do think about you both and often discuss things that we see that would be of interest to you.
Thank you for helping to shape us into the people we are today and the type of parents we hope to be in the future.

Bank Holiday

Hooray for long weekends, or as they call them here – bank holidays. I believe the term bank holiday was traditionally when bank’s closed for the day however, not sure when they then extended it to us plebs. Personally though, happy to get any day off work. The weather has been stunning and so it has been a weekend of walks, washing (while the sun shines) and generally continuing to discover Bristol.

Wedding Anniversary

We happily celebrated another wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Congratulations also to my mum and dad that celebrated theirs on Monday.
We weren’t planning on doing too much but seeing as apparently this one is traditionally celebrated with either fruit or flowers we decided to go to dinner (of course with a fruity dessert!).
Dinner was actually fairly atrocious. I could quite happily say that I have never in the past had chewy prawns but this was a first for me. Also, not sure how badly you must cook in order for a prime rump steak to come out tough. Steve didn’t fair any better with his meal. Then they had the cheek to automatically add a tip to their bill. We only noticed this after the payment went through the Eftpos. Normally we are very happy to leave a tip however 1) we would like the choice 2) the food should at least be edible. So, I did ask for the money back in cash. How mean!
However, we did then go on to find a wonderful place that does excellent desserts. The atmosphere was relaxed, the surroundings really light, bright and airy. A real winner. We shared an almond tart and baked vanilla cheesecake. Personally, I normally don’t like either of these but thought I would give it a go. Just wonderful. The place is called Bordeaux Quay and is highly recommended. Steve also tried a Pear Cider which was a bit sweeter than he thought it would be. Again, I don’t really like cider but this was great. To top it off they even provided a good drop of coffee. What a winner. All in all, a rather great night, sitting, chatting, laughing and just generally still enjoying each others company even after all this time. What a blessing to have such a wonderful friend.

Bristol Balloons and Game Pie

Friday night we decided to go on a “hunt and gather” mission to find dinner (being very lazy as we were on Friday night). We did end up walking into the city so this must go towards “brownie points” earned towards the “gathering” aspect. Anyway, as we walked out the front door I noticed a huge hot air balloon coming our way. It was very low and such a lovely sight to see. I am quite taken with their quiet, steady movement, bright colours and of course the fact that you have a lovely warm fire source so close to hand. So here are some of those photos.
In addition, on Wednesday I usually go to the Farmers Market at St Nicolas Square which is a short stroll from where I work. I am always looking for lovely, fresh produce, especially raspberries in particular seeing as they are in season here. This time I came away with a nice bunch of beetroot (with some tips on cooking it and the leaves as I have only ever had canned beetroot), a punnet of fresh raspberries and a game pie. I had to attach a picture of the contents of this pie as it just sounded incredibly over the top. I can truly say that this is a first time dish for me as the majority of the ingredients I have never eaten before, this being the pheasant, rabbit, guinea fowl, partridge and pigeon. I don’t even know what a partridge looks let alone understand what it was doing sitting in the pear tree 🙂 Anyway, verdict on the game pie? Very gamey. OK, too obvious. Very strong taste similar to an ale pie but without the yeasty after taste. Would I have it again, maybe not, however Steve seems to be sold on it. I must admit however that the pastry was perfect!
By the way, my beetroot didn’t come out that great. Apparantly it needs a lot longer than 5 minutes to cook (that was me of course being very impatient!) Any good beetroot recipes please forward them as I still have half a bunch left.