Open days, Rugby and castles

The 'See Bristol' day was great, and in fact it should be extended to a full weekend. We had a look at the mines under Redcliffe first. They are quite extensive and only about a quarter of the complex is open. It's odd to see tree roots from underneath, or new building foundations cutting into tunnels at odd angles. There's something intriguing about unexplored caves, perhaps going back to childhood tales of treasure.

We watched the New Zealand vs Italy game at our closest bar, and were the only ones doing so, so not a very collegial atmosphere. Even J didn't watch the second half as it wasn't much of a contest. While it is nice to see a good win, I had hoped that Italy would put up more of a fight after several years in the 6 Nations. I hope they (Italy) do OK in this pool.

After this game we looked at some of the archeology being done around Bristol. With so much development going on the UK has made archeology a competition where businesses quote for exploration work prior to any new buildings going up. It seems a recipe for quick and superficial work to me, and a far cry from the traditional methodical digs I had supposed were used. Bristol seems to have little regard for its heritage: the castle is hardly visible, and certainly not a tourist feature; there are few information boards for any buildings of historical interest; new building quickly covers any historical remnants, and so. One day a year they let the citizens in on some of these little known secrets. We all know it is a matter of money, but some cities realise their heritage can actually bring money in if it is properly marketed.

We saw Bristol from the roof of St Mary's, including looking into our own windows. We're very used to the opposite sight of course. We could have rung the bells had we been earlier, but both of us would probably have considered cutting the ropes instead...

The England-USA game was on so we thought we'd better see how our host country went. Not very well, it turned out. I had been allowed a beer (one and a half actually) during our game, but this game was dry. At least the crowd was a little more interested. Actually, the football was on at the other end of the bar (England vs Israel) so there were competing cries of encouragement or disappointment. As England won the soccer 3-0 at least that crowd were happy, and the rugby watchers could gain some consolation.

The next day was the Bristol Half-Marathon so the streets were awash with people. We had popped out to the slow-food market only to find we were a week late, and saw the last of the walkers coming in. The roads were still blocked off when we had decided to drive out for a picnic, but by ignoring cones and tape we managed to get into the queues of cars heading away from the city centre. Perhaps we could have put some Canadian flags on the car and pretended to have been an official convoy, but it's probably not too convincing in a single Vauxhall Astra. We did eventually get to Blaise Castle in west Bristol, and very nice it was too. Since summer is over the sun has been out nearly every day and we had a lovely picnic and walk around the grounds.

So that was the weekend.