Twizy and 67 Sculptures (well, some of them!) Day 283-284
Today we went out to see Twizy and 67 Sculptures (well, some of them!)
“Fancy coming out to play?” Our friend Alan was due to meet us on Sunday, however, the weather forecast was dismal, so he suggested we met a day early. We both had a few chores to do so arranged to meet later.
Life is different now for us. We don’t tend to rush so much and enjoy meeting and chatting with random people. On our way to John’s, we saw a guy park a funny little car with rust all over it. We crossed the road and got chatting. Tony is a brand designer Think Image and he had covered his little Twizy Renault electric car with a customised car shrink wrap so it looked as if it was rusty! Apparently, he had done the same with a new Audi and the Audi garage was very miffed that he could do such a thing to their brand. A very groovy and cool guy.
Both Tony and Tim had a common interest in electric cars and chatted away about Tesla, how our government should be leading the way and have at least hybrid buses and trucks, how this will impact the future etc. It’s so nice to chat with new people and discover what makes them tick. Great to meet you, Tony.
We eventually got to John’s after walking through the park and seeing an amazing mural on the back of someone’s home. We picked up our post up – a selection of frames from Glasses Direct for Tim to try on. A fabulous service. We needed to pick up a T-Shirt from M&S and Ewan told us about a shortcut down a pathway. Off we trotted, down the path – what’s that man doing running? Hang on a minute, someone is on the floor! We fastened our pace and reached a guy in his 30s who had fallen off his bike, had a nasty head injury and was unconscious. The young man ahead of us was already on his mobile talking with the emergency services. We talked calmly to the man and eventually, he came round, looking extremely dazed. Tim was very kind and assertive, making sure he didn’t move unnecessarily, we did manage to get the bike from underneath him so that he was more comfortable. Within a short while, the paramedics arrived and the guy insisted on getting to his feet. He was very wobbly but managed to stagger to the ambulance. We do hope he was ok….and perhaps learn to WEAR A BIKE HELMET!
The t-shirt was picked up, plus a few other chores and Alan met us at TK Max where we had sheltered from one black cloud’s precipitous chatting with a delightful lady from Jamaica (no she went of her own accord – sorry, old joke, couldn’t resist). Another chat with a stranger – it is so rewarding. If you don’t tend to speak with people you don’t know, do try it. People really are so fascinating and it is a joy connecting with others just for the sake of connecting and perhaps bringing a smile onto their face.
Our adventure had started. Alan drove us into town and we walked across the bridge to the groovy Wapping Wharf area of Bristol with containers jazzed up to become small retail units, people milling about looking hip in their cool dude clothes…and then we saw it….Alex the Lion, our first sculpture of on the Gromit Unleashed 2 trail, (donations going to Bristol Children’s Hospital).
Alan admits to being a bit OCD and needs to see all of the 67 giant sculptures of the lovable canine Gromit with his old pal Wallace and the arch nemesis Feathers McGraw. He had bought us a map and we made a plan…could we get to see 17? We wandered around the harbourside trail with a couple of extras from the Bristol trail, Alan taking the lead. It was such fun spotting the creatures along the way, stopping for photos with Alan being very careful not getting Joe public in the background. My favourite was Bristol in Bloom outside St Mary’s Redcliffe. I can imagine our friend Charron designing this one. There were more intricate designs like Gromitronic at the M Shed museum, one of the first interactive sculptures designed and sponsored by Renshaw, world-leading engineers, with its flashing lights, plasma ball nose and glittering wagging tail created out of aluminium using a 3D printer. What a great time we had, lots of laughing, chatting as well as seeing delightful works of art, finishing the day with a delicious Vietnamese meal at Pho, a family-run restaurant opened in June 2005 after owners Stephen and Juliette Wall had travelled to Vietnam and fell in love with the food. This travel lark can have interesting consequences, can’t it!
Oh – and Day 284? Not much to write home about. Sorting out paperwork and filing – booorrring! What will tomorrow bring I wonder? More Wallace and Gromit me thinks – Alan needs to tick off those 67 sculptures.
