Respite

Tewkesbury ~ November 2023

Construction of The Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol

The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides funds for its maintenance. The bridge is built to a design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is a Grade I listed building and forms part of the B3129 road.

The idea of building a bridge across the Avon Gorge originated in 1753. Original plans were for a stone bridge and later iterations were for a wrought iron structure. In 1831, an attempt to build Brunel's design was halted by the Bristol riots, and the revised version of his designs was built after his death and completed in 1864. Although similar in size and design, the bridge towers are not identical, the Clifton tower having side cut-outs, the Leigh tower more pointed arches atop a 110-foot (34 m) red sandstone-clad abutment. Roller-mounted "saddles" at the top of each tower allow movement of the three independent wrought iron eyebar chains on each side when loads pass over the bridge. The bridge deck is suspended by 162 vertical wrought-iron rods in 81 matching pairs.

Nestled on the River Avon, Stratford is a mecca for theatre-goers.

Willows and water

Pulteney Weir, Bath, U.K., December 2023

Pulteney Bridge

Bath, England

Some small highlights this weekend include seeing the Melksham swans' cygnets for the first time this year (they have three!) and one of the dogs at the hairdressers choosing to sit on my lap while my hair was being done.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Ok so on my homebrew D&D world Erroeth there's a gulf that is the only stretch of coast that the Ryuu Council still controls. In their language, they call this gulf "Shōri no Wan" (Gulf of Victory).

When the Skendish Elves managed to establish contact with the Dragons of the Ryuu Council and they asked "what is this place called" they understood "shore no-wan", so they began calling the gulf "Nowan's Shore".

When some Comian Human trader asked the Skends "what's this place called" the interpreter understood "no-one's shore", but then noticing that it was clearly not a shore but a gulf they began calling the place "Golfo di Nessuno" (Nobody's Gulf).

Some fun linguistic worldbuilding I did today in class ^-^

Bristol in England has been prominent since the eleventh century, and was for a long time England's second largest city, but post-industrial decline has meant redundancy for some old loading areas.

Calm

A Bristol Summer Evening (UK)

The Clifton Suspension Bridge & The River Avon at full Tide

Even in winter, Bath's power to sooth the soul remains undimmed

There are 3 (dead) bikes in this photo / in the river Avon.

Can you spot them all?