Bristol

  • Tidy BS5: plus ça change…

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Politics

    Coming into the Bristol Wireless lab this afternoon,I found that the weekend spring clean by 2 of our volunteers had thrown up a copy of “renewal“, bylined “the newsletter of Easton and Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Renewal” dated March 2006, over nine years ago.

    Turning to page 12, the subject matter seemed to have a familiar look to it, as per the scanned and cropped page below.

    article headline zero tolerance and featuring fly-tipping, litter, abandoned vehicles and the like

    Fly-tipping, litter, rubbish, graffiti: these all sound like themes currently receiving the attention of the Tidy BS5 campaign by local residents and councillors, ably assisted and supported by Up Our Street.

    The 2006 article then goes on to give telephone numbers for residents to call to deal with these matters. The telephone number for reporting street cleaning matters and abandoned cars, etc. has since changed to 0117 922 2100 and readers may find it more convenient to report these and other problems online.

    The fact that so little has changed, reminds of a quotation from the late Tony Benn.

    There is no final victory, as there is no final defeat. There is just the same battle. To be fought, over and over again. So toughen up, bloody toughen up.

  • More culinary sexism

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    Perhaps taking its lead from a city centre café in Bristol (posts passim), multinational junk food chain McDonalds has now introduced sexism onto its menu.

    The advertisement below was spotted on Easton Way, Bristol this morning.

    McDonalds advertising poster featuring manly sausage and bacon breakfast muffin

    Once again bacon and sausage are apparently foods exclusively for men. If any woman is ‘man enough’ to ask for them, what would that make her – a tomboy or a butch lesbian? Or simply unfeminine?

    Answers in the comments below, please McDonalds.

  • Tidy BS5: reporting online

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Tech

    Everywhere one travels in the United Kingdom, the common perception of residents is that their council is useless and costs too much.

    Bristol is no exception to this commonly accepted opinion of local authorities.

    In the past your correspondent has been no stranger to criticising Bristol City Council. However, there is one aspect of its operations where praise is due; and that’s its online presence. Compared with some local authority websites I have visited, Bristol City Council’s ranks amongst the best in my opinion. Indeed this blog has in the past praised Know Your Place, where one can get an intimate knowledge of the city and its long, proud history (posts passim). The open data section is worth a browse too.

    fly-posting on Easton Way Bristol
    Fly-posting: report it online

    This amazingly useful online presence is also apparent if one is concerned with street care and cleaning in Bristol. This is where one can report and obtain information on all kinds of problems encountered in urban steets.

    The following can all be reported online:

    graffiti on communal bin
    Graffiti or overflowing bin? Report it online

    Reporting road and cleaning problems online is by far the most convenient way of letting the council know of any problems encountered and as such can help to expedite their remedying, so get reporting. Most problems seem to be resolved within the promised 2 working days, although I must point out to any passing councillors and/or BCC officers that the system does occasionally break down.

  • Braking bad

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities

    The Bristol Post, no stranger to the pages of this blog, has a sister paper, the Western Daily Press.

    Both used to be produced in Bristol and were printed at the – now vanished – print hall of the Temple Way Ministry of Truth.

    There used to be an old Bristol joke about the local press. It ran as follows: there are 2 newspapers in Bristol; there’s the Western Daily Press, which carries stories about far-flung corners of the West Country such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh (or any other 3 major UK cities of your choice. Ed.), and the Bristol Evening Post (as it was then called. Ed.), which carries stories about far-flung corners of the West Country such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh and 50 pages of classified advertising.

    However, both the Post and the Press have more in common than their heritage and ownership. They are both badly written.

    Thursday’s Press carried a piece which puts it firmly in homophone corner with a dunce’s hat on its head, as shown by the following screenshot.

    text reads Motorists reported the lorry broke hard as it approached a roundabout

    For the benefit of passing Press “journalists”, here’s where your anonymous colleague went wrong.

    You confused the heterographic verbs to break and to brake.

    The former, which you used, is a strong verb, also called an irregular verb; these verbs form the past tense or the past participle (or both) in various ways but most often by changing the vowel of the present tense form. In this instance, break (present tense), broke (past tense), broken (past participle).

    The latter, which you should have used in this case, is a weak verb. These (also called regular verbs) form the past tense by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the base form (or present tense form) of the verb (e.g. call, called).

    Got it now?

    Good! 🙂

  • A chance meeting

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    Walking down Stapleton Road this morning, I stopped to take the picture below in readiness for reporting the fly-tipping to Bristol City Council.

    fly-tipping outside 96 Stapleton Road

    The gentleman passing on the right of the picture and half caught by the camera saw what I was doing, thanked me effusively and shook my hand when I told him I was reporting it to the council.

    We then had a brief conversation about how such anti-social behaviour detracted from the pleasantness of Bristol, which he described as a “beautiful city”, the health implications of fly-tipping and the way they encouraged the spread of vermin such as rats (posts passim).

    As we parted with waves, he asked me whether I was a member of the Green Party. Unfortunately I have no affiliation, but that’s no barrier to being an active and caring citizen.

  • Sexism in café society

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Social Media

    An unnamed café in Bristol is apparently serving his and hers breakfasts.

    café menu board featuring his and hers breakfasts

    Yes, that’s right! Men get to scoff tortilla, bacon, sausages, 2 token items of fruit/vegetables (tomato and mushroom), Cheddar cheese, ham roll and butter, whilst women are supposed to pick their way daintily through muffin, poached egg, smoked salmon, salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion, blueberries, yoghurt and pumpkin seeds.

    Men can obviously let their figures go to pot (and blood cholesterol levels too. Ed.), whilst women are automatically assumed to be on a diet; women have “gotta stay slim for our men obvz” in the scathing words of one on social media.

    This isn’t the first time that sexism has emerged at breakfast time (posts passim).

    Update 30/04/15: The his and hers labels are being removed from the menu according to the Western Daily Press, which also revealed the name of the establishment as Caffe Be On. In addition, this post was quoted in yesterday’s Daily Mirror.

    Hat tip: MarinaS.

  • Post exclusive: Bristol Rovers change kit

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Oddities

    There’s a hidden exclusive in today’s online edition of the Bristol Post. Unknown to the fans and probably the club itself, the Post reveals that Bristol Rovers now play in “blue and white stripes“, as shown by the following screenshot.

    screenshot featuring text But it turned out to be Sabadell fans, who were decked out in their home kit, which looks similar to the Rovers's blue and white stripes

    For the benefit of passing Post journalists, here are the three strips currently used by Bristol Rovers. Please note the only stripes are on the alternative away colours and have one thin blue stripe. The pattern used on the regular strip is commonly known as “quarters“.

    image of three current Bristol Rovers strips
    Image courtesy of Wikipedia

    The Post also mentions in the article that Catalonia’s CE Sabadell FC (who are in the Spanish Segunda División. Ed.) play in a strip “similar” to that of Rovers. FC Sabadell’s current strips are shown below and yes, the home strips do look very similar, even if the teams’ respective league positions do not; Rovers are chasing promotion from the Conference, whilst Sabadell are fighting relegation.

    Sabadell strips from Spanish Wikipedia
    Image courtesy of Wikipedia

    Let’s hope the players of both teams are more on target than Bristol’s alleged newspaper of record. 🙂

  • The pavement pizza of politics

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    Banksy, probably Bristol’s most visible artist since the days when noted portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence (13th April 1769 – 7th January 1830) became President of the Royal Academy of Arts, has now given allegedly given his opinion on Mr Farage’s party of right-wing xenophobes; and I don’t think Nigel will be enamoured with it.

    stencil of UKIP being regurgitated by a vomiting woman

    This image will now be forever in my mind whenever the words ‘United Kingdom Independence Party‘ appear before me on a ballot paper.

  • The Wild Wild Bristol West Hustings

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Tech

    ORG logoOn Friday 24th April 2015, the Open Rights Group is supporting the Wild Wild Bristol West Hustings, a chance for local voters to quiz the candidates for the Bristol West constituency – rated by commentators as either a 2-way or 3-way marginal constituency.

    The event will be from 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. and its venue is Bristol University’s Wills Memorial Building, Park Street, Bristol BS8 1RJ (map).

    In alphabetical order, the candidates attending as this post goes to press include:

    More information about the prospective Bristol West MPs is available at http//meetyournextmp.com/event/646-wild-wild-bristol-west-your-future.

    The event is free, but in order to allocate spaces fairly, you’ll have to register via EventBrite.

    The event is being supported by ORG Bristol as part of the organisers, the Greater Bristol Alliance, a coalition of local campaign groups.

    Reposted from Bristol Wireless.

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