Bristol

  • Crowdfunding for Bristolians only

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities, Tech

    What could have been a fine report on a local space technology story has been ruined by poor writing in the Bristol Post.

    Yesterday’s Post carried a story on Bristol SpacePlanes and its efforts to develop a reusable orbital vehicle.

    CGI impression of Bristol SpacePlanes Ascender craft
    A CGI impression of the Bristol SpacePlanes Ascender craft

    The Post’s journalist gets off to a bad start in the first sentence:

    Bristolians are being invited to help launch planes into space in a new crowd-funding [sic] campaign.

    Just Bristolians, Bristol Post?

    I thought the idea of crowdfunding (minus the hyphen. Ed.), was that anyone can be part of the crowd that provides the funds, irrespective of geography.

    This suspicion is borne out by 30 seconds research. The first item on crowdfunding I found, from Wikipedia, states: “Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet.”

    Nowhere in the Wikipedia entry is there is indication at all that crowdfunding is to be restricted solely to Bristolians.

    Or am I just misreading to local media’s propensity to find a local angle to a story? Here’s a hint: it already has one, featuring a local high technology company and doesn’t need a second one! 🙂

  • TidyBS5 at the Neighbourhood Forum

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    The regular meeting of the Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Forum took place in Barton Hill yesterday evening and once again the problems of litter and fly-tipping were a prominent item.

    I gave a brief summary of what had been happening campaign-wise over the last month and there were also some excellent contributions regarding future actions.

    One new development was a cleanliness petition which attendees were encouraged to sign by local councillors Hibaq Jama and Marg Hickman. The petition will be going online shortly and a link to it will be posted here when it’s available.

    One new angle to the cleanliness campaign is the Tidy BS5 Volunteer of the Month. The December winner is Angela Smith, who organised a Sunday litter pick in November in Bloy Street with her neighbours.

    Angela Smith receiving her award
    Angela Smith receiving her award. PiEdcture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    The local police also support TidyBS, as can be seen from the photo below.

    Police and local residents show support for TidyBS5
    Police and local residents show support for TidyBS5. Picture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    Bristol Mayor George Ferguson will be visiting Easton & Lawrence Hill wards in January and his minders for that visit will be making sure that the litter and fly-tipping problems which residents and those working in the area have to endure daily are well and truly to the fore in his itinerary.

    One related matter raised was recycling in the area’s high-rise flats. Young local people are trying to get then instated in some local tower blocks. At present, some blocks dating from the 1960s and with over 1,000 residents have no recycling facilities at all. (Not a very positive message or good example from a city that’s only a fortnight or so away from being European Green Capital for 2015. Ed.). However, Deputy Mayor Gus Hoyt has been talking to researchers at UWE about recycling in high-rise blocks. UWE’s researchers have found out that when flats are given recycling boxes, the average recycling rate is only about 10%. In reality it is more economical and efficient to collect rubbish together and then sort it at the waste depot. Gus’ research is continuing and will no doubt lead to changes in recycling practices sometime in the future

  • Gaunt’s Ham Park supports TidyBS5

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Social Media

    This morning residents living around Gaunt’s Ham Park in Barton Hill became the latest to add their support for the TidyBS5 campaign to rid the streets of BS5 of litter and fly-tipping (posts passim).

    The picture below was posted online earlier this morning by Up Our Street.

    Gaunts Ham Park residents with banner
    Picture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    The more support, the more chance there is that Bristol City Council will take the residents of East Bristol seriously when the raise their voices, something they have not always done in the past.

  • TidyBS5’s message spreads

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    The message about residents wanting BS5 to be kept tidier is spreading. Pictured below are some of the residents of Easton’s Bloy Street calling for cleanliness. The picture is courtesy of Stacy Yelland of Up Our Street.

    Bloy Street calls for a Tidy BS5
    Bloy Street calls for a Tidy BS5

    Last Friday, together with local councillor Marg Hickman, I attended a meeting with Up Our Street and Bristol City Council to discuss litter and fly-tipping in the area. Some very interesting facts came out.

    To begin with, the Neighbourhood Partnership area covered by BS5, consisting of Ashley, Easton and Lawrence Hill wards, is the worst in Bristol for fly-tipping, with 560 reports in the last quarter alone.

    Our old friends, the communal bins were discussed at length, particularly their role as a magnet for fly-tipping (posts passim).

    The opportunities for basing action on Bristol’s forthcoming tenure as European Green Capital 2015 were raised too. (If Bristol cannot clean its act up in places like the inner city, it’s in very grave danger of being Greenwash Capital instead! Ed.)

    Street clutter was also on the agenda, something the motorists’ friends, Bristol’s Tories, have noticed, particularly as regards the city’s proliferation of road signs.

    Turning to actions, as a result of the meeting, Marg and I will be visiting local schools to discuss litter, recycling and the like with pupils next year, in addition to which I’ve been asked to write a regular piece on rubbish-related matters in the quarterly local news sheet (also called Up Our Street. Ed.) that goes to Easton and Lawrence residents.

    As another way of publicising TidyBS5, Hannah Crudgington has suggested a monthly litter champion award for those public-spirited people out there who are prepared put themselves out to deal with what others have failed to put in bins or take home with them.

    Finally, other parts of the city, such as St Paul’s and St George, now which to emulate what’s been started in BS5.

  • Pointless paving

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    One thing living in Bristol for nearly 4 decades has taught me is that Bristol City Council is profligate and lacks competence.

    This was once again brought sharply into focus earlier this morning in a dead-end street called Clifton Street (map) leading to the back entrance of Easton CofE Primary School where I encountered the roadworks shown in the photograph below.

    image of dropped kerbs and textured paving on a dead-end street
    Bristol’s most pointless dropped kerbs?

    The view shows the entrance into the staff car park of the school, the approach to which has just been enhanced by 2 dropped kerbs and textured paving on each of the street’s two footways as part of works to replace the street’s kerbstones.

    There are only going to be two times in the day on weekdays when there is likely to be any traffic at all on Clifton Street – before and after the school day.

    As for the use of textured paving, this is generally installed to assist the visually impaired and I cannot see many visually impaired people using dead-end streets in Easton anyway.

    I wonder how much this municipal largesse by the city’s highways department has cost the public purse.

    If the city council really wanted to spend money on roadworks in Easton, there’s plenty of other stuff that needs attention, as shown in the example below.

    damaged Stapleton Road pedestrian refuge
    Picture courtesy of Hannah Crudgington

    The damaged pedestrian refuge shown above is on Stapleton Road, just a couple of hundred metres away from Clifton Street. Local residents have been attempting to get the council to repair it for over 6 months, after it was damaged by a bus driver with delusions of driving competence. These efforts have so far come to nought.

    In the recent TidyBS5 residents’ rubbish summit (posts passim), it was stated that council officers frequently intone the words “It’s the inner city” as an excuse for lack of action. Clearly this only works one way, i.e. when the lack of action concerns something either highlighted or desired by residents; when the initiative comes from within the council, there’s apparently no object, no matter how pointless what is proposed. I’ve encountered this ‘not invented here’ syndrome before in local authorities.

    It’s normal to see a spate of daft council spending in March each year, just before the municipal financial year runs out. This year it seems that Bristol City Council is providing the residents of Easton with an early Christmas present in the form of dumb expenditure.

  • Skip Bins of Easton – the extended version

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    An extended version of the original Skip Bins of Easton was produced for screening at last Monday’s Tidy BS5 Residents’ Rubbish Summit (posts passim).

    The summit itself was attended by 26 residents plus 2 local councillors, Marg Hickman and Hibaq Jama, as well as the city council’s neighbourhood manager, Kurt James. Some very clear messages came out of the summit about (the lack of) enforcement and the abuse and unpopularity of the area’s communal bins (aka skip bins. Ed.).

    group photo of residents at Tidybs5 meeting
    Residents spell out their message at the TidyBS5 summit

    Another message that came out clearly was highlighted by Councillor Jama. She’s challenged council officers about the substandard level of service received by the residents of BS5 (principally Easton, Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill) and BS2 (principally St Pauls and St Werburghs). She related that officers use the mantra “It’s the inner city” as an excuse for their lack of action. The meeting also gave a clear message that this attitude is also not acceptable.

  • Takeaway turns up heat on fly-tippers

    Steve WoodsBristol

    Chinese takeaway Sun Hing on Stapleton Road must have had some trouble with fly-tippers in the past.

    As a commercial outlet, the takeaway is required by the council to have – and pay for – its own contract with a waste disposal service.

    If one has paid for a service, then one evidently doesn’t want others (ab)using it for free.

    The sign below has recently appeared above Sun Hing’s bins in Newton Street.

    photo of bins and sign outside Sun Hing takeway on Stapleton Road

    There actually is a CCTV camera covering the bins, but it is out of shot.

    Hat tip: Hannah Crudgington.

  • Travelodge produces guide to the West country accent

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    Alright me babber? Have you heard that hotel chain Travelodge has produced a guide to the West Country accent? The Gloucestershire Echo has.

    The Echo article has a brief list of common phrases – presumably from Travelodge’s publication – to help visitors get by in the West:

    • Alright me Babber: How are you?
    • Oldies: Holiday
    • Fotawl: Photograph
    • Pown: Pound (Money)
    • Safternun: This afternoon
    • Laters: See you later
    • My luvver: A term of endearment
    • Tiswas: Confused
    • Gurt lush: Really good
    • Babba: Baby

    Adge Cutler
    Adge Cutler – an archetypal West Country man
    The West Country accent is the third most popular in the country, according to research, behind the Geordie and Yorkshire accents (don’t tell my Lancastrian brother-in-law! Ed.).

    One noticeable omission from the glossary above is ‘daps‘, Bristolian dialect for those shoes used for PE in schools, otherwise known as plimsolls or pumps. Bristolians also use the term to describe trainers.

    The research also found that people who speak in West Country accents are less likely to be able to understand the accents of other people from elsewhere in Britain than they could understand Spanish or Italian. Curious (Blige! As one would say in Bristol. Ed.).

    My copy of the Oxford Companion to the English Language, published 20 years ago, says the following about West Country accents:

    The range of accents in the West Country extends from broad in the working-class and in rural areas through accents modified towards RP in the town and the lower middle class to RP proper in the middle and upper classes. Local speech is rhotic, with a retroflex /r/ in such words as rap, trip and r-coloured vowels in words such as car/cart. Postvocalic /r/ is widely retained in such cities as Bristol and Exeter, despite the influence of RP, which is non-rhotic. In other cities, such as Plymouth and Bournemouth, rhoticity varies. Traces of variable r-pronunciation are found as close to London as Reading and Berkshire.

    The entry then goes on to deal extensively with local grammar, vocabulary and the literary West Country.

    Hat tip: Yelena McCafferty.

  • Coming soon: St Werburghs Christmas Market

    Steve WoodsBristol

    St Werburghs Community Centre will soon be holding its famous indoor Christmas Market, running this time in the evening between 5 and 8pm on Friday 12th December.

    publicity poster for Christmas market

    On offer will be gourmet burgers from the Stovemonkey Smokehouse, fresh Italian coffee and homemade cakes from Rolling Italy, St Werburghs Community Centre’s very own Glühwein and mulled apple juice, plus festive live singing from the brilliant BYOB and Bartones choirs. There will be 45 stalls offering a wide variety of unusual festive gifts, clothes and art, etc., plus mask-making and face painting for the kids and other games, as well as a tombola stall.

    For further details, contact 0117 955 1351 or email heather (at) stwerburghs.org.uk

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