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My top ten tweets of 2016

WHSmithSo here are my top ten tweets of 2016, ranked by the number of times it was seen on Twitter.

In 10th, 9th, 8th and 7th position are some random tweets of photographs taken in various branches of WHSmith.

These tweets were re-tweeted by the amusing @WHS_Carpet Twitter account. If like me you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, WHSMith was a real high street institution, which though surviving today still seems to have lost its way somewhat.

My 6th most popular tweet was an image comic strip of a Dara O’Briain routine on video games.

I was surprised by how popular the 5th tweet was, which was about some great images from JD Hancock on the Flickr.

A reply to Google was number four.

I was disappointed that NERC did not name their boat BoatyMcBoatface, but I did like how they embraced the whole thing, as I said in my third most popular tweet.

A work tweet was number two…

And my most popular tweet of 2016 was a silly comment for #WednesdayWisdom

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Changes at the railway station




Though I am more likely to spend time at Worle station, I have been known to catch trains from the main station in Weston-super-Mare. Despite being a smallish town, Weston has three railway stations. The main station which opened in 1884 replacing the original station which opened in 1841. Weston Milton opened in 1933, a small halt to serve the then expanding Milton area. Worle station was opened in 1990 and unlike the other two stations, which are on the Weston loop, Worle is on the main Bristol to Plymouth line.

Over the years the railway station at Weston-super-Mare, well in terms of tracks, has changed quite a bit, even if the buildings and platforms have remained as much as they have since the line was built. This photograph from the local paper reminded me of how much has changed.

Weston-super-Mare Railway Station

Back then there was an up and down line on the Weston loop. There was also multiple sidings for good and carriages. I suspect a lot of the coal wagons for the local gas works were stored there awaiting return to the Welsh collieries.

By the late 1970s (the BR HST is still in blue and grey), when this image was taken on 28th March 1978, most of the sidings have now been taken away and replaced with a coach park. Lots of visitors to Weston-super-Mare were now coming by coach. The light brown building on the right of the photograph in the background is the Odeon cinema which is still there today, but Weston is getting it’s own multiplex at Dolphin Square.

Weston-super-Mare Railway Station Copyright Roger Winnen

You can see a lot of the points had been removed too.

By the time of this Google Street View image, the sidings have all been removed and replaced with a Tesco store and car park (which was the focus of the story in the local paper). Hildesheim Bridge was built in 1991 and crosses the eastern end of the platforms.

Weston-super-Mare Railway Station

Hildesheim is the German town which Weston is twinned with.

Change happens and over the next few years I suspect we will see more change.

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Ten amazing sand sculptures

Here are ten of my favourite sculptures from this year’s Sand Sculptures at Weston-super-Mare. This year’s theme was “when I grow up…” and there was a range of sculptures that were inspired by this theme. Click the image for larger versions.

So who wanted to be a firefighter when they grew up? So there are the fires, the hoses and the water.

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If I found these surgeons looking over me, just about to go under a general anaesthetic, I would be feeling rather scared. These are rather freaky.

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Now who wants to go to the moon? Astronauts are often a childhood dream. This sculpture was really tall and I was impressed with the height of the thing, and the nice details, like the chimpanzee looking out of the window of the rocket.

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A rather depressed farmer looks after his crops and a sullen cow. Maybe its’ the sand, but he does look sad. The sculpture was rather flat, and it was quite effective.

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No this wasn’t about someone growing up to be a Pharaoh or even an Egyptian god, no this was about growing up to be an archaeologist, you can see the little figures in the sand.

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I think this was a vet, or someone wanting to be a mad scientist growing over sized dogs.

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Lots of young people want to be professional footballers.

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Tut, tut, construction worker stereotype!

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This was just plain freaky! No idea what it was supposed to represent.

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Yes, we can all grow up to be superman! To infinity and beyond… oh wait!

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I am always impressed with the quality and the ideas of the sculptures.

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“The Old New World”

Wonderfully clever photo based animation of American from the early 20th Century.

Each image required the creator to remove the moving and static elements to create a 3D model for the animations. Once completed, he began the second stage: creation of full computer graphics of various animals, people, vehicles, and other relevant details.

Lovely stuff

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Better than a bear wall

I did quite like this Bankey’esque street art on the side of the wall of the Bare Grills restaurent in Weston-super-Mare.

Better than a bear wall

Though the claws on the bear prints are a bit worrying!

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Bizarre Balloons

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From the 11th to the 14th August this year is the annual Bristol Balloon Festival.

The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest annual meeting of hot air balloons, attracting over 150 Hot Air Balloons from across the globe. The Fiesta truly is a sight that can only be seen in Bristol. Held over four days in August at Ashton Court Estate, the event is completely free with charges made for parking on the event site. Tickets can be purchased here. Alongside the fantastic site of hot air balloons filling the skies, we have a large number of great trade stands, fairground rides and entertainment.

One of the highlights for many people at the balloon festival are the themed balloons. Here are some more photographs I took at last year’s festival of some of those balloons.

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Due to the windy conditions last year as the mass ascent I was at, some of the shaped balloons weren’t inflated or took off.

There were lots of other balloons though.

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Bristol Balloon Festival

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From the 11th to the 14th August this year is the annual Bristol Balloon Festival.

The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest annual meeting of hot air balloons, attracting over 150 Hot Air Balloons from across the globe. The Fiesta truly is a sight that can only be seen in Bristol. Held over four days in August at Ashton Court Estate, the event is completely free with charges made for parking on the event site. Tickets can be purchased here. Alongside the fantastic site of hot air balloons filling the skies, we have a large number of great trade stands, fairground rides and entertainment.

Here are some more photographs I took at last year’s festival.

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Up, up and away…

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From the 11th to the 14th August this year is the annual Bristol Balloon Festival.

The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest annual meeting of hot air balloons, attracting over 150 Hot Air Balloons from across the globe. The Fiesta truly is a sight that can only be seen in Bristol. Held over four days in August at Ashton Court Estate, the event is completely free with charges made for parking on the event site. Tickets can be purchased here. Alongside the fantastic site of hot air balloons filling the skies, we have a large number of great trade stands, fairground rides and entertainment.

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We went last year and had a really nice time watching the mass ascent of the numerous hot air balloons.

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For me the real highlight of this festival are the mass ascents. You can get really quite close to the balloons as they rise.

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Of course if you aren’t interested in hot air balloons, then there is a bundle of other stuff you can do, from stalls to fairground rides.

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It should be noted that if you don’t like crowds then this probably isn’t the event for you, though you could always go to the early morning ascents.

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I know a lot of people like the night glow on the Thursday night, my previous experience was that the whole thing was incredible, but ruined by the constantly moving crowds, so I now watch it on the telly.

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Making the most of my membership

For my birthday I received a membership of the National Trust and we have been visiting a fair few places. The membership gives us free entry (and free parking) to hundreds of places across England and Wales as well as entry to properties in sister organisations such as the National Trust for Scotland.

I have decided to keep track of where we have been and what it would have cost us if we had actually paid to get in.

It’s not a true reflection, as if we had to pay the full entry price, we would probably have spent the entire day there. When we went to Dunster Castle we only spent a couple of hours, and there was so much we didn’t see, we are planning to go again.

King John’s Hunting Lodge
Two adults £5.00
Children go free

Stourhead

Stourhead

Parking £3.00
Family Ticket £39.20

Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle

Parking £2.50
Family Ticket £28.40

Sand Point

Sand Point

Free (no saving)

Tyntesfield

Tynetesfield House

Parking £3.00
Family Ticket £38.65

Brean Down

Brean Down

Parking £3.50

Overall we would have spent £123.25 on tickets and parking, which now exceeds the £111 cost of a family membership. So still nearly nine months left to go. Wonder how much we will save?

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Elementary my dear Watson

I have visited Baker Street for work on a quite a few occasions for work, but on my most recent visit I was quite surprised to see Sherlock Holmes looking down on me quite close to the tube station.

Sherlock Holmes

I’ve not noticed him before, most of the time I am trying to avoid the crowds outside Madam Tussauds. Though I think a more realistic Holmes and Watson would be fun. Though a bit of a fan of Sherlock Holmes books, TV and films, I have never bothered to visit 221b Baker Street, in the main as I believe it is not a real address and is in fact a bank!