Diagon Alley at Bristol Temple Meads
I’ve always liked the look of the Bonapart’s Cafe at Bristol Temple Meads.
As I said at the time it reminded me of the magical Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter series of films.
My top ten tweets of 2018
Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2017 and I did the same in 2016 which were interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular.
The top tweet back in 2016 was this one for #WednesdayWisdom
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. #WednesdayWisdom
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 18, 2016
Whilst top tweet for 2017 was this one from the 2017 ALT Conference and it was my sketchnote of Bonnie Stewart’s keynote on openness.
My sketch note of the @bonstewart keynote here at #altc pic.twitter.com/1ZvARS9R7t
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 5, 2017
My tenth most popular blog was a response to another tweet of mine which was responding to the question:
Men of Twitter, is there a woman that you look up to in your own field or in another one? Who is she and why does she inspire you?
Also @dresdeb @nicwhitton @liz_isabella @RosieJHJones @EdTechYogi @TrabiMechanic @angefitzpatrick @senorcthulhu I learn so much from these people and they inspire you to think differently about stuff. Just one, no there are many.
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 26, 2018
The ninth most popular tweet was a response to a Jeremy Vine about tweeting and cyclists. My point was that signs don’t work!
This should read
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 2, 2018
If every sign saying CYCLISTS DISMOUNT was replaced by one saying EAT DOUGHNUTS we would solve the obesity crisis https://t.co/gcMzVpJueM
The tweet at number eight was responding to the question:
Men of Twitter, is there a woman that you look up to in your own field or in another one? Who is she and why does she inspire you?
There are many great women in edtech that I look up to. follow @MarenDeepwell @sheilmcn @DonnaLanclos @LornaMCampbell @sarahjenndavies @bonstewart @audreywatters @KerryPinny @ambrouk @VivienRolfe @chrissinerantzi @suethomas @suebecks @Dr_Black @actualham @WarwickLanguage @jsecker
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 26, 2018
The seventh most popular tweet was my sketch note of Maren Deepwell’s keynote at the 2018 ALT Conference.
#altc my sketch note of the @MarenDeepwell keynote hare at the ALT Conference pic.twitter.com/Jahr4BWJuk
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 13, 2018
The tweet at number six was about Bristolian emoji.
https://twitter.com/jamesclay/status/1019686814536421377Fifth tweet was a reply to Andy Ihnatko with a composed image of Andy with Beyonce on the International Space Station.
Okay… Will this help? pic.twitter.com/rFaP0WropO
— James Clay (@jamesclay) January 30, 2018
No real idea why the tweet at number 4 was so popular, it was just a complaint about some issues I was having with Twitter back in April.
Still having @Twitter issues. Unable to access many pages on the web app, and tweets not loading on the iOS App. Tweetdeck working as is https://t.co/jnkaZ1wG4O which is why I can post this. Bizarre.
— James Clay (@jamesclay) April 17, 2018
The third tweet which saw The Range competing with WHSmith on shop floor tidiness.
Ah The Range trying to outdo WHSmith. cc @WHS_Carpet pic.twitter.com/YaUjyEmIpn
— James Clay (@jamesclay) February 8, 2018
Second most popular tweet was about a carpet, a carper in a WHSmith in the Bristol area.
Some great looking @WHS_Carpet here from the [REDACTED] WHS store. All the carpet was like this. It really needed replacing. I felt dirty just walking on it. pic.twitter.com/wTZUY6kLIE
— James Clay (@jamesclay) August 21, 2018
My most popular tweet in 2017 was about the newly revamped WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads complete with storage cage!
Ooh nicely spruced up new WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station. Compete with new flooring (no carpet), new signs, new shelving. Original storage cage in shop floor though. cc @WHS_Carpet pic.twitter.com/fJg0EgO6f8
— James Clay (@jamesclay) June 21, 2018
44. Game of Cones
Disguised as a huge ice cream, 44. Game of Cones can be found near to the main entrance to Bristol Temple Meads.
I do like the waffle cone feet.
Back in 2015 I attempted to see and photograph all 70 Shaun the Sheeps I managed to get 62. This time I am aiming to get all 67 sculptures. I have created this page to record all the sculptures we find. Download the app to find the sculptures.
Time travelling by train
At Bristol Temple Meads I did wonder if I had travelled back in time to 1976, as there was a British Rail blue and yellow engine on the platform. My train yesterday morning included a very different engine, this was a GWR High Speed Train painted in the original colours when the train entered service forty years ago in 2016.
This was painted up specially for an event in May to celebrate forty years of the HST. I thought it was nice that only was it painted up in the original colours, but is currently being used to pull trains. It’s a pity that they couldn’t paint a whole train in the original colours.
Temporary – Shaun in the City
Despite they’ve only been in the city for a while, at least one of the Shauns as been damaged and has been taken away for some TLC. So not to disappoint people, a temporary green Shaun is put in place, until the original has been fixed, repaired and then returned.
I also took some new shots of two I have already photographed, not sure why.
Another shot of the Great West Shaun
Also another of Bagpuss
Ten out of Seventy – Shaun in the City
At the weekend in the sun we were in Bristol, one of the little ones was spending some of her birthday money. While we were there we started finding and ticking off the seventy Shaun the Sheep sculptures that have been placed around the city.
In 2015, Shaun the Sheep stars in two ewe-nique charity arts trails across Bristol and London, organised by Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation – introducing, Shaun in the City!
From 6th July to 31st August, the charity are bringing 70 b-ewe-tiful giant Shaun the Sheep sculptures, created by artists, designers and celebrities, to iconic locations and green spaces across Bristol for the public to enjoy. Back in spring, our first flock of 50 entirely ewe-nique Shauns arrived in London on 28th March and made the capital’s pastures their home until 31st May.
I have created a page to record all the Shauns we find and here are the first ten.
56. Cecilia
Cecilia is a very “traditional” Shaun the Sheep, he looks like a sheep wearing a quilted vest!
57.Baguss Shaun
Is this Shaun or Bagpuss, clever painting makes this look more like a cat than a sheep. Of course, when Bagpus goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep…
58. Lily
Munching on the grass, Lily appears to be quite at home on Lower Castle Street.
59. Knitwit
Slightly crowded off on Saturday by the fencing surrounding the Pride festival, this multi-coloured sheep certainly didn’t look out of place next door to the festival.
62. Alright me Babber?
A challenging sheep to photograph, not just because like us everyone was trying to take a photo of Shaun, but also with all the train travellers attempting to leave and arrive at Bristol Temple Meads.
63. The Bristol Express
Can we make Shaun look like a railway line? Well we can try…
64. Great West Shaun
Shaun looks better as a train, complete with smoke, steam, buffers and a boiler.
65. Rose
Looking very much like a painted canal boat next to the river by Valentine’s Bridge (which I now know is called Valentine’s Bridge).
66. Bingo
Next to quite a busy road, Bingo is a colourful addition.
67. Sheepish
We nearly missed this one, we didn’t have a map with us at the time, but I saw a load of people crowded into Temple Church Gardens and I wondered what they were doing, then I noticed the pink. Here we have Shaun attempting to be a pink poodle…
So ten down and sixty to go….
Travelling stories
I recounted earlier this week the problems affecting my travels to work caused by the weather.
It actually hasn’t got much better.
On Wednesday I checked to see the trains were running and they seemed to be running fine. After changing trains at Bristol Temple Meads I arrived in Gloucester a few minutes late, but nothing too untoward. There were problems on the rest of the network, but it seemed to be restricted to Devon and a few other parts of the UK.
As it got to the time to leave work, I did check the departure board from my phone and it seemed that there were a few alterations, but nothing that would impact on me too much (I hoped).
I arrived at Gloucester station, checked the departure board, saw I had a 30 minute wait for my train, got an espresso from the Pumpkin Cafe and sat down with my laptop and the free wifi. After a minite or so and just as I was checking the e-mail, a CrossCountry Voyager came into the station, this was a bit strange as they generally avoid Gloucester these days. The station announcer came on and said “arriving platform two, an extra train to Bristol Temple Meads” well that was an unexpected opportunity. So I grabbed the coffee, my laptop and bag and got on the (quite) crowded train. Found the last remaining seat in Coach C and sat down.
One of the reasons that CrossCountry trains don’t call at Gloucester is that it isn’t on the main line from the South West to Birmingham. As you come down from Birmingham you swing right into Gloucester. To continue down to Bristol you reverse direction and swing back onto the main line. I recall catching trains from Weston to York and they would call at Gloucester, they would then detach the engine from the front of the train loop the carriages and couple it to the other end. With High Speed Trains (with a cab at each end) the driver needed to switch cabs. This of course would all take time, sometimes enough time to grab a coffee from the cafe – though I did sometimes worry about been left behind.
Today though you need to change trains at Cheltenham Spa or Bristol Parkway to get to Gloucester as the mainline trains don’t call there anymore, hence my surprise at the CrossCountry Voyager. So I was expecting the train to leave Gloucester from the same direction it had arrived… it didn’t! It left in the opposite direction to the way it had arrived at Gloucester. That wasn’t the way to Bristol, that took you to Lydney, Chepstow and Wales. I really did think for a while as the train travelled further into Gloucestershire, into Forest of Dean country that I had taken the wrong train, would have to pay a penalty fare and end up in Cardiff!
Eventually the train manager came on the tannoy and said there had been a landslip in Westerleigh. As a result the southbound mainline was closed. The train was going to go around the problem, through Lydney and Chepstow, under the River Severn and arrive in Bristol Temple Meads.
We eventually arrived in Bristol, five minutes later I made the connection home. What was slightly weird was I actually got home thirty minutes earlier than I normally would.
As a result today I decided to drive. This morning the motorway was a lot busier than normal and I suspect the railway problems contributed to that. However checking my National Rail app on the iPhone it was apparent that lots of trains had been cancelled, so train hadn’t been an option even if I wanted to try the train.
This evening though, sadly there was a six vehicle accident on the M5 which closed all three lanes for a time, so it took me over two hours to drive home, twice as long as it should take. There are lots of accidents on the M5, which is one of the reasons I recently swapped to taking the train.
Tomorrow?
Well tomorrow is another day.