under the broadwalk

I'm a country boy. I like trees and soft hills and leaves in the road and sunsets and driving my Land Rover through ruts. I don't quite get the city, even though I'm fond of Budapest and Vienna and Zurich and Helsinki. But even British cities have a sort of savage beauty, found in concrete and straight lines and watery reflections. Knowing it will all be gone soon also adds a sort of poignancy, lives and things soon to be lost to the twin perils of Climate Change and Peak Oil, a crumbling of the edges prior to wholesale meltdown. Cities are a form of art if you know where to look, and art is really all there is - which is great!



Could any of us describe this or explain it once it's gone? Again, straight lines everywhere, like something by Mondrian or Joy Division. With Symes Avenue on its way out perhaps the Broadwalk will become my third favourite hangout in Bristol - after Trin's and the Loiusiana ...



And what about this? This is a temporal displacement of the highest order - not 1976 but 2006, yesterday in fact, some of the fare on offer to the innocent and unprepared shoppers in Somerfield, Broadwalk. Lard and beef dripping anyone? I ran back to the real world and stocked up on fruit, yoghurt and Tizer.