Meeting the Relatives at Bristol
When
I was a boy we would spend two or three weeks in the Summer holidays, with my
grandparents in Bristol. Her house in Shirehampton overlooked a
railway line and the Bristol channel, so my brother Colin and I would
spend many hours, each night (after we had been put to bed), observing
the steam engines and the many ships that would head to and from
Bristol whenever there was a high tide. I haven't been to Bristol
since I was about 15 and I hadn't seen many of my Bristol relatives for
over twenty years, some even longer. So this was to be the basis
for our visit to Bristol. On Friday 14th March Imelda, Sorcha, Pearl, Nancy (Pearl's friend) and I departed from Knock Airport and arrived at Bristol at 2.00pm. We collected a hire car at the airport and made our
way through Bristol towards the Travelodge on the western side of Bristol.
We rested for around forty minutes and then travelled to the nearby Bristol Causeway Shopping Mall. Melly was still recovering from a bad virus and spent most of the shopping time sitting at a nearby cafe (at least it saved me money!). However, the rest of us managed to find either bargains or items that we can't normally find in Ireland. We headed back to the Travelodge at 7.00pm and an hour later we made our way to the Harvester Restaurant. We don't have Harvester Restaurants in Ireland and Nancy really enjoyed the new experience. After a couple of hours eating and drinking we walked back to the travelodge.
The next morning I got up early and went to get an early breakfast at Morrison's Supermarket, followed by getting a few things at the Retail Park. It was another wet and miserable day. When I arrived back at the Travelodge everyone was up and ready to get their breakfast, so we returned to Morrison's and this was followed by shopping at the supermarket. I managed to buy three packs of Wagon Wheels, a giant chocolate biscuit that you can't find in Ireland. Each pack had nine individual wagon wheels, unfortunately they were all eaten within two days of returning to Ireland.
We rested for around forty minutes and then travelled to the nearby Bristol Causeway Shopping Mall. Melly was still recovering from a bad virus and spent most of the shopping time sitting at a nearby cafe (at least it saved me money!). However, the rest of us managed to find either bargains or items that we can't normally find in Ireland. We headed back to the Travelodge at 7.00pm and an hour later we made our way to the Harvester Restaurant. We don't have Harvester Restaurants in Ireland and Nancy really enjoyed the new experience. After a couple of hours eating and drinking we walked back to the travelodge.
The next morning I got up early and went to get an early breakfast at Morrison's Supermarket, followed by getting a few things at the Retail Park. It was another wet and miserable day. When I arrived back at the Travelodge everyone was up and ready to get their breakfast, so we returned to Morrison's and this was followed by shopping at the supermarket. I managed to buy three packs of Wagon Wheels, a giant chocolate biscuit that you can't find in Ireland. Each pack had nine individual wagon wheels, unfortunately they were all eaten within two days of returning to Ireland.