Brandon Hill nature reserve

This is all very modern as I'm actually posting this while still at the park. I'm in Brandon Hill reserve, a quiet green haven sandwiched between the Clifton triangle, Hotwells and the city centre. It also happens to be just behind the Avon Wildlife Trust HQ.

Despite being in this area a lot,  I've never explored this park very much. At a loose end this morning when plans were cancelled I decided to have a mooch around. The fact it's amazingly sunny and warm is an added bonus.

The park falls away to the south below Brandon Hill tower,  which if you've got the puff to climb gives you incredible views over the city. If that seems like too much hard work there are artfully placed benches everywhere to sit and soak up the view. In sitting and admiring the landscapes of Dundry hill and beyond.

On a multitude of levels and with plenty of secret gardens and hidden benches to read or contemplate life quietly, this park must give a welcome to the thousands of office works beavering away nearby. It's quiet here now but I'm sure I'm a couple of hours it will be packed with people escaping the rat race for an hour in the sun.

Whatever your reason for coming this park, it's another brilliant green open space for which Bristol is known.

On that note, I'm off to buy some sun cream!

Borderlands

For about a month now I have been helping out at a small local charity called Borderlands on a weekly basis (http://borderlands.uk.com/.) 

It's a small set-up with just a couple of paid employees that is aiming to grow and become a useful and solid support network for asylum seekers, alongside the more established Bristol Refugee Rights. 

This place serves as a drop in centre for people seeking asylum in the U.K. as refugees from their own country. This can be for many reasons such as wars and conflict, race, religion and trafficking. 

As you can imagine it is a total melting pot of all different people, of varying nationalities religions and professions. 

The main services it provides are; English lessons (learning English is an important part of getting your status approved to stay in the U.K.), other activities such as sowing, reading and playing games such as scrabble (to also improve English) and providing a hot meal for all members. 

I initially started volunteering because I was keen to practice teaching English (as well as wanting to do something worthwhile of course). However it turns out a lot of people like me (i.e. white, middle class, under 30) want to practice teaching English. So I've ended up assisting in the kitchen most days, helping to prepare lunch for the 80 or so people arrive. I was a bit wary of this at first, as I'm not exactly known for my culinary expertise, but luckily my role is more chopper/washer/cleaner/scraper etc. than menu mastermind. 

There are also plenty of member/volunteers (people who have not yet been approved U.K. status but are volunteering here) who are a dab hand at cooking, so I really just do what I'm told. I've been going a few weeks now and to my astonishment I've found I really enjoy the buzz of cooking. It's really interesting to see how various people's cooking techniques differ, and the little tiffs that emerge on how to best cook the rice/curry/lentils etc. For example I've found out that in Sri Lanka they use A LOT more onion and garlic and spices than Middle Eastern Cooking, but less salt and oil. It's such an energised and friendly environment. Last week I was working in the kitchen with a Sri Lankan guy, an Iraqi guy, a Iranian lady, a woman from Cameroon and a woman from the Dominican Republic. You can't get more diverse than that, and it was brilliant. 

We work constantly from about 9.30 am until 1 pm preparing and then comes the onslaught of dishing up to 80 people, some of whom for which this is their only decent meal of the day. Everybody is keen to get their fare share, and aren't afraid to say if they think they've been short changed on the plate up. 

There are so many interesting cultural differences to observe. For example, the manager told me that when he first started he had to tell all the men to let the women and children be served first, and explain why, as this wasn't a concept they were familiar with previously and yet it's something sort of embedded in us. 

I'll probably post again about Borderlands as I have so much to say about it, there are a multitude of issues and concepts to discuss in relation to it. But I'll leave this now as an introduction to the charity. I'm smiling from the minute I get there to the minute I leave (O.K. partly because I can't speak French, Kurdish, Arabic etc. so it's my only way of communication) but mainly because it's just an incredible welcoming place, which I guess is the whole idea, so they must be doing something right :-)

Victoria Park

Welcome to Victoria Park, one of Bristol's many green spaces, and the first one I wanted to introduce all readers too, as it's my home turf. 

I was desperate to live near a park, as I'm really a country girl at heart, but when I moved here I had no idea what the park was like, apart from the size I'd seen on Google Maps...

As it turned out VP is a vibrant square of green between Bedminster and Totterdown; full of walking commuters, school kids scooting along, and of course, multitudes of dog walkers.

As the sunshine comes out so do the revellers, frisbee, football, tennis, ciders and music, and of course being Bristol, the occasional whiff of ganja on the breeze. 

It's got a definite attitude and I like to think of myself as part of that now, having circumnavigated it twice daily for the past 6 months. There comes a sense of belonging (hard to come by these days) by seeing familiar faces, chatting and smiling to who would be in normal circumstances, complete strangers. But bonded by the fact you're both picking up something else's faeces. Giving the standard mutual eye roll when you're out walking the dogs in the rain. "We love them too much don't we?". 

I'm a firm believer that experiencing nature in any form is good for the soul, and I'm going to post about that at another time, and stick to the virtues of Victoria Park this time.  

This park is definitely worth a visit, it's got awesome looking play areas for kids (o.k. I might have ignored the '11 and under' signs and had a quick go on the swings, you got me), skate park, table tennis tables, bowling club and the VP tennis club (which you can join for a very reasonable £30 a year and play as much as you like), and a cafe from the Spring onwards selling pretty cheap tea, coffee and cakes. There's enough room to set up a football or rounders match with your friends, followed by a bbq in the summer. Perfecto! 

I first moved the depths of Winter, and I even enjoyed walking around the park then, so I knew when Spring came it would be even better and it hasn't disappointed, huge trees explode with green and daffodils and snowdrops have emerged, odd patches of undergrowth are good for exploring and messing about in, and there are huge grassy areas for lolling about on. 

So- come, enjoy, experience.  

First Post Alert...

Intelligent, open minded, insightful. 

That's what I'm aiming for anyway. 

A look at life as a (late) twenty-something female in the vibrant city of Bristol. 

Expect to find; reviews of places to go, ideas of things to do, things to make a difference, ideas about life and how we live it today.  

Things I'm into and therefore very likely to appear on these pages are....

Eating -natch
Drinking -in moderation of course
Sporting -we're talking casual here- cycling, tennis, ping pong etc etc. 
Yoga-ing -useless but I love it
Nature -what's more important that the environment we live in?

Appreciate all comments and discussions people feel the desire to write.