I am not sure what happened to the nice weather that we had in June and July and why it went away in August. I was hoping to make the most of it in August due to the earlier part of the summer being busy, but it turned out to be a cold and fairly wet month in the end. So, what did I get up to in August besides working my day job? Read below to find out.
July was a more interesting month, but August had some big plans. The bloke's birthday is in the first part of August, so I booked a nice hotel in the centre of Bristol at "The Bristol" for his birthday weekend. The hotel is located right on the canal in the middle of the city, and the rooms are fairly spacious for a town centre hotel with large bathrooms. Because it was his birthday, we arrived in the room to find a birthday treat with some fruit, a mini cupcake, and a nice chocolate. We did arrive to Bristol a lot later than I had hoped because we picked up a new car, and it just took awhile to get it all sorted out. The weather also was not kind with rain on the way there. When we arrived at last, it was early evening (we got stuck in Bristol centre with rush hour traffic).
We had dinner at the hotel, which was okay but not the best meal I have had this year. We both had a spicy carrot soup, and I had chicken with a chili glaze, but it was not spicy and the chicken was dry. The crushed potatoes side that I ordered was very good. For dessert, I ordered a chocolate mousse, but it was not chocolate mousse at all. It was some healthy chia seeds and it had no taste and felt heavy. It didn't taste of chocolate or have a mousse consistency at all, so that was a complete let down as this was not marketed correctly at all.
The main reasons of visiting Bristol were the Bristol Balloon Festival and the Gromit Unleashed 2.0 trail. Bristol Balloon Festival is always on during this weekend in August, and despite living in the area for three years, I never went. I wanted to go, but it was something that I never got around to doing. There are two launch times on the Saturday (as we arrived too late on the Friday to do anything), and one was at 6:00am. I set my alarm as I didn't want to force the bloke up early to go to the venue. We woke up to a perfect sunny day with the balloons floating past the hotel room window.
So, I was expecting a lovely day as I watched hundreds of balloons ascend into the skies and head toward the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I'd planned to see the later launch at 5:00 in the afternoon and then to let this be followed by the illuminations and fireworks. The bloke still wanted to sleep in when it came to 9:00, so I went down to get my breakfast and decided to start the day by going to see the street art from the previous weekend's Upfest street art festival. I caught another glimpse of the only sun we would get to see at the weekend, which was a short glimpse as I crossed a bridge on my way to Bedminster where the street art is.
I saw several amazing new street art murals by so many talented artists.
unknown eye oculus mosaic at the bottom of Bristol's Christmas Steps
I got back to the hotel at 11:00 and then we went out to visit the Gromit Unleashed 2.0 in 2018 sculpture trail by walking around the city. By now, it was gloomy, cloudy and dreary. There were a few spots of rain but nothing major. Unfortunately, this meant that the Bristol Balloon Festival was cancelled. The weather actually got much worse with downpours and wind. The take-off and illuminations were cancelled. We tried in vain to go to the festival before the event because there was not any communication and we left an hour beforehand, which gave us plenty of time, but the traffic was awful and we were stuck in traffic for an hour without even making it to the venue. So, I have still not managed to cross the Bristol Balloon Festival off of my bucket list.
On another weekend, I went to Nottingham to see another sculpture trail. I went to see the Robins Take Over Nottingham for Hoodwinked! Sculpture Trail. These robins were located close together in the city centre, so it was easy for me to see them. This was also my second ever visit to Nottingham; my first was in the summer of 2000. The weather was dreary and chilly, but it did not rain hard that day. This was just a day trip.
The following weekend, I went to see yet another sculpture trail for a day. This time, the sculptures were in Bath: Minerva's Owls Sculpture Trail in Bath, England. Again, the weather was the same with dreary dull skies and chilly temperatures and a few drops of rain. The weather was less kind this time, and the sculptures were spread over a further area, so I did not get to see too many of them.
This actually wrapped up the month of August. It had promise and I was hoping that it would be a little more than what it turned out to be. Last year, the month of August also did not deliver as we had the hot scorching weather in June and July, and August became chilly and wet. Perhaps next year I should somehow make sure that my next role is not so busy so I can enjoy hot summer days.
Leave a comment