A Change of Gear

It's been a good start to the summer hols for me. After the madness of the last weeks of term, work has finished and we have time to relax. I always find it tricky changing gear so suddenly and adapting to a new pace, but now that we're coming to the end of the first week I'm feeling that I've got into the swing of more relaxed days. As always I have a good-sized list of jobs that I plan to accomplish over the summer. As always about a half of these will actually get done!
It is nice to get out and about on the lovely warm days we've been having lately, so on Sunday all five of us went to the Bristol Harbour Festival for the afternoon. It was hot and sunny and there were crowds of people milling around. We went last July too. The sky and water looked so wonderfully blue on a cloudless day.

I liked the fact that this boat had a garden on board. I assume they move the pots when they set sail ...

Here's the beautiful Matthew looking as glorious as ever. It's a replica which is smaller than the original, but it's pretty impressive nevertheless.

We also watched a flyboarding demonstration. I didn't even know this was a thing, but I must say it was amazing! I could've watched for hours as people in wetsuits whizzed high into the air above the river on nothing but jets of water, only to dive head-first in perfect arcs in and then out again.

Back on dry land many stalls selling food from around the world beckoned. The continental sweets on this stall were very attractive indeed, but I remained strong and didn't buy any.

And this sold different kinds of olive oil. It was all quite crowded and hot, and we were flagging by now.

In the main square there was a stage and many refreshments stalls with a music-festival atmosphere going on - lots of people sitting on the grass drinking cider and beer. With the festival taking up a large part of the centre of Bristol there was too much to fit into one afternoon, so we sat on a bench in the shade for a little while.

On the way back we stopped by the BBC Weather tents to watch volunteers having a go at presenting a weather forecast in front of the camera. It looked quite difficult. The coloured umbrellas were a nice touch.

Yesterday my friend J and I spent a lovely day in Wells together wandering around the market and having lunch, and today D and I went shopping to Bath for the afternoon. I didn't take my camera to Wells and today's shopping trip was quite hectic, but we did find time to visit D's favourite cafe where I had a coffee and she had a beetroot cleanser and this delicious cake, artfully photographed by the girl herself. Delicious.

Whilst shopping I spotted these two books which were both drastically reduced - how could I pass them by? A lovely crochet book full of step-by-step crochet stitches and little projects, and a beautiful anthology of bird-themed poetry. They were such a bargain that they came home with me instantly. I know I'm going to enjoy them both.