Today we bought our laptop. We found a retail park with 3 computer shops. It was good because it was only 20 minutes walk from where we are staying. We wandered back with box under our arm and felt as though it was Christmas. It has been a funny feeling in Bristol so far – a bit like we are ‘disconnected’ not yet part of the city – walking the streets like a tourist but wanting to live and work here like a resident. Having a computer will help because it will be easier for us to find possible jobs, apply for them, update our cvs, search for a car to buy etc. But we have not yet found out how to connect to the internet and to wifi (the wireless hotspots in cafes etc – we never needed to do this at home) and so Harry suggested I write today’s update in word and then transfer it to the blog tomorrow. That is a good idea cos it is cheaper – we have not found any internet cafes in Bristol yet only those associated with the hostels. Anyway, now we are a proud owner of a laptop, black carry bag, lots of programmes and a new hi tech laser mouse which is quite cool to use.
Because I have a bit more time I’ll try and put some more photos in as well to this blog. This is the suspension bridge in Bristol. You can see at low tide the mud flats which aren’t particularly attractive but apparently house all sorts of bird life etc. At high tide there is a small window for boats to go in and out. We walked across the bridge the other day and to Cabot tower a high tower just to the top right of the bridge. That was fun with its spiral staircase. There were people climbing up the rock faces with ropes etc – obviously preparing for their trip to Mt Cook!!

The second picture is of the Spiegeltent and Caramello enjoying the jazz music in Bath. As you can see the singer was singing to only a few – it was a bit of a pity cos the music was quite good, it was just cold and very wet outside which would have meant a number of people would have preferred to be curled up in bed reading a book – like me.

After we bought our computer today we went to see Jane and met her Mum and Dad. They were obviously checking up to make sure we were o.k. to live at her daughters which was fine because it is the first time she has had lodgers and the first time we have been boarders. We went for a walk around the area and after we have got used to the housing (coronation street is the best example I can think of to describe it) we thought it was an o.k. area to live in. The house is nice – though rather small. I’ll email everyone our contact details when we can get onto the email system. We are going to get internet connected at her place so we can be in regular contact. Everywhere we go we are asked for our permanent address and the postcode. Everyone is very confused when we say we do not yet have one – even the computer shop couldn’t give us a months free access to the virus checker if we didn’t have an address. I didn’t realise how important it was to ‘live somewhere’.

The photo of the stairs (53 steps) is at our last place we are staying at. We had to lug our bags up on our first day here. There are three flights all of similar gradient. Harry is at the top of the stairs contemplating carrying our big bags down tomorrow as we move to the Youth Hostel for the last night before moving to Janes.

Harry is standing by our bed and breakfast in the other photo. All along the stone walls around our bed and breakfast (see photo below) are little purple flowers – which you can’t see cos they are on the other side of the wall. We had them growing in the front of our home in J’ville along the brick wall. Anyway, spring is a good time of year to come as the flowers are all beginning to bud. One of the things we noticed is everyone keeps their wheeli bins out the front of their house (presumably because the houses are all joined there is no outside way to get around to the back of the house)and since the front is quite small they seem to dominate the frontage. A bit of a pity especially the day before rubbish collection. Parts of the city are heavy into recycling which is great and Jane said in her area we even have to recycle food scraps – a bit like I think it was where Sharon stayed in Austria.

After dinner we went for a walk with Ann. Here are just a few photos of the first few sights we saw of Bristol. Everywhere we turn there is a church steeple. We felt quite at home today as we saw a umbrella discarded in a rubbish bin as it had obviously been caught in the wind – wire frame and material in disarray.

This is a building by the main library, or might actually be part of the library. The statues were quite beautiful and covered in a netting to keep the birds out – so they looked lovely and clean compared to some of the others we have seen.

We do so appreciate the emails we are getting from you all. It makes me realise that we are not that far away. Last night when I sent out the email that I had updated my blog I immediately got two emails back one from Mike and another from Janet who were both sitting at work. I replied to Janet once but then ran out of money but I thought 10.00 ish at night might be a good time to email as it is daytime over in NZ and I can distract you all while you are meant to be working!!
Time to go, take care everyone – we are thinking of you heaps.