Part of the job of house sitting where there is a dog involved means some regular walking with said dog. The German Shepherd we are caring for this time is very loveable, and within 24 hours she had ‘adopted’ us. She follows us to whatever room we were are in, including our bedroom (but thankfully she only sleeps on the floor). But, this particular assignment has a few challenges. This gorgeous dog does not like other dogs, and when we take her on her daily walk we have to avoid other dogs at all cost. It is not too difficult really because there are two of us. Mick holds her on the lead, and I am the ‘other-dog lookout’.

Our suggested daily walk involves taking a short ferry ride across Bristol’s floating harbour. It costs £1 each for a single crossing, and dogs travel for free.

And she loves it!!

Mick and I are staying close to Wapping Wharf and Prince Street Bridge. This means we are very close to loads of waterfront sites, many of them very historical sites for Bristol.

This statue of John Cabot recognises the importance of Bristol Harbour in UK’s history. It was from Bristol that Italian born Cabot set sail in 1497 with 18 men to find Asia. He didn’t find Japan, but instead discovered New Found Land, and as a reward King Henry VII gave him £10 and made him and admiral. (Today, £10 would buy Mick a pint of craft IPA beer with a 20p tip.)

Bristol’s Harbour was also a very important stop-off for pirates, smuggling their goods along the south west coast of England during the Golden Age of Piracy (the 17th and 18th centuries).

At the moment, Bristol city is gearing itself up for Christmas and in the centre of the old city, an area called Broadmead, the Christmas Markets have been set up in between the modern shopping plazas.

The Broadmead area is an open modern space in this part of the city. Sadly, this is because it was severely damaged by a 500lb German bomb that was dropped on the city on 28 August 1942. It killed 45 people with another 56 people injured.

There were other bombs dropped on the city as well during WWII – and as a result, the city suffered significant destruction.

Nearby to Broadmead is Castle Park – an open space created following the bombing. Inside the park is this partly-destroyed, empty church.

It looks quite eery when you walk past it. However, quite nearby to Castle Park. located in and around some old buildings that survived the bombings, are St Nicholas Markets. The markets were named Britain’s Best Large Indoor Market in 2016 and they have been operating since 1743. Mick and I visited these on one of our walks and were tempted by the smells and sights. There were more than 60 stalls located both inside and outside, with the majority of them being food stalls. We could have bought food from many different cultures, and for the very first time, we saw Jamaican food. But we resisted.

However, it was very hard to resist this.

The best cake stall I have ever seen!

Mick and I visited on of Bristol’s museums called the M Shed, located on Wapping Wharf. When we entered the museum around 2.30pm, the sun was trying hard to shine through the clouds, but when we left at 4.30pm, there was no sun left and it felt like nighttime. I took photos of these businesses on our walk home from the M Shed. They are made from brand new shipping containers. They are very stylish and look great.

Can you spot Mick standing on the right in the above photo?

FOOTNOTE

I did mention there were “a few challenges” with this sit.

Another ‘quirk’ of the dog we are caring for is that she hates the postman. The owner has installed a post box on the outside fence to avoid the dog going berserk, but on one of the days we were home, the postman had a parcel that was too big for the mailbox so he had no other option than to post it through the slot in the front door.

Well!!!

Talk about setting the dog off. She barked and and ran from window to window in an effort to get at the poor chap. The parcel that was posted through the door ended up being ripped and chewed before we could get it from her. Luckily it wasn’t completely destroyed, however there are a number of teeth marks in next year’s wall planner.

Never a dull moment!