Brizzle in the drizzle.....

For the non UK folks, "Brizzle" is the name used by the locals for the city of Bristol. Well, perhaps not by the various nationalities that have moved in over the past few years, more by the "traditional" locals. Drizzle - well yes, a gentle form of the normal UK rain.

Translations over, why did we go there? Simply because the crew had a work leaving lunch with the other directors of TICCS. Why now, when she hasn't been doing anything for well over a year? A long story and a good one too but not for here.

So, a little trip to Brizzle was needed. The force 9 winds meant a coach was better then a sea voyage and lower stress too as the top end of the Bristol channel has some truly EVIL tides to contend with. It is listed as having the second highest river tidal range in the world. Enough said.

Not having been around the city for many years, it was good to walk around and enjoy the area, like the Castle Park:

And the floating harbour area:

Richard, Bernie and Nick (NB, the sequencing of their names implies no seniority or favouritism here, it is just random!) had booked an excellent lunch in a very appropriate restaurant - the Glass Boat:

The conversation was very "cars and boats" orientated. Richard has a stable of nice machinery (like a restored Lamborghini Miura which won a concours competition at the Lamborghini owners event last year). Enough said, just drool over a picture of one:

He also races a Cobra, Ferrari and Mustang (Shelby version naturally) in classic races like the Le Mans Legend etc. A proper chap to use a nice old English phrase.

Bernie on the other hand, has a fleet of "restoration needed" cars. Nothing concours here but worthy in other ways (lots of Triumph sports cars, Series 1 Land Rover, a nicely restored VW Camper, Hillman Minx with the original valve radio inside etc etc). He also has a Triumph Tina scooter. Never seen one? Well, have a look at Triumph Tina information first.

They are cute, noisy, smelly and totally impractical. Triumph couldn't sell them despite having Cliff  Richard as the advertising campaign image. It sounded great riding around inside the factory unit where Bernie stores it though!

Bernie also has a collection / flotilla of old wooden boats. Here is the launch, Patience, moored in Bristol's floating harbour area - so pretty!

He also owns a Dunkirk little ship, Mimosa. Built in 1935, she is in great condition and took part in the Queen's diamond jubilee pageant on the Thames in 2012. For the non UK folks, the Dunkirk little ships were typically small private craft that had been requisitioned by the Admiralty during the second world war and were used to rescue soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, under heavy fire as France fell. Look at Mimosa history and be happy that there are people with enough time, enthusiasm and cash to keep such lovely old boats alive and seaworthy. Bernie is one of this special (crazy?) breed.

All that timber, paint and varnish makes us think that we should not complain about a bit of polishing on our fibreglass Nordhavn! We probably will though.....