Sunday saunter

Greenbank Cemetery is one of Bristol's quirkier sights to see. On an urban walk published by Bristol's best what-to-do magazine Venue, a friend and I happened across this patch of green speckled with ramschackle graves. Tombstones have fallen, the stone figure of Dawn stares eternally upwards to the sky, and fallen angels lie in their resting places. In the centre, a chapel has been hollowed out by time so, standing on one side, you can see all the way through to the tree-lined avenue on the other. One headstone brings a smile - a Mr Stone married to a Gwendolen Wall.

Brizzle's musical moments

Watch out for the Solstice Quartet - their Bartok and Beethoven in Bristol set the scene for a Wigmore Hall debut last week - definitely a quartet to hear; last Thursday hot-shot Venezualan conductor Gustavo Dudamel came to Cardiff (still getting used to the fact Bristol is a small hop from Wales) and electrified in Prokofiev (though wasn't sure about his Mozart, despite the refined, playful and beautifully judged playing of pianist Emanuel Ax) ; I rounded off this week of musical treats with a trip to the, er, Tantric Jazz Cafe. Not sure about the name, but the jazz was fantastic.

Thought of the night

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils,
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus: Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare

Good trees

In Queen's Square, Bristol

Shopping with computers

In Sainsbury's with five items to buy. I know, to save time I'll go and use the new self-service checkout machines. Item 1: Swipe - 'Please place item in bagging area'. Item 2: Swipe - 'Please place item in bagging area'. Fine. Right, wait a minute, before things get out of hand let me just get my re-usable bag out (earning green brownie points, or should that be greenie points?) for my five items. I put said bag in bagging area. 'Unexpected item in bagging area'. Unexpected? Unexpected I ask? How can a bag be unexpected in a bagging area? Someone hasn't thought this through...

Bristol snow scenes

Outside

snow. n. 1 atmospheric water vapour frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer

Des pas sur la neige

So silent, so soft. Tiptoeing through the snow. A magical Debussyian landscape right before your ears.

Same place, different world

Rydal Water in the Lake District