I had the pleasure of visiting Bristol recently and was charmed by the city. Being a bridge lover, my priority was Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. This can only be appreciated by visiting it and walking over it. It’s not long but it is dizzingly high. I love to cycle over bridges like this and only regretted not having organised to have a bike to hand. Next time.
In the city centre, which I loved, I was having a coffee when a young man came in and gave the two staff members a box of chocolates. He, Tony, has a job holding up a shop sign in the street outside. He had helped a woman who needed to get a taxi home and she had come back (when sober) and given him this box of chocolates. He doesn’t eat chocolates (I didn’t ask why) but accepted them graciously and then passed them onto his friends in this café. I could that as four acts of kindness – helping, giving, accepting and giving. It lit up my day, which was already going well. I had an interesting chat with Tony about his experience of homelessness and his job which involves meeting people on that street. He looked like he’d had rough times in his life but was positive and cheery. That can’t be easy in his situation.
My day continued to improve because I found the Bristol Old Vic and was able to go to a show there that evening. What a treat! It was ‘A Christmas Carol‘ and some of the characters communicated in sign language. This was integrated into the script smoothly, making a clear point that we need to be more inclusive in how we present theatre of all kinds.