Shaun in the City

Up early this morning to watch the 6am balloon launch as part of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. I climbed Brandon Hill - the highest point in Bristol city, and found around 30 people already there.  By 6.30am there was only one balloon visible in the air, but soon afterwards they started appearing in great numbers.  It was a lovely, sunny, warm morning and I could have stayed there for ages, but after I had seen more than 80 balloons floating away (I'm not sure how many launched in total), I walked slowly back to the hotel, where breakfast called.

We returned to Brandon Hill in the evening to watch the 6pm launch and, although the weather was still perfect, the atmosphere was quite different, with hundreds of people on the hill and in the surrounding park, with ice cream vans, barbecues, and lots of children around.  Still an enjoyable experience.

With tomorrow's blip, I shall try and add a link to a Flickr album of pictures of the Fiesta.

Wandering around Bristol at the moment, you can't help but notice the statues of "Shaun the Sheep", the delightful cartoon character from the Aardman Studios' "Wallace and Gromit" movies.  There are 70 sculptures around the city, each individually decorated by artists, designers or celebrities.  After the end of the month they will be sold by auction and the money raised will go to charity. You can read more here.

[This image was originally incorrectly posted for 11th August.]