A reminder of the past at Gloucester Docks

The sun was shining as we set off to Gloucester Docks to visit the Tall Ships festival. We left later than we had planned and as feared there were huge crowds already milling about the docks to see all the boats. Our plans to go aboard the array of sailing ships had to be abandoned when we saw the queues and the crowded scenes. We love the docks but are used to enjoying the space in comfort which wasn't possible today.

We did try to walk around the quays but found it difficult to take pictures, although there were interesting scenes and demonstrations of cadet bands marching, old working steam boats, model boats, children canoeing in the docks and even a squad of sailors marching in traditional costumes.

In various places we came across people dressed and posing in old costumes, such as this gentleman lurking at the end of an alleyway, reminding us of how the waterfront might have appeared when the docks were fully active in the nineteenth century.

We decided to head across the river to a large nature reserve where we could walk upstream beside the River Severn enjoying the verdant pastures with willow and chestnut trees on the higher ground. Woodpeckers had brought a small picnic which we ate at the top of the river bank and it was a delight to be able to enjoy the quiet of the reserve after the hustle and bustle of the docks.

A few years ago we had taken a boat trip through lock connecting the docks to the river and sailed a few miles upstream. I remembered that the boat had turned round near a pub in the middle of the countryside beside the river, and we decided to drive there instead of hanging about in town. This entailed a lengthy diversion because the small lane to the pub was closed, but it did take us on a pretty country drive. The pub was crowded too and not particularly enticing, so after a quick drink and a brief attempt at photographing some house martins which nest on the pub's frontage we headed slowly home.

We had plans to attend a film at Lansdown Hall this evening, put on by Stroud against the Cuts, the local pressure group who have been instrumental in saving our local NHS services from being privatised. The film was Ken Loach's 'The Spirit of'45', a documentary celebrating the establishment of vital solutions to the post war social problems, including the creation of the first ever National Health Service. I highly recommend the film as it reminds us of how threatened all these services have now become in the current political climate. It is not easy viewing, but it is inspiring to hear the voices of the people through their own stories and realise that we must try to stop further loss of services that are vital to a healthy world for all people. A future run to service profit rather than people is what may be on the cards otherwise.

I wonder what the life of this 'gentleman' was like when there were no social services, little good housing and no health care for all, as we now enjoy.

Woodpeckers has managed to blip a Tall Ship here

I forgot to add that I photographed a fairly large salmon basking at the edge of an outer canal basin!

I've added a couple of pictures to my Blipfolio:

A Tall Ship

A sailing boat at Gloucester Docks

A House Martin

On the banks of the River Severn