I haven’t celebrated my birthday since 2019. I usually spend a few days in London catching up with people but the Covid pandemic put an end to that. This year the rail strikes have made it even harder to plan a trip so I had convinced myself that I had no way of celebrating my birthday. I was wrong.

A chat with a friend led to us discussing some ideas of what we could together. We ruled out a trip to the zoo or the Wild Place. I suggested a museum and as she had never been to M Shed we decided that was the place to go.

While leaving M Shed with smiles on our faces we pondered on where to go for lunch. Having birthday money to spend made the choice easy – The Stable. Dessert was at Sprinkles Gelato via a look at the unicorns on City Hall and the children riding sea horses on the roof.

My friend had indulged in a vodka slushy and decided that we should try our hand at the archery stall in the little fair in Millennium Square. We both hit the target twice but it was more good luck than talent.

Wandering back to the Centre I made an idle remark about how I’d never taken the open top bus tour and she declared that a trip on it would be my birthday gift from her. While waiting in the queue we chatted to a Brazilian woman who had came to England to study in Norwich and had stayed. She said she had talked to more people in Bristol in a few days than she ever had in Norwich and that she didn’t know her neighbours after 23 years at the same address. She has plans to move to Bristol when she retires and it would be lovely to think we could bump into her again.

The tour was nice and it was fun being on an open top bus but apart from the pub I used to run neither of us saw anything that was new to us. If you want to see Bristol then buy a day rider, Google things to do in Bristol and set your own timetable.

My day ended walking Leonard and during the walk I realised a few things. My regular museum visits need to happen again, I have a free bus pass, live in a great city birthdays don’t have to be spent in London.