# Happy Brithday Isambard



## djbombscare (Apr 8, 2006)

Congrats on being 200 years old today.


Bristol is coming out in force tonight with Fireworks bands etc.



So happy birthday man


 to wales


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## munkeeunit (Apr 8, 2006)

If Brunel was alive today he'd be spitting red hot 20inch diameter rivets over 20,000 odd people not being able to cross his bridge for Ashton Court.

With the materials available today I bet it'd take him all but 5 minutes to sketch out a highly flexible composite reinforcing exoskeleton for the thing.

And it could be rolled up and stashed in the cavities of the big brick things either end, and rolled out again at the touch of a big red button.

We need another Brunel!


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## JTG (Apr 8, 2006)

Happy birthday sir


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## Sunspots (Apr 8, 2006)

JTG said:
			
		

>



Ahh, nuff said.   

(-JTG, I think you've probably just done enough to convince me to go and see the illuminated bridge this evening!)


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## munkeeunit (Apr 8, 2006)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> Ahh, nuff said.
> 
> (-JTG, I think you've probably just done enough to convince me to go and see the illuminated bridge this evening!)



Hopefully they've replaced all the missing lightbulbs for the occassion.


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## bristol_citizen (Apr 8, 2006)

I think special congratulations should go out to today's modern day organisational geniuses who have arrranged the Brunel birthday bash with the performance stage two miles from the rest of the party down in the docks.
Apparently they overlooked the fact that if they put a stage on the Cumberland Basin with 30,000 people around some of them might fall in. So they've been forced to move the stage at the last minute to Clifton.
Well done those people. A £2.5m budget well spent.


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## JTG (Apr 8, 2006)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> Ahh, nuff said.
> 
> (-JTG, I think you've probably just done enough to convince me to go and see the illuminated bridge this evening!)



Gorgeous picture innit, makes me swell up with pride in my home town  

munkeeunit - they've replaced all the bulbs, it's an entirely new lighting system.


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## cyberfairy (Apr 8, 2006)

*.*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAMBARD! 
I hope you have a suitably debauched day and have lots of nice presents to open with bows and everything and maybe even glitter.


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## madzone (Apr 8, 2006)

Happy birthday Isambard


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## fizzerbird (Apr 8, 2006)

Well, we'll be there with our stove pipe hats on to annoy everyone   

He really was a clever lil chappy wasn't he


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## JTG (Apr 8, 2006)

not bad for someone from Portsmouth anyway.

only good thing ever to come out of that benighted place


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## bristol_citizen (Apr 8, 2006)

JTG said:
			
		

> munkeeunit - they've replaced all the bulbs, it's an entirely new lighting system.


Yeah and no doubt Andrew Kelly and the suspension bridge trustees are down B&Q right now trying to find a long enough extension lead...


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## munkeeunit (Apr 8, 2006)

bristol_citizen said:
			
		

> Yeah and no doubt Andrew Kelly and the suspension bridge trustees are down B&Q right now trying to find a long enough extension lead...



and the socket is probably on the other side of Bristol, and not even wired up to the mains yet.


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## sparkling (Apr 8, 2006)

Aah the bridge looks lush...if anyone goes and takes a picture on their phone I'd love a copy for my phone's wall paper


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## Geoff Collier (Apr 8, 2006)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> Congrats on being 200 years old today.
> 
> 
> Bristol is coming out in force tonight with Fireworks bands etc.
> ...



Purely by coincidence, we are staying in Bristol (en route to Cornwall) on Sunday night. Is there anything interesting going on Brunel-wise?

GC


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## marco mark (Apr 8, 2006)

Happy birthday mate, have a good one.


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## Sunspots (Apr 8, 2006)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> JTG, I think you've probably just done enough to convince me to go and see the illuminated bridge this evening!



Well, I went along...

I happened to be in the area, so (-despite a freezing downpour!  ) I went along to have a look.

Along with a couple of thousand others, I stood on the flyover near the Create Centre.  After what seemed like forever, a PA system somewhere in the distance began playing marching band music.  Then the fireworks began and the bridge was illuminated.

The fireworks were ok I suppose, but not brilliant.  The cascade/waterfall effect was cool.  

There seemed to be very little atmosphere though.    No build up, no warm up, and a crappy PA that was hardly audible to a large proportion of the crowd...  Virtually everybody on the flyover stood watching in almost total silence, which was a bit eery! 

I know Fizzer and Bombscare were also there, but watching it all from a totally different vantage point.  Maybe there was more atmosphere where they were?...


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## strung out (Apr 8, 2006)

happy birthday mate!


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## rowan (Apr 9, 2006)

Happy 200th!


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## djbombscare (Apr 9, 2006)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> Well, I went along...
> 
> I happened to be in the area, so (-despite a freezing downpour!  ) I went along to have a look.
> 
> ...




We were up at the observatory mate and dya know what . . that was the most wankiest organised thing I have ever seen in my life. 

The part up in Clifton all aorund the observatory was supposed to be the main part of the celevrations. And there were THOUSBANDS of people there. ALL roads led to that point TBH. So loads of bogs, stewards guiding people around, PA system announcing what was happeneing to the crowd. The busiing in of people from the park and rides. . .


ER . . no.

A line of (I think there were 8) port-a-potties, served the thousands. And we came up with the idea that perhaps after relieving yoruself it would be a good idea to go back and join the queue again. I changed my mind and went and pissed on a police car. I was gonna crap on the bonnet but there wasn't any bog roll. So thought I'd wait til I got home.   

The stewarding was flawless . . in fact it wa not existant. I saw 4 coppers the non flouro variety so they mingled in with the crowd, one was even oompah loompah size and Fizz TOWERED over him. I know its a sign that yoru getting old when copper seem younger than you. But even the nursery kids were taller and they thought that he was young. 

The PA system I think comprised of a system of yoghurt pots and a network of string, as where we were was on the website said to be the best place to view the proceedings and yet we heard . . .nothing. So perhaps when it hailed the string got wet and the system went down.

As for the busess I didnt see one. So i dunno where they wre running to BUT it wasn't the bridge

So there we stood up by the observatory. No-oine having a clue what was going on. 9pm came and a hush went around the crowd. What would the lights be like ooooooh we'll soon find out. The anticipation was immense. Thousand of people holding there breath with excitement of what was to be revealed.

5 mins later people are turning blue from holding there breath. Fuck all was happening and watching a helicopter lighst blinking on and off was getting a bit boring now. 

Word got round that although the website said 9pm it was in fcat going to be 9.10 whne it all kicked. off. People went back to sucking in breath and giving CPR to the collapsed elderly relatives who'd run out of air. 

9.10 cam. . a hsuh re-swooped over the crowd. Cameras ready. . .eyes focused on the dark empty oblivion that was the gorge. All searching for the light of life to giude our eyes in to what it was we were waiting for. 

10 mins later still nothing. The elderly relative who actually remebre the bridge being built had already been complaining that Izzy would be turning in his grave and it was never like this in theire day it was all opened on time and they were proud. . .

The main effect this had were people started climbing over the barrier and throwing themselves into the gorge. This emnat there was plenty of room at the fornt now for little kids to peer through the barrier into the 6ft high hedge. 


Then suddenly and without warning a light came on. No-one of course knew this  but someone who could see signalled the event by going . . OOOH look.

Eyes all truned form trying to spot the balloon that my dad had seen in the gorge ( and was teh only thing happeneing at the time) to the top of the twoer on the ashton court side. 

WOW it looked like someone had lit a candle right at the top . .WOW

slowly the rest of the tower got illumnated. You just know that someone in Bristol city council had recenlty had a dimmer switch fitted in his bedroom and he loved it. COS I think they put one on the bridge. And there he was trying to set the mood. Operating the switch with two hands so that his hand didnt cramp up and suddenly switch the all the way round to ON.

About 30 mins later the two twoers were fully lit. and then nothing unitl BANG,

Two fireworks shot across and the bridge. And it startde strobbing like a squid giving off a warning. 

A coupel of easyjet planes flying over Dundry suddenly banked right and turned to line up on what they though was the Bristol International runway.

A volley of rockets brought them down over Hartcliffe and when we got home it was as if they never happened. Mind you Matey boys down the road calibra has got some FUCK OFF great alloy in his motor now. Tyres are bald though. 

Anyway back to the bridge. A shit load of rocket volleys created huge flowers in the sky, some resembled palm trees others the naplam scenes in Apocolypse now, but they were cool. 

Then as fast as it begun it ended. . . .No-one knew this of course but after half and hour of waiting and nothing happeneing people though. Perhaps that was it and decided to leave.

This kind of led to another problem. No stewards or anything of the sort made negotiating to the path in the darknes up by the observatory was a little like scaling the mattahorn. 

Ok there were lights but they wre both up by the Observatory itself and down by the paths there was nothing. It was also quiet a steep banked, it had hailed making it very slippy and the path bottlenecked into a steep three a breast path. 10,000 all trying to squeeze into it with kids pushchairs holding onto relatives, studenst trying not to spill there can of Stella and locals after consuming a 1.5 litre bottle of Natch. So it got a bit messy. 


But we made it back in one piece. 

It wasn't quite worth 2.5 million IMO, but fuck it we paid for it and I was gonna fucking see it. And enjoy it as well. 

In fact it was a typical council fuck up, Ashotn court get it right, The ballon fiesta gets it right. But here they couldn't but at least they are consistant in there bollocking fuck ups so here here to the council.


If I can sort it I'll try and put the video on web somewhere


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## Isambard (Apr 9, 2006)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> I changed my mind and went and pissed on a police car.



<Dials 999>


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## fizzerbird (Apr 10, 2006)

LOL Izzy, the police were in the car at the time!   

Yeah, what a fucking let down...well as far as the so called celebrations were concerned.

Thousands of people turned up to be part of this 'spectacular' event. 

The stage where the brass band played had a sound system that couldn't even rival the one on my pc. The PA system was audible only from standing within a few yards from it and the food and loo's would hardly cater for a kids birthday party!

Ok, you can't blame the council for the weather, but the bloody hail stones did nothing to uplift the mood of having to wait a couple of hours until the bridge was lit etc.

Like bombscare said...they farted about for ages, teasing the crowd by turning one light bulb on and then off again. Then all of a sudden the rockets and the bridge lights came on...ok so it looked pretty, but I was kind of hoping they would have a count down to the switching on, a bit of hyping up of the crowd, it didn’t happen.

Now, the firework display. Well, I thought it was great. The flaming waterfall and the fizzing crackling neon lights in the sky. I think the fact that we were high up gave us a different perspective. BUT the one thing that will stay with me forever, was the thunderous sound! It was fecking amazing...echoing,down into the gorge with each explosion of fireworks.

Amazing.

I'm surprised no one got hurt trying to get away from the observatory. There was no crowd control, it was dimly lit and thousands of people surged toward the way out, many slipping down the side into people tightly backed into the railings at the edge of the gorge! How people with small kids and prams managed I dont know. I was glad to get out in one piece, and glad to be going home at last.


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## djbombscare (Apr 10, 2006)

I've just picked up an Evening Post so we can see what there take on the event was


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## JTG (Apr 10, 2006)

Ashton Court - not organised by council
St Pauls Carnival - not organised by council

This was.

Spot the difference.


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## djbombscare (Apr 10, 2006)

The Chumleigh Church fate. . not organised by Bristol City Council either and it went by without a hitch







weak lemon drink anyone ?


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## sparkling (Apr 10, 2006)

The scramble down hill sounded well scary.


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## djbombscare (Apr 10, 2006)

my dad was going . . it all slipppy


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## sparkling (Apr 10, 2006)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> my dad was going . . it all slipppy




Sounds like I need to have a chat with your Dad...


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## D (Apr 10, 2006)

Happy birthday!

Here are some special dancing feet for you:


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## djbombscare (Apr 11, 2006)

sparkling said:
			
		

> Sounds like I need to have a chat with your Dad...





NO. . .  really . . you dont want to


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