A specially curated guide to help you enjoy the next 48 hours (or more) in Bristol

GET ARTY  |  EXPRESS YOURSELF

The RWA Drawing School is hosting a wide variety of art workshops and courses for all creative abilities throughout January via Zoom. Art enthusiasts can join classes titled In The Studio Of... and Portrait and Figure Drawing. The former will take a different artist each week for five weeks and recreate aspects of a variety of studios from art history, using specific settings to explore a specific technique from each artist. The latter provides practical guidance covering a range of exercises aimed at improving composition, accuracy and observation, with a view to producing expressive and characterful drawings.

Visit the RWA website to discover more: rwa.org.uk

Image: Explore the different techniques used by artists from history via RWA’s In The Studio Of workshop

YOUR HEALTH   |   CURA CLINICAL

MBST is an award-winning German innovation. It uses MRI-based technology to stimulate internal tissue healing and provide relief for a range of injuries and conditions. The CURA Clinical practice in Westbury-on-Trym near Bristol has used MBST to treat over 250 patients. 90% of patients have shown significant improvement in levels of pain and mobility. 

The most commonly treated conditions are osteoarthritis, back and disc problems, bone conditions and fractures, cartilage damage, ligament, tendon and muscle damage and sports and accident injuries.

Jonathan Webb MB ChB FRCS (Orth), consultant knee surgeon, commented “I’ve been hugely impressed by the significant improvement in symptoms by my patients I have referred to CURA Clinical. The MBST technology is widely used in Europe with proven clinical benefit. Furthermore, this is a group of patients who, up until now, have few other effective options. I recommend it highly.”

The clinic is overseen by clinical director James Scrimshaw who is happy to give advice about the treatment over the phone, or for more information visit the website. 

Tel: 0117 959 6531 or visit  curaclinical.com for more information.

NEWS FROM THE CITY  |   BRISTOL UPDATES

An education portal has been launched by the region’s water provider, overflowing with around 40 colourful experiments, worksheets and more, for KS2 upwards. “We got thinking about home schooling and how to make it fun,” said Sharna Smith, ‘professor of watery education’ at Bristol Water. “We’ve worked hard to map content around the national curriculum with the help of teachers, pupils, subject experts and graphic designers. Many of us don’t know where water comes from or why we should be saving it. We encourage you to try a ‘navy shower’ which emulates what navy sergeants did at sea to save the limited water on the ship! It involves turning the shower off while you shampoo and clean.”

Sally Melvin, CEO of Bristol children’s charity Ablaze said, “This offering is engaging and packed with interesting activities teaching children about water. It also gets the important message of conservation across.” 

bristolwaterfoundation.co.uk

TAKE FOUR  |  HEALTHY SNACK BARS

BARTLEBY ON BRISTOL   |   NEW YEAR THOUGHTS

Well that was different. I don’t think I’ve ever spent the week before Christmas worrying about where and when Jupiter and Saturn would be visible, but it was nice to have something other than the dreadful duo, C***d and B****t, to think about.

With mobile phone in hand we can follow developments all day and all night. Not long ago Ms B and I found ourselves on a virtual Cook’s Tour of C***d, studying rates of virus transmission in countries we hadn’t known existed until we began studying the map. We weren’t driven to this, I hasten to add, by a morbid interest in disease. Rather, we were trying to work out whether Britain had dealt with the nasty little germ particularly badly and, if so, why. Of course we solved the mystery and are now highly paid boffins employed by a government think-tank. Or did I dream that?

While it’s good to be informed, there comes a point where the constant trawling for news becomes unhealthily obsessive. My spellcheck may not recognise the word ‘doomscrolling’ yet, but the ferreting for bad news is one of the characteristics of these troubled times. It’s an impulse rooted less in a desire for knowledge per se than in anxiety. With so little control over our lives we seek to shore up our uncertainties with information. As a chronically anxious 10-year-old I used to do something similar with cricket scores, avidly studying the scorecard of each Test match. For a period in 1976/7 I was like Wisden’s Almanack in short trousers, and recently I’ve found myself looking up those matches on the internet, revisiting the days of Derek Randall and Alan Knott in search of numerological security. Daft, really, but we do strange things when we’re insecure.

So here we are, peeking out from under the duvet at a new year that could either be better than the last one or, hard though it is to imagine, worse. Unusually I’ve made a resolution, which is this. I will read through the headlines every morning and no more. I will resist the half-hourly urge to type ‘BBC’ into the address bar and instead… instead… turn my attention to something else. And no I don’t mean old cricket scores.

The first thing I will do is stand up and turn away from the computer. I usually don’t know where my phone is these days so it’s the computer and its infinite informational riches I have to avoid. So… close browser. Stand. Step away from computer. At this point a number of options present themselves. I could turn to the bookshelf, pull out a book at random and spend five minutes reading it. I could discover something new to cook with mince, learn to differentiate between species of warbler, or study a painting by Van Gogh. One shelf is stuffed full of Ordnance Survey maps – look, here’s South Pembrokeshire, and if I open it up… there’s St David’s, where we’ve camped a gazillion times, and Solva, where the crabs have a rota system to decide whose turn it is to be hoisted out of the water, popped in a bucket, prodded, squealed at and then gently returned to the sea…

OK that’s enough. Back to work. But half an hour later, almost without my knowledge, my fingers are typing TWIT… in the address bar. Time to stand up again. Turn around. And this time I go to the window and look out. The apple tree is bare except for one apple which is still hanging there, large and pale like a fallen moon. A blue tit comes bobbing and ducking into view and I remember an American relative seeing one and crying ‘WHAT IS THAT AMAZING BIRD!?’ At the time I thought she was overdoing it a bit, but suddenly I’m not so sure.

SPRING PACKAGES AWAIT  |  POST-LOCKDOWN BREAK

FITNESS  |  LOCKDOWN STYLE

No pressure, mind, but if do you find yourself full of New Year beans this month, and raring to work on wellbeing,  go for it – just take it slow, lockdown style.

Enjoy a four minute read here

GREAT READS  |  FROM THE ARCHIVES

WINTER FARE  |  A CLASSIC DISH

This luxurious taste of Mediterranean sunshine is laden with vitamins, minerals and fibre, and is perfect served on top of a bed of rice or a jacket potato, accompanied by crusty bread, tumbled through pasta and topped with feta cheese, as a side order to grilled fish/roast chicken – or as a stand-alone superstar in its own right. It happily keeps well in the fridge for up to two days and can also be frozen, so batch cooking is highly recommended.

Ingredients (serves 2–3 as a main course, 4 as a side dish)
2 large red onions
2 large aubergines
2 large courgettes
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
6–8 large, ripe tomatoes (preferably plum)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of dried chilli flakes
Olive oil, for frying

Method
1. Chop the onions, aubergines, courgettes, peppers and tomatoes into similarly sized large dice, but keep them in separate piles.

2. Heat approx. 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan and sauté the aubergines until soft (around 5 minutes.) Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set to one side. Add a splash more oil to the pan (the aubergines may have absorbed quite a lot) and again, sauté for around five minutes until soft. Remove the peppers from the pan and set to one side. Add the onions to the pan and sauté until translucent (again, around 5 minutes.)

3. Add the crushed garlic and chilli flakes to the onions and cook for a further minute or so before adding the tomato purée, sugar and vinegar. Bubble and stir together for one minute before adding the tomatoes and introducing the rest of the vegetables back to the pan. Stir well, season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper and bring the mixture to boiling point before turning the heat right down. Simmer for at least 40 minutes (stirring occasionally, and adding the odd splash of boiling water if necessary) until the vegetables have almost melted into each other but still retain their shape.

LOCAL CHARITY  |  WORKING HARD

A charity fighting food poverty and loneliness will go on with its good work providing free meals to people in need across Bath, Barton Hill and Easton in Bristol, and Exeter during the current national lockdown.

As a vital service providing grub and conversation to thousands of people every week across the country, FoodCycle projects can legally operate. As with other takeaway services and with additional Covid-19 policies and procedures already in place, under the new rules they can continue to provide much-needed scran to local communities.

At the beginning of the year, FoodCycle CEO Mary McGrath was awarded an MBE for her services to the country in the New Years Honours List 2021. The appointment to Member of the Order of the British Empire marks a career working tirelessly to fight food poverty, social isolation and food waste through work with national charities that also include FareShare and Grocery Aid.

Discover more about FoodCycle here

HEALTH & WELLBEING  |  QUESTIONS ANSWERED

The contemporary translation of a well-known scripture verse reads: unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around. The development and subsequent rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme has created much-needed optimism. However, the past year's persistent pattern of emotional peaks and troughs has left many us less trusting, and with an increasingly cynical world-view. With unsubstantiated claims of ill intent, pharma-company conspiracies and government deception, what is one to make of the Covid-19 vaccine? Questioning, no matter how unpopular, is part of logical decision-making processes.

Bedminster Pharmacy’s Ade Williams answers our vaccination queries here

BEAUTY  |  SUSTAINABLE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

ON THE BOOKSHELF  |  A GRIPPING READ

ON THE BOX  |  GLUED TO OUR SCREENS

The Crown's Vanessa Kirby, who brilliantly portrayed Princess Margaret in its first two seasons, now stars in this drama alongside Shia LaBeouf.

A heartbreaking home birth leaves a woman grappling with the profound emotional fallout, isolated from her partner and family by a chasm of grief.

Directed by Kornél Mundruczó, Pieces of a Woman is set to be a potential Oscar-contender, with Kirby already scooping up the award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

Watch it on Netflix now

INTERIORS  |  SUMPTUOUS STYLE

No one can predict how this year will be, but brill Brit furniture brand Loaf has some new guest bed options landing in store and online from February - so you'll well-prepared to put up your friends and family in sumptuous style as soon as restrictions ease... or, in the meantime, just your bubble buddies.

The new Flip-Flop is a covered footstool with a handy single guest bed stashed inside £295. There's also Slumberbox, a lengthier footstool with a foldout mattress £445. Both designs are made to order and can be upholstered in nearly all of Loaf's fab fabrics.

Can't wait until Feb? Then browse the current collection at loaf.com

PROPERTY OF THE WEEK  |  NEW ON THE MARKET

This is a stunning and wonderfully versatile three to four-bedroom hall-floor garden flat, with secure off-street parking, private gardens and nearly 1400 sq. ft of spacious accommodation.

In brief, this elegant property offers: a splendid sitting room with high ceilings and bay window, master bedroom suite with en-suite bathroom, two further double bedrooms and a family shower room, bedroom four / home office, beautiful fitted kitchen, a a vast amount of storage, one half of a double garage, private landscaped front and side gardens. Guide price £850,000.

For further details on this and many more premium Bristol properties, visit: rupertoliver.co.uk