Photo Friday – the mystery of the blue bike in Bristol
December 4, 2009 by HeatherCowper
Last week I passed a blue bike leaning against some railings outside the University in Bristol. Luckily I had my camera with me. Half of me said, “you’re late for work, come back and photograph it later”, the blogger in me said “Snap it now, or the opportunity may be gone later”.
The mysterious Blue Bike in Bristol
What was the blue bike doing there? My first thought, was it didn’t seem very road worthy that it was a variation on the ghost bikes that are left to commemorate someone who has died while riding them – read my article about the ghost bikes here.
Then I thought perhaps it was a student bike and someone had thought it was a great idea to get out the paint pot and cover it with blue paint after they’d had a few too many cheap beers in the pubs of Bristol.
Then I noticed the sign beside it that said “Do not chain bikes to these railings” and throught someone had a sense of humour and defiance against the university authorities, and found any old bike to chain there in protest.
Anyway, I took my shot and hurried on to work. When I passed back a couple of days later, the bike had gone. So the mystery remains – What stories do you make up about the strange things you see as you go about your daily lives?
Mystery revealed
Thanks to Chris Hutt from for sending me the answer to this mystery in a link to this post (It’s good to find someone in Bristol who actually reads my posts!) In this post, I learned that the sky blue bikes are part of a project by Students to tackle Social Problems – read about it here.
This photo is pasted as part of Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby - check out all the other photo Fridays here
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Jen@TwoKidsandaMap on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 1:58 pm
We do that too…we love to make up stories about people or things that we see…my kids, who are 3 and 5, come up with some of the funniest stories!
Cate on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 2:05 pm
Thank goodness you listened to the blogger voice! This bike has a story, hmm wonder what happened to it.
TheWordWire on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 7:12 pm
I love this! I’m thinking the owner is some sort of street performer on a lunch break over at Cafe Nero across the street. Or not. It doesn’t matter — not knowing almost makes it more interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Keith on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 7:37 pm
Banksy strikes again??
Barbara at Hole in the Donut Travels on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 9:55 pm
I do the same thing – wonder about scenes and imagine a deeper meaning. I found one in your earlier post on Ghost Bikes.
Helly (Travel by the Calendar) on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 10:47 pm
It doesn’t look like a very fast bike does it?
chris hutt on Sat, 5th Dec 2009 2:17 am
http://dru-withoutamap.blogspot.com/2009/11/ghost.html
Chris on Sun, 6th Dec 2009 4:59 pm
I like the story behind the white bike and the blue one;everything in life has a meaning, everybody can find their own.
Dominique on Sun, 6th Dec 2009 5:49 pm
Ghost bike was the first thought that occurred to me. We had one of those white ghost bikes appear at the site of a fatal accident a couple of miles from our house–the local newspaper did a story about it, and the city left it up there for quite a while.
I agree that the color is too close to white and looks white in certain lights, which I think detracts from its message (too many might mistake it for a ghost bike).
Sherry Ott on Mon, 7th Dec 2009 1:31 am
What a great mystery solved! I’m so happy that there was an explanation as it would have totally bugged me to not know!
Peter West Carey on Mon, 7th Dec 2009 8:02 am
I love it when the Internet helps close a circle! Nice!
Donna Hull on Thu, 10th Dec 2009 12:18 am
Great picture of a blue bike. Glad to know you followed through with the photo and also the story of the photo.
Bicycles of Amsterdam « Travelrat's Travels on Wed, 12th May 2010 6:00 am
[...] Bikes are not only ridden everywhere, they’re parked everywhere, too … everywhere, it seems, that there isn’t a notice forbidding the parking of bikes. Some of them look as if they’ve been there for years, just chained up and abandoned. Rather like the ‘ghost bikes’ of Bristol. (see http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/photo-friday-the-mystery-of-the-blue-bike-in-bristol) [...]