the bristo square experience
There are a bunch of student run clubs in the two student unions surrounding Bristo square, and the adverts hawking cheap vodka and Red Bull dub this “the Bristo Square experience”. For me however, the real experience is being at a public square absolutely seething with skate kids of all ages, and neither the police nor cantankerous old people even lifting an eyebrow. This became exceptionally apparent to me yesterday (a cold but at least sunny and dry day) when I saw an old woman walking (actually it was more like hobbleing) straight through the mad skate thrall, completely oblivious to the many perils that her stateside counterpart would perceive. The woman, as well as multitudes of other elderly folks, parents with small children, and other passersby, despite easy circumvention of the square, choose to walk through the square-turned-skatepark, and from what I can tell, have yet to encounter even a near-miss. I don’t know the reason for it, but I sure wish that people were as laid back with regards to the use of public spaces in the states.