Two of the guys I met at UWE last Friday (with whom I saw last Friday's friendly match of England against Brazil too) asked me if I wanted to come and see the England qualifying match against Estonia in a pub nearby. The first half was rubbish, but Cole's goal was brilliant. After the break England did a lot better (due to Beckham's assists that led to the other two goals scored) and we had a good time after all.
Today Nen and I went to the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, as I had quite an interesting course on the Empire at school last year. The museum has opened a major exhibition on slavery, 'Breaking the Chains', to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of slave trade.
I knew quite a lot about the Empire but the exhibition still provided necessary knowledge about the traumatic history.
As Bristol has been one of the biggest ports, it has had a huge role in the transatlantic slave trade. Bristol merchants were granted the right to trade in slaves in the 17th and 18th century which caused a lot of profit. With the wealth the merchants generated over the slave trade, they were allowed to buy larger premises and bigger ships.
This is a really disturbing picture but it does show the horrible situation on the slave ships from Africa to the sugar plantations in South America as well as Bristol and Liverpool (which became the largest port after Bristol)
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