Page 28 of A Sky Full of Stars
‘You’ll see!’ Charlotte replied and Tristan shook his head.
‘Just promise me that if I have a funny turn, I can hold your hand?’
Charlotte’s heart sped up as, without another word, Tristan reached out and took her hand in his. Together, they crossed Park Street, the long, elegant sloping expanse that curved gently down to the harbourside, and Charlotte gestured to the imposing tower of the Wills Memorial Building.
‘I was a tour guide here when I was an undergraduate,’ she explained as they walked through the archway that marked the entrance to the building. ‘I thought I’d give you a bit of an insight if that sounds like something up your alley.’
Tristan grinned. ‘Sounds like a great way to speed up my heartbeat whilst still remaining respectable,’ he quipped as he glanced at some of the facts and figures on the noticeboards in the foyer. ‘Are you planning on taking me up the tower?’
‘If you’re up for the walk,’ Charlotte replied. ‘It’s sixty-eight metres high, and the fifth-tallest building in Bristol.’
She noticed an expression of apprehension crossing Tristan’s face before he rearranged his features more enthusiastically. ‘That sounds like quite a trek.’
‘Are your knees up to it?’ Charlotte asked, only half-jokingly. ‘We can take a break to say hello to Great George before we get to the top, if you feel the need for a breather.’
‘Who’s he? The tower guard?’ Tristan asked.
Charlotte laughed. ‘Something like that.’
Since Tristan had driven, Charlotte insisted on treating him to a ticket to the tower, and they joined a group of eight other people on the tour. As they meandered through the majestic panelled buildings of one of the best examples of neo-Gothic architecture in the UK, Charlotte slipped her hand back into Tristan’s, and they found themselves moving a little closer together, not entirely due to the narrowing of the corridors. Taking in the impressive sight of the Great Hall where Charlotte had received her undergraduate degree, and several moments from famous films had been shot, the group paused before they got to the last part of the tour, ascending the tower itself.
‘Now, if you’re not up for climbing the whole way to the top, you can use the lift to about halfway up,’ Gary, the cheery, knowledgeable tour guide, informed them with a smile. ‘The first few flights of steps are fairly wide, but when you get up towards Great George, things get narrower, so don’t be embarrassed about wanting to conserve your energy.’
‘What do you think?’ Charlotte teased. ‘Fancy the stairs, or do you want to wuss out and take the lift?’
Tristan grinned at her. ‘I’m game for the stairs if you are.’
‘I used to do this trek three times a day when I worked here,’ Charlotte replied. ‘It holds no fears for me.’
‘And don’t worry,’ Gary interrupted their banter, ‘there’s plenty of oxygen at the top.’
They set off on their vertical journey, and Charlotte kept up easily with Tristan’s longer stride. They were passing various signs to the academic departments housed in the building, and Tristan’s eye was caught by the sight of a Hogwarts-like library as they passed. Soon, however, they were heading towards the last stretch of the tour, and the building opened out as they reached the domain of Great George.
‘Tristan, meet George,’ Charlotte said as they walked out onto a platform that housed the tower’s most illustrious resident. There, hanging in the cavity, an impressive nine and a half tonnes and cast in bronze, was Great George, whose formidable, sonorous clang rang across the city on the hour. ‘He’s been here since the early 1920s.’
‘Almost as long as me!’ Gary quipped. He turned back to address the rest of the group, asking them to spread out a little around the platform that surrounded the belfry. It was a minute to twelve o’clock, and so they waited in anticipation for the first strike.
‘I forgot to ask if you were all right with loud noises,’ Charlotte murmured as Gary continued to regale the group with titbits of information about Great George’s creation and installation into the tower.
‘I guess we’ll find out in about fifteen seconds,’ Tristan replied. ‘Perhaps I’ll keep holding your hand… it’ll stop me getting nervous.’
Charlotte moved a little closer to him. ‘And I’ll be able to feel it if you jump, too!’
Tristan seemed about to respond to her when the creak of the bell hammer silenced him, and Great George’s resounding boom rang out through the tower. Eleven more reverberating, echoing bolts of the hammer sounded until there was an equally deafening silence at the end of the chime.
‘Can you still hear me?’ Gary called out after the last chime had echoed away through the city air.
‘Just about.’ Charlotte smiled back at him, and then glanced up at Tristan, who was listening intently to Gary’s facts and figures about Great George and the bell tower. Her hand still held his and she suddenly had the urge to stretch up and kiss him. Squashing the desire, she gestured to the last part of the climb up the tower as Gary paused for breath.
‘That staircase is not quite a metre wide, and runs a tight vertical corkscrew to the roof – are you OK with confined spaces?’
Tristan nodded confidently. ‘Seems a shame to have visited Great George and not to see the view while we’re here.’
They edged around the bell cavity and headed towards the last part of the climb. Pausing to let a party of four go ahead of them, Charlotte gestured to the entrance to the spiral stone staircase and then grinned. ‘Do you want to go ahead or walk behind?’
‘Lead the way,’ Tristan said playfully. ‘I mean, I wouldn’t want to get lost!’
Charlotte paused for a moment, wondering if she was ready to give Tristan such a prolonged look at her back view, before shrugging it off and putting her foot on the first step. ‘I would say I’d race you to the top, but there’s no room to overtake!’ And with that, she began the climb.
