Discovering England

I wanted to write something about my bike ride that reflected the journey as a whole, and not just as a reminder that some of you now owe me money (could I have it ASAP please?). I wrote a blog post about the word “staycation” that has entered media parlance this year, and I’ll be building on from some of the discussion.

Climate Migration: A film idea

As I was out cycling recently, I began to wonder about the kinds of Climate Change films being made, and it occurred to me that one area there has been almost work on so far is climate change migration, the idea of people moving away from the equators in search of a liveable environment could make a pretty epic film. The main twist I’d like to see in it: I think it should be about a family from Britain struggling to migrate into overpopulated Norway.

Welcome to Staycation Nation

Apparently this summer is meant to be the summer of the “Staycation”, people deciding to holiday in Britain instead of going overseas in order to save money. This leaves me wondering when it became insufficient to simply Vacate one’s town or city, and why we need a whole new (or rather, American) term for a holiday we take inside our national boundaries.

In Sheffield, and not in pain

Just to bring things up to date, I’ve made it to Sheffield. It was a little more traumatic than it should have been and took a few more miles of pedalling than it should have done, and at least one more encounter with a dual carriageway than it should have done. Apart from my saddle being a little wobbly just at the end, my bike is in one piece. 96km or 60miles in 6hrs51, average 14kph or 8.5mph. Tomorrow, all being well, will get me to Birmingham via Derby, Burton on Trent and either Tamworth or Lichfield. I’d quite like to see Lichfield, as I need to tick the cathedral off my list!

Climate Change and Academic Collaboration

It might seem perverse, given the extent to which Academic Collaboration has proven itself vital in the discovery and confirmation of climate change existence, current effects and likely future outcomes, but the imperative of Academic Collaboration is probably one of the biggest root causes of Climate Change within the Academic World.

Connecting Rails to Reality

Having written a long winded rant about air transport a few days ago, I thought I’d actually make use of a bunch of reports I have saved on the current situation for the development railways from Africa and Asia to Britain. As with anything that involves railways, its not so much the engineering that has the effects, its the wider political and social impacts that railways have by their presence or absence.

Bringing things down to earth

The age of gratuitous art travel continues a pace, but there are some cracks becoming visible in the jubilation of the air industry. It seems that even if a third runway were built, there just might not be enough flights left to use it. But does this mean flying will return to its elite status, and what might become of the work force currently involved.

The Importance of Memory

Being in Berlin, even if only briefly, has reminded me of the importance of ‘Memory’, one of the major Generalised Issues* that the British sadly fail to make enough of a deal about. Its also made me wonder whether all airports should be torn down or not.

My Eurostar Gripes

After a post on train travel in the UK, I thought this might be a good follow up, spreading the horizons east into Europe. Eurostar is an excellent idea, but heavily under-developed. Bringing high-speed rail to London was a great idea, and now the embarrassment that was Waterloo International is fading into history, its probably time to move on a bit.

Less flights, not less food, make 70’s more environmental

I found a recent article that claims eating less overall, and more greens and less meat, to reflect the diet of the 1970’s, would help the planet. Whilst I don’t doubt there’s some truth here, I do think conjoining the very separate issues of obesity and the collapse of eco-systems is unhelpful in a world full of image problems. But perhaps the idea that a 1970’s lifestyle is better for the planet might hold some weight.