Just got back - 4 full, packed, days bookended by 2 days travelling. Spirit willing, but flesh weak.
Air travel has lost it's allure - it's just boring - interminable queues & delays - & tiring, although you aren't really doing much. Land travel isn't much better, but more of that later.
Nice hotel apart from the first night when I slept in a room which reverberated with the air con machinery. "Sleeping" with a pillow over your head on a hot night isn't enjoyable. Once I'd persuaded them to move me it was fine, although I'm mystified as to why an Italian hotel couldn't produce a decent cup of coffee with the excellent buffet breakfast.
Fortunately we had booked tickets for all the important sites beforehand, so we skipped the queues in theory. In practice you still have to queue for ages for security, which is full airport type scanning. Rome is definitely the busiest city I have visited apart from possibly Istanbul. Everyone wants to see the Pope, (although he is so far away you can't see much), (tick), the Vatican (tick), the Sistine Chapel (tick), & St Peters (tick). The Vatican Museum is possibly the busiest, worst signed & most difficult to navigate tourist destination I have ever visited.
Hop on Hop off buses take you round the whole city. Our company was supposed to have buses every 10 - 15 minutes - They lied. They only had 4 buses & one of those was broken down. The others weren't far off the scrap yard either. Standing in a queue, in the blazing sun, for well over half an hour isn't my idea of fun.
We did all the main things - Trevi Fountain - big / Spanish Steps - closed for some event / Piazza Navona - nice / Borghese Museum - long walk through lovely park / Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine, Circus Maximus - not as impressive as other ancient sites I have seen in other countries, many now sadly bombed / Trastavere district - interesting / Via Appia Antica + Catacombes of San Sebastian + tomb of Cecilia Metella - lovely rural escape from the city.
Coming home I got a cross country train from Birmingham airport to Oxford. It was packed when it arrived with people standing in all the carriages & lobby areas. It was a very short train from Manchester to Bournemouth. Surely the train companies know how many tickets they have sold & how many people are likely to travel on given days at given times? I would have had to stand all the way except that a very kind woman gave me her seat at Banbury. I spoke to one woman, a similar age to me, who had stood all the way from Scotland! I think this is appalling. I buy a ticket expecting to have a seat. It should be part of the contract. I don't have to stand on a plane.
Glad to be home, even if it isn't exciting. There's a lot to be said for places & people you know, boring routine & UK TV.
Sunday 25 September 2016
Sunday 18 September 2016
Travel
Travel - To go, move, journey from one place to another.
I've lost count of all the places I've travelled to in my life, both in the UK & the World. I've had wonderful experiences & met wonderful people. I've also had dreadful experiences & met dreadful people. I have been very priveleged to have the money to travel for enjoyment & have learned a great deal about different cultures & places.
Now I'm in my 70's I'm beginning to question whether I want to keep travelling. All that research & preparation beforehand, which I used to really enjoy, seems more onerous & takes a lot of time. I've always wanted to know a lot about places I'm going to so I see the important things. Now I'm beginning to think that I ought to just go & see what happens, who I meet.
Conversely I now wonder whether travelling, especially going on holiday, which is different, is a sustainable & justifiable thing. It's another "issue" that is full of grey areas. We need to know about other people, their beliefs & the way they live. In travelling to do that we are using finite resources, polluting the world & giving large amounts of money to multinational corporations, but very little to the local people who are often less well off than we are.
We are a culture who takes holidays as a right. Many people don't really think about the impact, often very adverse, they have on the places they go to - think about the Southern coast of Spain for example.
One of the less desirable aspects of our ability to travel is people who literally tick off a list of the places they have been, much like Birders do with different species. Then there is the tendency to brag about where they have been & what they have seen. I've done it too - so I can't take the moral high ground.
I've got two holidays in the pipeline - Rome & The Hebrides. The latter because I love the sea & landscapes. I also feel it's important to support our UK economy & see my own heritage. Rome because of the art & architecture.
It would be very easy not to travel any more. The thing that concerns me about doing that is I would get more stuck in the rut of comfortable routine - people & places that I know. I do think you have to deliberately remove yourself from your own comfort zone or you vegitate rather than stimulate. You deny yourself new experiences.
Just not sure I've got the energy anymore.
I've lost count of all the places I've travelled to in my life, both in the UK & the World. I've had wonderful experiences & met wonderful people. I've also had dreadful experiences & met dreadful people. I have been very priveleged to have the money to travel for enjoyment & have learned a great deal about different cultures & places.
Now I'm in my 70's I'm beginning to question whether I want to keep travelling. All that research & preparation beforehand, which I used to really enjoy, seems more onerous & takes a lot of time. I've always wanted to know a lot about places I'm going to so I see the important things. Now I'm beginning to think that I ought to just go & see what happens, who I meet.
Conversely I now wonder whether travelling, especially going on holiday, which is different, is a sustainable & justifiable thing. It's another "issue" that is full of grey areas. We need to know about other people, their beliefs & the way they live. In travelling to do that we are using finite resources, polluting the world & giving large amounts of money to multinational corporations, but very little to the local people who are often less well off than we are.
We are a culture who takes holidays as a right. Many people don't really think about the impact, often very adverse, they have on the places they go to - think about the Southern coast of Spain for example.
One of the less desirable aspects of our ability to travel is people who literally tick off a list of the places they have been, much like Birders do with different species. Then there is the tendency to brag about where they have been & what they have seen. I've done it too - so I can't take the moral high ground.
I've got two holidays in the pipeline - Rome & The Hebrides. The latter because I love the sea & landscapes. I also feel it's important to support our UK economy & see my own heritage. Rome because of the art & architecture.
It would be very easy not to travel any more. The thing that concerns me about doing that is I would get more stuck in the rut of comfortable routine - people & places that I know. I do think you have to deliberately remove yourself from your own comfort zone or you vegitate rather than stimulate. You deny yourself new experiences.
Just not sure I've got the energy anymore.
Sunday 11 September 2016
Truth - Honesty.
Truth - Genuine, actual, factual. Proven or verified.
Honesty - Sincerity, fairness.
How far is truth & honesty subjective?
I think I am, by an large, an honest & truthful person. That isn't to say that I have never & will never lie. There are times when I make a concious decision not to tell someone something because I feel that by doing so I will needlessly hurt them in some way. I can freely admit that I have actually lied on occasion for similar reasons. My first precept is "Do no unnecessary harm".
The motivation not to "tell the truth & the whole truth" can be love or caring for someone & wishing to protect them. I'm certainly guilty of that & would do it again if necessary without shame. Whether it's the right choice is debatable, because people don't like to feel that a relationship is based on falseness.
I think you can argue this from both sides. People have a right to know the truth & their nearest & dearest don't really have the right to keep that truth from them, because no one can know the ultimate consequences of that action or inaction. Saying nothing can be just as bad. Sins of comission & omission.
People often portray themselves as "being blunt", "calling a spade a spade (or shovel)", "speaking truth to power" as though it is a quality to be admired. We do need whistleblowers with the courage to speak up. We need people to stand up to injustice regardless of the harm it may do them or their families. The weak need the strong.
I'm just feeling conflicted because there are so many shades of grey in life. Deciding on the right course of action isn't necessarily simple anymore. So often the consequences are completely unpredictable. You don't want to destroy a relationship, but you do want to do your best for the person involved.
In the end I think you just have to go with your gut instinct & hope that it is reliable, honest & true.
Honesty - Sincerity, fairness.
How far is truth & honesty subjective?
I think I am, by an large, an honest & truthful person. That isn't to say that I have never & will never lie. There are times when I make a concious decision not to tell someone something because I feel that by doing so I will needlessly hurt them in some way. I can freely admit that I have actually lied on occasion for similar reasons. My first precept is "Do no unnecessary harm".
The motivation not to "tell the truth & the whole truth" can be love or caring for someone & wishing to protect them. I'm certainly guilty of that & would do it again if necessary without shame. Whether it's the right choice is debatable, because people don't like to feel that a relationship is based on falseness.
I think you can argue this from both sides. People have a right to know the truth & their nearest & dearest don't really have the right to keep that truth from them, because no one can know the ultimate consequences of that action or inaction. Saying nothing can be just as bad. Sins of comission & omission.
People often portray themselves as "being blunt", "calling a spade a spade (or shovel)", "speaking truth to power" as though it is a quality to be admired. We do need whistleblowers with the courage to speak up. We need people to stand up to injustice regardless of the harm it may do them or their families. The weak need the strong.
I'm just feeling conflicted because there are so many shades of grey in life. Deciding on the right course of action isn't necessarily simple anymore. So often the consequences are completely unpredictable. You don't want to destroy a relationship, but you do want to do your best for the person involved.
In the end I think you just have to go with your gut instinct & hope that it is reliable, honest & true.
Saturday 10 September 2016
Concrete & Oxford Open Doors
Oxford is an interesting place to live. There is a huge amount going on to suit every interest - the arts & architecture, music, academic courses, world class museums etc etc. I was able to visit two wonderful modern buildings this morning as part of the Open Doors annual event.
The Investcorp Building at St Anthony's College designed by Zaha Hadid
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/middle-east-centre-st-antonys-college/
& the Blavatnik School of Government designed by Herzog & de Meuron https://www.architecture.com/Awards/Awards2016/RegionalAwards/South/BlavatnikSchoolofGovernment.aspx
This is somehow a very British event all over the UK. Buildings which are not normally open to the public allow you to wander about & often make huge efforts to put on talks & give interesting information. Who, for example, knew that there is a Concrete Centre which produces "Concrete Quarterly"?
I've always thought that concrete was a really bad building material from an environmental point of view. I've certainly been to places in China & the Middle East for example, which have been completely blighted by cement works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete
However, according to the Concrete centre, it would appear that things have changed quite a lot.
https://www.concretecentre.com/Performance-Sustainability-(1).aspx
Concrete can certainly be a beautiful building material as both these buildings show. What I find uplifting is that fusty Oxford colleges are brave enough to build iconic, thoroughly modern buildings using modern materials, juxtaposed with the old Oxford stone college buildings.
House building companies please take note & stop building dreadful boxes which are a pastiche of old building styles without any of the original building's charm.
The Investcorp Building at St Anthony's College designed by Zaha Hadid
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/middle-east-centre-st-antonys-college/
& the Blavatnik School of Government designed by Herzog & de Meuron https://www.architecture.com/Awards/Awards2016/RegionalAwards/South/BlavatnikSchoolofGovernment.aspx
This is somehow a very British event all over the UK. Buildings which are not normally open to the public allow you to wander about & often make huge efforts to put on talks & give interesting information. Who, for example, knew that there is a Concrete Centre which produces "Concrete Quarterly"?
I've always thought that concrete was a really bad building material from an environmental point of view. I've certainly been to places in China & the Middle East for example, which have been completely blighted by cement works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete
However, according to the Concrete centre, it would appear that things have changed quite a lot.
https://www.concretecentre.com/Performance-Sustainability-(1).aspx
Concrete can certainly be a beautiful building material as both these buildings show. What I find uplifting is that fusty Oxford colleges are brave enough to build iconic, thoroughly modern buildings using modern materials, juxtaposed with the old Oxford stone college buildings.
House building companies please take note & stop building dreadful boxes which are a pastiche of old building styles without any of the original building's charm.
Monday 5 September 2016
Creativity & Artistic Vision
I've had a bit of an arty farty couple of weeks. I've been to the Kate Malone pottery exhibition at Waddesdon, seen "Peter Pan in Scarlet" at the Playhouse theatre, been to the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition at the Tate & finally to Craft in the Bay in Cardiff. Driving to Wales & back I listened to Bizet's "Pearl Fishers". My life is enriched by art, music & drama & always has been since I was a child.
I can remember art lessons in primary school, but not a lot else about my primary school. I enjoyed playing the piano & developed a love of classical music. We weren't a family who had the money or inclination to go to the theatre, but I do remember loving the pictures & actually bunked off school to do it.
In my Primary teaching career I loved giving children opportunities to be creative & displaying their work. Doing music with young children is really fun from singing games to percussion. All children can be creative if given opportunities & encouraged. All children enjoy the Arts in one form or another.
It is wonderful to see the world through the eyes of an artist or hear a musical interpretation by a musician. You realise that there are no limits to what humans can achieve with creativity & vision.
So isn't it a shame that so little curricular time is given to the Arts. We are so driven by SAT's, Maths & Reading that we end up with an imbalance in what we call education. The Warwick Commission Report, which I had never heard of, puts it very well.
s://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/17/arts-and-culture-systematically-removed-from-uk-education-system
We need creative people with vision in all aspects of society. We need a varied diet in education, just as we do in the food we eat. The Arts are the food of the soul, they are also a billion pound UK industry. The Arts are not just for the rich & middle class white population. Think of Vivienne Westwood in fashion, Oasis in Pop, Albert Finney in Film, David Hockney in painting.....The list is endless.
We are diminished individually & as a society if we do not value the Arts. Creativity & vision are not respectors of colour, creed, class, wealth or any other label you might put on sections of society. Everyone benefits from a rich culture. Everyone can & should participate.
I can remember art lessons in primary school, but not a lot else about my primary school. I enjoyed playing the piano & developed a love of classical music. We weren't a family who had the money or inclination to go to the theatre, but I do remember loving the pictures & actually bunked off school to do it.
In my Primary teaching career I loved giving children opportunities to be creative & displaying their work. Doing music with young children is really fun from singing games to percussion. All children can be creative if given opportunities & encouraged. All children enjoy the Arts in one form or another.
It is wonderful to see the world through the eyes of an artist or hear a musical interpretation by a musician. You realise that there are no limits to what humans can achieve with creativity & vision.
So isn't it a shame that so little curricular time is given to the Arts. We are so driven by SAT's, Maths & Reading that we end up with an imbalance in what we call education. The Warwick Commission Report, which I had never heard of, puts it very well.
s://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/17/arts-and-culture-systematically-removed-from-uk-education-system
We need creative people with vision in all aspects of society. We need a varied diet in education, just as we do in the food we eat. The Arts are the food of the soul, they are also a billion pound UK industry. The Arts are not just for the rich & middle class white population. Think of Vivienne Westwood in fashion, Oasis in Pop, Albert Finney in Film, David Hockney in painting.....The list is endless.
We are diminished individually & as a society if we do not value the Arts. Creativity & vision are not respectors of colour, creed, class, wealth or any other label you might put on sections of society. Everyone benefits from a rich culture. Everyone can & should participate.
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