Post-lockdown, might the British return to the seaside like they used to, especially on big beaches with lots of social distancing? The National Trust reserve at Formby, Lancashire, part of one of the largest areas of unspoilt dunes in Europe. And it is safe haven for some of the few remaining red squirrels in England…. Continue reading
Why can I buy a plane ticket for a winter 2020 trip but not a train ticket?
It isn’t just European destinations that you can book for next autumn and winter by plane but not by train, if you were planning a break sufficiently distant from the current lockdown to have hopes you would be able to actually take it. I looked at of the possibility of a… Continue reading →
Crowdfunding appeal to save Hourglass, Extinction Rebellion newspaper
Waterloo Bridge, April 2019. Photo- GHD. A year ago today Central London was in a different sort of lock down. Over the Easter weekend hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists peacefully occupied Oxford Street, the Marble Arch area and Waterloo Bridge. It was the most concerted direct action to date to draw attention to the gravity of… Continue reading →
City of the high thrills – take the train to Lincoln
Lincoln is one of England’s finest old cities, dominated by its glorious cathedral, sitting high on a hill. But it has many smaller-scale marvels too, as I discovered. My don’t-miss list includes one very steep street, an original tank, an all-cheese restaurant, and the room where Tom Hanks stayed when he starred in the Da Vinci code.
Continue reading →New rewilding campaign seeks to heal the countryside
This morning two buzzards and a red kite soared in interlocking circles in the warm air high above my garden. Quite what this interaction of two distinct species meant is beside the point. We were looking at a very conspicuous example, as close to home as it could possibly be, of rewilding. Technically the buzzard… Continue reading →
How Mr Jones scooped the world aboard Hitler’s plane
Mr Jones, directed by Agnieszka Holland, with James Norton, Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard, is now streaming on Netflix and other movie platforms. “A few feet away [from me] sits Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany and leader of the most volcanic nationalist awakening which the world has seen. Six thousand feet beneath us, hidden by… Continue reading →