April, 2010:
Thanks for Failing, Doctor Beeching
The bend widens out, and before me lies a toy train platform, built lifesized.
I crunch up, moving from a path of gravel ballast onto sloping wooden planking. Before and behind me, the rails curve lazily away through the narrow valley, high escarpments on either side pressing inwards and making a sweaty day even closer. Barring the steel lines set ablaze by the sunshine it’s a natural-looking landscape – into which Newton Dale Halt has been dropped like a shoddy special effect.
On either end of the wooden stop there are inward-facing signs, both unreadable as I approached along the trackside path. Upon making the top of the platform, I discover they say “Danger: Do Not Walk Along The Trackside Path”. Great. Cursing my knack for finding turnings where none exist, I unshoulder my rucksack and sit down on the moss-greased planking.
Silence falls, roaring in my ears as I strain to hear the approach of a train returned from the dead.
Why Danielle Travels
50 Amazingly Achievable Things To Do Before You Die
I’m tired of reading about difficult, expensive, time-consuming things I “have to do before I die“. And I’m betting you are too.
So why not try my Amazingly Achievable Things To Do list instead?
Let me know how you score.
(Especially if it’s under 50%).
Why Cherrye Travels
“Why aren’t you travelling yet?” people often ask me.
(Well, to be more specific they say “Oh – are you still here?”, but it’s the same question phrased differently, I feel sure).
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The Unholy Trinity Of Bad Internet Lists
(After my Twitter rant of last week, I needed a walk on the North York Moors to chill out. This I did. Did it work? Well, I’m now ranting about something else. I think this shows Progress).
So, you want your post to get lots of page-hits? Want traffic roaring like a scene from Days of Thunder? (Apologies for choice of movie and hyperlink. I’ll try harder next time). Want people to thumb-up, retweet and generally daub it in all the colors of online approval?
You’ll want a list, then.
This is what is known as Conventional Wisdom – and it’s ruining the Internet.
7 Things Twitter Has Taught Me
That nothing says “I have nothing to say today” more than a good Mark Twain quote.
That contrary to popular assumption and cold, hard evidence, at least 50% of people online are “social media experts”.
That Britney Spears really gets around.
That it’s ok to do things online that would make you look a complete tool offline, such as retweeting a compliment or saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over (and over). Imagine trying this when you were at school. (Ah! I think I’ve just realised why I wasn’t popular back then. Thank you, Twitter).
That no matter how personable people might be in conversation, they usually employ robots to write their DM introductions. Luckily, first impressions don’t matter (or hey, they’d be really screwed).
That it would be really, really wonderful if you could instantly Unfollow or Block someone in real life when they pissed you off, and they would either be silenced or vanish entirely, preferably with a protracted, agonised shriek. This would be particularly useful and entertaining on long train rides through Britain.
That if we could only talk in sentences 140 characters long, we’d say less – and we’d probably listen more.
Image: Matt Honan
Why Lisa Travels
So, we spend a goodly slice of our lives working for the Man (or the Woman, or the Folk) so we get enough money to afford possessions that make our home lives a joy, putting down roots, investing in where we are socially and materially, embracing modern life as the sedentary, communal experience of Being Someone Somewhere that it truly is.
And then what do we do to relax? We leg it over the horizon.
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Yorkshire Puddings: Britain’s Most Fragile Crop
If you’ve ever sat down to a proper English Sunday roast, you’ll be acquainted with one of Yorkshire‘s greatest cultural gifts to the world, the Yorkshire Pudding. I’ve always loved them – delicious and visually arresting, not to mention a great place to store excess gravy (and hey, who doesn’t want excess gravy?).
But what exactly are they – and why Yorkshire?
