Seawalls: Artists for Oceans in Quirky Napier, New Zealand

On a recent cycling trip to Napier, the Polish Bear and I were astonished to find the most amazing street art in the side alleys, shop fronts and carpark walls. Art Deco Napier is a place full of surprises. Seawalls Napier: Bringing the oceans to the streets Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans is a groundbreakingContinue reading “Seawalls: Artists for Oceans in Quirky Napier, New Zealand”

<3 The Internet: Solistice Streets makes pagan worship easy

Solistice Streets is a web-based app that’s the brainchild of some pagan programmers who wanted to make it easier to worship the seasons and the summer solistice (21st of December) and winter solistice (20th June). In particular they wanted to create an online place for collective worship in honour of Stonehenge. A place where onContinue reading “<3 The Internet: Solistice Streets makes pagan worship easy”

<3 The Internet: The Basetrip app means easy travel advice

Basetrip is a unique travel app in that it tailors practical information to you according to where you live. So you can find out about time zones, weather, electricity sockets, currencies, exchange rates, costs of living, internet speeds, mobile data prices, health, vaccinations, road rules, embassies, visa information etc. together with travel tips from the community.Continue reading “<3 The Internet: The Basetrip app means easy travel advice”

Hawaii’s volcanic spectacle and Pele the Fire Goddess

This sky-level satellite image above shows how most of Puna is covered in a lush green canopy, with some visible lava flows in the District of Puna. Puna is one of the smaller islands in the American states of Hawaii. At around 1,300km2 Puna is slightly smaller than the island of Kaua.  It’s subtropical climate andContinue reading “Hawaii’s volcanic spectacle and Pele the Fire Goddess”

Travel: Five Brilliant Off the Beaten Track Restaurants Around Edinburgh

From writing for several years for the Edinburgh Food and Drink Guide I have gathered together some personal favourites of the Athens of the North. Here are a selection of Edinburgh restaurants that require some pounding of pavement often through beautiful scenery to get there. These eateries are worthy of recommendation because of their beautiful ambience,Continue reading “Travel: Five Brilliant Off the Beaten Track Restaurants Around Edinburgh”

Grandscale Beauty: The Overview Effect: Cyanobacterial Bloom in the Baltic Sea

Map makers, Google Earth developers, astronauts and those who gaze at the earth and universe for a living are already convinced of the tremendous beauty of large places seen from space. For most of us mere mortals we won’t ever get the chance to see the earth from space.  The ‘Overview Effect’ was a term coinedContinue reading “Grandscale Beauty: The Overview Effect: Cyanobacterial Bloom in the Baltic Sea”

Wild and Wonderful Asian Fruit Smoothies to enjoy this summer

Living in tropical South East Asia definitely has its benefits. One of them is being able to tan all year round. Another, is the abundance of juicy, vibrantly coloured and weird-looking fruit. This tastes like nothing you have ever tried before! Also, Asian fruit is cheap to buy here, so it’s easy to conjure upContinue reading “Wild and Wonderful Asian Fruit Smoothies to enjoy this summer”

Travel: Mudlarking for treasures on the River Thames

A Mudlark while being a species of Australian bird’, is also a curious river-side rambler. Over several millennia of habitation, London’s River Thames has collected many layers of mud-addled refuse of varying degrees of value. Although one man’s trash is another’s treasure and the shores of the Thames are still a magnet to curious folkContinue reading “Travel: Mudlarking for treasures on the River Thames”

Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935

Not much is known of this travelling neon salesman’s case, other than it’s beautiful and would have no doubt attracted scores of customers. It belonged to a company salesman for Dorwalt Signs in Pennsylvania and dates from 1935. As you probably already know, I am obssessed with neon, having written about Neon Art and Loneliness in theContinue reading “Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935”