As I’ve travelled roughly north from Naples to Rome and then Rimini, via a number of smaller towns and cities I’ve noticed there always seems to be something happening in Italy. If it’s not the Republic Day celebrations in Rome, then there’s the Pope giving an open-air mass in Genova … Continue reading
An early birthday gift of a replica mid-eighteenth century globe depicting the best cartographic knowledge of the era, and the arrival of my thirtieth birthday, got me thinking just how much the geography of our cramped little planet remains in flux even today. Dating to the time when calculations were … Continue reading
It is almost a hobby for journalists to record geographic size in respect to the informal unit of measurement ‘the Wales’. For example, rainforest destruction is often measured in Wales’. Wales covers an area of 8023 square miles (20779 km squared). England works out as 6.2 times larger than Wales … Continue reading
Quicker than you could say ‘the Spice Islands are at war’ it was over. 38 minutes after the naval bombardment began the shortest war in history ended. That’s three times less time than it takes to reach the capital Stone Town by ferry from the African mainland today. The British … Continue reading
Some people just don’t get out much. Out of their home nation that is. Sometimes there’s a good reason for this: North Korea and Zimbabwe are going to be difficult to leave alive, Andorra has no airport or railway stations, and the police might be taking care of the passports … Continue reading
For many years one of the easiest ways to see a vintage bus in action was to visit the Triton fountain roundabout at City Gate Square outside Malta’s capital, Valetta. Models not used anywhere else on Earth were still providing routine services around the island and used the roundabout as … Continue reading
A quick background shot on television of Sydney Harbour Bridge reminded me of watching silent black and white footage on the building of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle’s Discovery Museum a few years before (the gift shop doing a roaring trade in ‘coal from Newcastle’). Newcastle is a Roman city … Continue reading
Something needed to be done. 50 years ago Britain’s publicly financed rail network lost £104 million. If that doesn’t sound too awful then consider that it today’s money it accounts for £1.9 billion; 36% of the Department of Transport’s current annual budget. Income had not covered costs for almost a … Continue reading
Airships were the future once. In an era before mass air travel (or transit, as it increasingly feels) airships provided an alternate means of travelling long distances in the comfort and style more expected of ocean liners. With good weather conditions an airship could hit 80 miles an hour. They … Continue reading
Two hundred years ago this week when Scottish missionary, African explorer and Victorian hero David Livingstone was born public transport was still in its infancy. The London Underground system – the world’s first – was still 50 years into the future; the steam engine had been invented only a few … Continue reading