Looking and Learning - even on Holiday
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2012-05-22 07:38:45 - Graham EllisOn holiday in midWales ... some glorious pictures and no content on Open Source, Technology, Hotel, Museum, Cream Teas, Campus, Rail ... or at least not very much of it.
Early mornings, and we are indeed checking our email, ensuring that outstanding questions have been answered, and taking in the scene too.
But then it's off to see the countryside - in this case the falls at Furnace. And to look at the way the community has built its historical water wheel into its heart.
The Corris railway is an example of a project to rebuild a railway that was closed in 1948, and ripped up a year later. The station at Corris is tiny, but neat and the visitor wonders how much has been achieved. The journey to Maespoeth is spectacular, the stock very clearly in excellent condition when compared to others, and we note that the locomotive was built in 2005. Maespoeth, and the gentleman giving us the talk and tour are both impressive - and AFTER being impressed by what we saw, we're taken into the new shed - seen here - where the stock is kept under cover, work done on it, new carriages built, and so on. That was a further layer of being impressed - and my hat off to all the volunteers who have done so much - and plan much more.
Modern builings such as this one have sprung up in various places - including the seasfront at Borth, and I find myself asking what we should be looking for in Melksham - design for the Campus. The buildings on the corner of Lowbourne and Bank Street, built in the 1970s to replace the George Hotel, aren't well loved and we have a difficult challenge to avoid repeating that sort of mistake. I have already heard negative comment about the outline designs for another Campus, likening it to a prison (that may be very unfair based on a 3D walkthough) and we need to ensure that whatever a walkthrough looks like, that ours is welcoming in real life and can stand the test of time.
The dogs are very good trailing around all these human things with us, and welcomed a run on the beach. Billy won't forget being chased by a yorkie (he did rather deserve it!) who was running almost as fast as he was. But I don't think Billy had turned his supercharger on, to be fair.
And so, after an afternoon running away from tiny dogs, Billy sleeps, and so does Gypsy - although you can be sure they'll be ready for further activity at the drop of a hat.
And an opportunity for us to download pictures, review what we've seen, as the sun sets in the valley over Forge, near Macynelleth, on our glorious view. Now - what today?