On the 29th and 30th December 2010, why not join Scotland’s foremost experts in Scotch Whisky with the rare opportunity to meet some of the distillers. Enjoy the Whisky tour at the Scotch Whisky Experience, which includes exclusive entrance to the Distillers’ Fair and the chance to join a mini master class. It is pre-booking online for the morning only. Afternoon tickets are available on the door.
The British social classes have always been seen as the pinnacle of the world’s elite, but what is it really like behind the scenes of a country estate?
The BBC is hoping to shed some light on this with their revival of the hit 1970s series Upstairs Downstairs, which portrayed how the Edwardian upper class houses ran from both sides of the picture. This follows the incredible success of the ITV short series Downton Abbey.
If that was a real portrayal of how life was in an Edwardian household, how does it differ from today’s large estates? That is what the Independent set out to find out with a series of interviews of real people from both the employers and staff of various country houses.
A Cairn terrier which had escaped from the owners garden, was seen boarding a Glasgow bus presumably in an attempt to get home.
Hamish the terrier had earlier disappeared after escaping under the garden fence, had walked quite a few miles through the ice and the snow before seeing the bus door open and climbing onboard. He was spotted by passengers covered in icicles, but refused to get off the bus and curled up in a warm corner.
The dog was eventually dropped off with the Scottish SPCA animal rescue and re-homing centre in the city who put out an appeal on local radio for the owner of the dog to contact them. Hamish was later reunited with his owner, Ashley McGuinness, who said “My sister-in-law heard on the radio that the Scottish SPCA was looking for the owner of a Cairn Terrier who had gone on a bus and I thought it had to be Hamish.”
Hamish who isn’t exactly a youngster, is now back home and presumably curled up in a nice warm place. Full story on the BBC.
This one reminds me of Casper who for four years has been catching a bus on an 11 mile round trip in his home town of Plymouth – more on the Telegraph.
Oxford street around Christmas is generally one of the busiest streets in the world for shoppers, all bustling down a narrow pavement to get those last minute bargains.
As a result, the street is often seen as quite a nightmare for shoppers, especially as there are those window shopping around the major department stores, and those just trying to get to the next shop. To try to solve this, the BBC’s Brian Milligan had a novel idea – introducing speed lanes for shoppers.
The idea is very simple – a line is drawn on the ground along the street and those wanting to window-shop will use the left “lane”, and those wanting to bypass will do so on the right much like a dual carriageway of people.
So does the idea work? Well going by the video of the experiment there are mixed results, but in theory it should, except perhaps for one major flaw. Oxford Street pavements are 2 way so really for this to work the pavements would need to be split into three lanes with window shopping only allowed in one direction.
Rail services from First Capital Connect, Chiltern and Merseyrail are reported to be cut by about 25% today as a last minute timetable change.
The changes to the schedules were in response to delays caused by the snow and ice which has seen many parts of the network suffer significant delays and cancellations. The lines are generally used by commuters so the impact on the holiday travelling public should be more limited, except for those trying to reach certain areas of the country.
Further delays have also been reported to some routes on services including East Coast, East Midlands, First Trans-Pennine Express, National Express East Anglia, Northern Rail ScotRail, South West Trains, and Stansted Express due to the weather with a few cancellations likely according to the BBC.
Delay information was also released for earlier in December which showed on average around 80% of services were on-time, although Virgin West Coast figured showed the lowest punctuality figure of around 70.4% down from the standard 80%. This might be because the East Coast line was shut for several days along with services in the south of England, which wouldn’t be counted in delay figures.
Rail passengers are advised to check with their rail company or see the National Rail Enquiries web site for more information on cancelled and delayed services.
A group of artists are planning to use a pop-up inflatable cinema to show films around all five East London boroughs involved in the London Olympics.
If the idea of an inflatable cinema sounds a little strange, just wait until you see it in action! The cinema can be best described as a series of bubbles, in some way maybe akin to the Eden Project domes, except these are expanded by air and thus fairly portable.
The new event is described as a project which “aims to create a “human blueprint” of London’s waterways and their connections to the Olympic Park and the Games.”
Translated, that seems to mean they’ll be showing various films (as yet unspecified on the site) inside the tent, possibly alongside other artistic events and taking a tour of London via the canal network even though the actual bubble comes out of a caravan (see video below).
There is supposed to be a video here of a previous usage of the bubble, but I can’t currently get it to work (maybe you’ll have more luck).
If not, then there’s always this video of it being inflated in the Tate Modern:
Hopefully all will become clear or perhaps someone can explain all this to us in English…?
Time for some nice pictures of previous uses of the “bubble”.
Possibly the most famous zebra crossing in the world has now been given extra protection after being awarded listed status by the Heritage minister.
The crossing outside of EMI Abbey Road Studios in London shot to fame after appearing on the cover of the 1969 Beatles album “Abbey Road” when Iain Macmillan’s photographed the “fab four” walking across it.
Today thousands of Beatles fans come from all around the world to have their photos taken walking across the same piece of tarmac, and the news of listed status will ensure that many more generations can do the same.
This listing is the first of it’s kind, as only buildings are generally considered for listed status by English Heritage who make the proposals to the Heritage minister. The Abbey Road Studios were also listed in February 2010.
Of course the crossing is also used by thousands of people just to avoid London traffic, and most probably don’t do the iconic still-frame walk made so iconic on the photo, but whatever the use, this new status ensures that the crossing will never go {beep} {beep} {beep} and have any red / green men showing.
In one of the largest ever gatherings, around 2000 people arrived at Stonehenge for the annual Winter Solstice celebrations this year.
It is believed the ancient rituals of the Winter Solstice have been celebrated at Stonehenge for thousands of years and this year saw one of the largest gatherings on record despite the snowy weather.
For many years, Stonehenge has been cordoned off but more recently English Heritage have worked with the Pagan and Druid groups to allow them to carry out the rituals which welcome the shortest day of the year and look forward to the Summer Solstice.
Amongst the ceremonies were at least one Pagan wedding overseen by a Druid calling himself King Arthur Pendragon, although no knights or round table were seen.
The ceremonies actually happened on Wednesday even though the Gregorian calendar calculates it as Tuesday. The difference is because this calendar of 365 days + a leap year does not correspond exactly to the solar year of 365.2422 days.
One small change to the traditional ceremony however was the snowball fight which erupted after the main ceremony was over.
We’re lucky here in the UK that we don’t really need to go traipsing half way around the world to experience some outstanding areas of natural beauty. Because we’re such a small island we’ve also got the added bonus of being able to get almost anywhere in a matter of hours rather than days. If you’re looking for a weekend break or a family holiday Wales promises to have anything you could want from a holiday.
With more than 640 castles ranging from ancient ruins to habitable dwellings and over 750 miles of ever changing coast there’s no way you could ever be bored. Whether you’re exploring an ancient ruin of a long forgotten castle or enjoying a few hours in one of Wales’s metropolitan cities you’re never far from the rich history this proud country has to offer. Gwlad hud a lledrith to the west of the country is still known as ‘the land of magic and enchantment’. Wales is even rumoured to be the birth place of legendary wizard Merlin who is said to have been born just outside of Carmarthen. These are the types of stories that are guaranteed to keep everyone entertained.
The highest mountain in Wales is Snowdonia in the north of the country and makes the perfect day out if you’re looking to get a little exercise and see some stunning views. At over 1,000 metres above sea level this famous mountain is surprisingly easy to climb. If you have a good fitness level and you enjoy a challenge you might want to attempt the Watkins Path which is easily the steepest of the several paths you could take. If you want to try something a little more leisurely you could try the Llanberis Path which is definitely one of the longest walks to the peak.
As you work your way down Wales and head south you’ll notice the terrain gets softer and the landscape more open. If you have the time, travelling along the coast will offer some truly stunning scenery as the beaches range from serene and sandy to wild and angry. In the summer Wales offers some of the most beautiful beaches in the UK with miles and miles of unspoilt sandy beaches. If you prefer something more complex, several miles of the Welsh coast is ragged angry rocks being attacked by a savage sea. If you want to actually get out into the water you’ll find a rich selection of wildlife, including basking sharks, turtles, seals and dolphins. There are very few places in the UK that can claim to be home to a pod of dolphins but Cardigan Bay is one of them. If you prefer the water a little less alive you might want to try your hand at one of the numerous water sports on offer at various centres along the coast, from surfing to diving and windsurfing there’s lots for you to try your hand at.
If you want to discover some of the rich culture and history this small country has to offer you might want to try spending the afternoon exploring some of the many castles it has to offer. The largest castle in Wales is Caerphilly Castle which also happens to be the second largest castle in the UK. King Henry VII (father of King Henry VIII) was born and grew up in Pembroke Castle in the south of Wales. Both of these castles are open to the public and make a great day out.
Jack Norell is the SEM Manager for Holiday Rentals who offer an extensive selection of cottages to rent.
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We might sometimes curse the snow for causing travel disruption, but it can also make the countryside look quite magnificent.
This is best illustrated by the readers of the Independent Newspaper who have sent in over 200 photos of Britain under the snow this month, with some really spectacular scenes. In years to come, if anyone ever doubts London saw significant snow, just show them picture 19 in the list.
On the 29th and 30th December 2010, why not join Scotland’s foremost experts in Scotch Whisky with the rare opportunity to meet some of the distillers. Enjoy the Whisky tour at the Scotch Whisky Experience, which includes exclusive entrance to the Distillers’ Fair and the chance to join a mini master class. It is pre-booking online for the morning only. Afternoon tickets are available on the door.
The British social classes have always been seen as the pinnacle of the world’s elite, but what is it really like behind the scenes of a country estate?
Oxford street around Christmas is generally one of the busiest streets in the world for shoppers, all bustling down a narrow pavement to get those last minute bargains.
Rail services from First Capital Connect, Chiltern and Merseyrail are reported to be cut by about 25% today as a last minute timetable change. 
Possibly the most famous zebra crossing in the world has now been given extra protection after being awarded listed status by the Heritage minister.
In one of the largest ever gatherings, around 2000 people arrived at Stonehenge for the annual Winter Solstice celebrations this year.
We’re lucky here in the UK that we don’t really need to go traipsing half way around the world to experience some outstanding areas of natural beauty. Because we’re such a small island we’ve also got the added bonus of being able to get almost anywhere in a matter of hours rather than days. If you’re looking for a weekend break or a family holiday Wales promises to have anything you could want from a holiday.
We might sometimes curse the snow for causing travel disruption, but it can also make the countryside look quite magnificent.
