Rob Little's Blog – the musings of an English / British Tour Guide !

……how about a “Banksy Tour” of the world famous Street Artist’s home town of Bristol, England? Besides his “street art”, he the Bristol Museum has saved much of his work for posterity!

Banksy was nominated for an Oscar for his documentary “Exit through the Gift Shop”. A street artist whose work is widely prized by museums, collectors and galleries, Banksy has kept his exact identity a secret from the media, preferring to operate under the radar in cities around the world.

Here is a trailer for the movie and some photos of his work around Bristol.

Banksy art – possibly his most famous work at the bottom of Park Street

Banksy art – “Playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the long run” – in St Werburghs, Bristol

Banksy art in Stokes Croft, Bristol

Banksy art on the side of the ship “Thekla” – a Bristol nightclub

Banksy art in Montpellier, Bristol

Banksy art in Eastville, Bristol

Banksy art in Stokes Croft, Bristol – in the area of “the Bristol Riots” in the 1980s

Banksy art in Upper Maudlin Street – another famous one, near the Bristol Royal Infirmery

Bristol is a bit of a “Mecca” for street art and the are many more examples of outstanding art from “Banksy wannabees” !

Also, Bristol has an amazing historical heritage with many connections between the old and new worlds. John Cabot sailed from Bristol in 1497 to discover Newfoundland and subsequently there were strong trading connections between Bristol and the Americas – tobacco, rum, sugar and, indeed slavery. Bristol has one of the oldest black communities in the country…..there is a museum of slavery here and there were actually white slaves sent to the Americas from Bristol.

Bristol is a great place to visit not just for Banksy…..the redeveloped docks are fascinating and its the best place for food outside London !

ROb Little
Driver / Guide
www.roblittlephotography.com
www.letstourengland.com

A windy, showery, partly sunny day here in the Cotswolds today, so off for a walk in the mud with Lady Muck herself……Gladys the dog !

Rob Little
Driver / Guide
Lets Tour England

Gladys the dog

Gladys the Dog sees potential quarry

Its quite nice now but still squishy underfoot but Gladys the Dog still loves it !

I’m reading “Life” – Keith Richards’ autobiography…… In fact I’m listening to it and can highly recommend it to anyone who loves The Stones or was a child of the 60s!! Johnny Depp is the main narrator (well it would be pretty impossible to listen to Keith’s slurring over 20CDs??) but, although I am less than 25% through, its clear that its a superb description of what it was like to grow up in post-war London and of the early life of the Stones.

Early on there is a hugely amusing (in hindsight) description of the arrest of Keith and a few other members of of the band in Fordyce Arkansas in the mid 70s and the unbelievable tale of what followed in the company of that state’s law enforcement and judicial system. And an overview of how America was really lagging behind in the 60s revolution and that it really was all about the Beatles and the Stones ! Well I would say that ?? Ha ha !!

Read it…..or better still listen to it !

Rob Little
Driver / Guide
Lets Tour England

PS – I have seen the Rolling Stones about a dozen times over the years…..they really are “the best rock ‘n roll band in the world” !

“Life” – Keith Richards’ Autobiography

A balmy 58F and sunny in the Cotswolds today ! Hope you like the photos which I PROMISE were taken today, 24th February 2011 !

Rob Little
Driver / Guide
www.roblittlephotography.com

Lower Turkdean in The Cotswolds

Snowdrops on a steep bank at Lower Turkdean in The Cotswolds

Kentucky in summer? No Cotswolds in winter! Yanworth + Stowell House home of beef baron Lord Vesty!

Misty Valley near Roman Villa, in the Cotswolds

Notgrove, Gloucestershire, in the Cotswolds

Near Roman Villa in The Cotswolds

Out with Gladys the Dog for a bit of a muddy walk in Tetbury!
Rob Little
Driver / Guide
Lets Tour England

Preston Park, Tetbury

Gladys the Dog !

…..but I feel like I’ve been scammed ! My internet provider, TALK TALK, so called “upgraded” their lines and guess what – they don’t work with a NETGEAR router. Whaaat the….???? I shall not be letting it go, I can assure you, but it seems I will need to talk to India !

…..In fact TRIPLE grrrrrr !

Today I went to the National Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagan’s, just outside the Welsh capital of Cardiff. Absolutely fascinating – a largely outdoor site.

Opened in 1948, all the buildings were dismantled wherever they were standing and transported to the museum and reassembled brick by brick like a jig-saw.

Although much of the museum focuses on more ancient rural life, part of it looks at 20th Century memorabilia including post-war “prefab” housing, stores and a school.

When they dismantled the church, they found original wall paintings that had been covered by protestant rendering (protestants disapproved of the images of Christ and his Mother in churches) so they restored it as it was before the reformation, when it would have been a Roman Catholic building. Absolutely fascinating.

I hope you enjoy the photos and can thoroughly recommend it as a hugely interesting and exceedingly inexpensive half day out !!

REMEMBER ALL THESE BUILDINGS WERE MOVED TO THIS SITE !!

Rob Little
Driver / Guide
Lets Tour England

My brother and I were pushed around im a “pram” like this !

A traditional milestone

This house is painted crimson to show the owners could afforf it and to ward away the devil.

Inside the crimson house

Worker’s cottage

Inside a Worker’s cottage – only the rich had chimneys this and no window glass so was very smokey

Cottage

Inside Cottage

Inside Cottage

Although this desk was made around 1900 I swear I had an identical desk in around 1958 !

You can still see shops like this in West Wales

Early public toilets !

Early public toilets !

Early public toilets !

Church dating fro 1500s showing Roman Catholic pre-reformation wall paintings

Church dating fro 1500s showing Roman Catholic pre-reformation wall paintings

Church dating fro 1500s showing Roman Catholic pre-reformation wall paintings

Church dating fro 1500s showing Roman Catholic pre-reformation wall paintings

You can still see shops like this in West Wales

I can remember going into stores like this, as a child

I can remember going into stores like this, as a child

Terrace home – 1800s

Inside the terraced house

The outside “earth closet”

My grandads brother had one of these and I remember using it – it was next to the pig sty !!

Inside a terraced house

Inside a terraced house

Inside a terraced house

Farmhouse

Inside the farmhouse

1700s Cottage

Kitchen inside 1700s Cottage

1700s Cottage

1700s Cottage……..okay thats yer lot!

…..an original EUROPEAN Robin…..pecking at the nuts in my garden.

…..ok okay waddidiSay ??

Rob Little
Driver / Guide
Lets Tour England

Robin (European) !

Tonight I am off to see the Nuclear Fusion experiment at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy….an attempt to reproduce the kind of conditions inside the sun to produce “limitless” power here on earth !

When it is effectively up and running (sometime after my own untimely demise) the intent is, that the FUSION process will provide unlimited electrical power and it has the following advantages over other forms of power generation:-
* There is unlimited fuel available.
* The process does not produce CO2 or other greenhouse gases.
* It is inherently safe. If fuel supply ceases the reactor shuts down.
* There is no medium term shutdown heat (unlike fission reactors.)
* There are no byproducts that could be adapted for military purposes.
* There are negligible waste products

About 90 of us turned up for the monthly open evening and had a comprehensive 2+ hour tour of the two experiments – JET and MAST. This is still a 40 year old experiment but the expectation is that they could start building reactors in 20 years and Fusion would be making a significant contribution within 40 years !!

As of now, neither experiment has been able to generate enough power to cover what it has actually consumed to achieve fusion but this will happen….one day ! But listen to this…..fusion is achieved in pluses which last up to 2 seconds. When JET produces a fusion pulse, for the two seconds it is operating it consumes 2% of the UK’s national power generation…..quite extraordinary ?

Watch this space……for a long long time !

Oh by the way – if anyone is really interested in visiting while they are over here, you can but you’d need to get your timing right !!

ROb Little
Photographer / Driver / Guide
“Lets Tour England !”
www.roblittlephotography.com

Yours truly observing health & safty requirements including “no jaywalking” outside Ha !

The do deal with some nasty stuff here !

Inside a mockup of the JET experiment – an are normally accessible by robot

The JET experiment at Culham

The JET experiment at Culham

The British MAST experiment at Culham

How would you fancy trying to plumb this in ?