Much of the site content is intended as an online arts educational resource.
If you are an educator and are referring your students to the site, can you let me know please?
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I'm tweaking the comment controls to make it easier to reach me.
blakkbyrd
23 May, 2007
National Trust Ripoffs
We went to the UK for some R&R and to make pilgrimage to our ancestral heritage. We started at Dover, ended at Cardiff and visited many historical sites in between.
What we discovered was that the National Trust is consistently overcharging tourists with unnecessary parking or entry fees. In some cases it was little more than taking money under false pretences, ie outright fraud.
No disability services, or free parking for disability parking pass holders. In fact very few disability parking spaces in evidence.
Dover was the first experience. We followed the signs to the clifftop lookout. We paid three pounds to park, and then discovered that the lookout was a two mile walk from the car park. We drove to a neighbouring village and saw the cliffs for free.
It was one of many similar rorts. Frequently, any suitable alternate parking in close proximity was singposted no parking.
At Avebury, the signs direct you to the NT carpark where the parking fee is five pounds - if you drive past and take the next exit, you can park in the pub for free. Lets face it you were having that beer in the beergarden anyway, weren't you?
In the roman baths where the mineral water bubbles up out of the ground free from nature, they had signs up everywhere saying don't drink the water it is untreated. Upstairs, if you wanted to taste the water they were selling it at 60p per glass. Same untreated water. Maybe it was glass hire?
At Cardiff, where we flew out from, there were two attractions, the castle and the art collection at the gallery. The gallery was closed, between hangs, and the castle did not live up to the hype, or the price, in short - don't bother.
===============
before you pay and park, drive around and check out where the locals park
before you pay to enter, can you see it from outside, can you see it afterhours, is there a free one close by?
Reading the catalogue in the gift shop is a good way of pre-assessing the site. Its also a good way of previewing the content of pay to enter blockbuster art exhibitions.
+++++++++++++++
Some of the sites we paid to enter were well worth the entry fee.
The Hastings Battle site for example. They give you a self tour talking thingy, the info centre is good, the site well maintained.
The Roman Villa with its undercover mosaics was a good place to be when it was raining.
What we discovered was that the National Trust is consistently overcharging tourists with unnecessary parking or entry fees. In some cases it was little more than taking money under false pretences, ie outright fraud.
No disability services, or free parking for disability parking pass holders. In fact very few disability parking spaces in evidence.
Dover was the first experience. We followed the signs to the clifftop lookout. We paid three pounds to park, and then discovered that the lookout was a two mile walk from the car park. We drove to a neighbouring village and saw the cliffs for free.
It was one of many similar rorts. Frequently, any suitable alternate parking in close proximity was singposted no parking.
At Avebury, the signs direct you to the NT carpark where the parking fee is five pounds - if you drive past and take the next exit, you can park in the pub for free. Lets face it you were having that beer in the beergarden anyway, weren't you?
In the roman baths where the mineral water bubbles up out of the ground free from nature, they had signs up everywhere saying don't drink the water it is untreated. Upstairs, if you wanted to taste the water they were selling it at 60p per glass. Same untreated water. Maybe it was glass hire?
At Cardiff, where we flew out from, there were two attractions, the castle and the art collection at the gallery. The gallery was closed, between hangs, and the castle did not live up to the hype, or the price, in short - don't bother.
===============
before you pay and park, drive around and check out where the locals park
before you pay to enter, can you see it from outside, can you see it afterhours, is there a free one close by?
Reading the catalogue in the gift shop is a good way of pre-assessing the site. Its also a good way of previewing the content of pay to enter blockbuster art exhibitions.
+++++++++++++++
Some of the sites we paid to enter were well worth the entry fee.
The Hastings Battle site for example. They give you a self tour talking thingy, the info centre is good, the site well maintained.
The Roman Villa with its undercover mosaics was a good place to be when it was raining.
22 May, 2007
Janis Joplin
18jul1969 Dick Cavett Interviews Janis Joplin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKoIkfK18fo
for more on Janis see the special on blakkbyrd
http://blakkbyrd.blogspot.com/2007/05/janis-joplin.html
"music" on blakkbyrd
http://blakkbyrd.blogspot.com/search/label/music
BATTLE OF HASTINGS 1066
.......
So turning around to his cohorts
He lifted his big Norman voice
And said, "Hands up who's coming to England?"
That were swank 'cos they hadn't no choice.
They left their own shore about tea time
The sea was so calm and so still
And at a quarter to ten the next morning
They arrived at a place called Bexhill.
King Harold came up when they landed
His face full of venom and hate
He said, "If tha's come fer't Regatta
Tha's got here just six weeks too late."
Dook William rose, cool but haughty
He said, "'Ere lets have none of tha' cheek
Tha'd best get tha' throne reupholstered
I'll be wanting to use it next week.
When Harold heard this 'ere defiance
With rage he turned purple and blue
And he muttered some rude words in Saxon
To which William answered, "And you!"
'Twere a beautiful day for a battle
The Normans set off with a will
And when both sides were duly assembled
They tossed fer't top of the hill.
King Harold he won the advantage
On the hilltop he took up his stand
With his cads and his knaves all round him
On his horse with his hawk in his hand.
Normans had t' best line of forwards
Well armed with both buckle and sword
But Saxons had t' best combinations
And when half time came neither had scored.
So Bill called his cohorts together
And said, "Lets pretend that we're beat
We'll get Saxons down on the level
And cut off their means of retreat."
So they ran, and the Saxons ran after
Just exactly as William had planned
Leaving Harold alone on the hilltop
On his horse with his hawk in his hand.
When William saw what had happened
A bow and an arrer he drew
and went right up to Harold and shot him
He were off side, but what could they do?
Well, when't battle were all over bar't shouting
They found Harold so stately and grand
Sitting there with his eye full of arrer
On his horse, with his hawk in his hand.
=======================
here's a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cGR47GJgxU
Poem by Marriott Edgar
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/
"The Battle of Hastings" by Marriott Edgar
Location: Essex
This poem amused all of us at King Harold Day, although it should be read out loud with the appropriate accent to get the full benefit!
It is by Marriott Edgar, whose poems are well known, especially the one about Alfred and the Lion.
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