National Treasures?

Bloomin' Heck! I forgot about this thing!

I know I've not been here for a few days. It's not because I've not been up to anything interesting, I've had plenty on lately. I've still got some comments from my holiday I wanted to get across, I've seen the new Wembley and I've generally been enjoying myself.
I've followed the on-going summer soap-opera that is Leeds United's administration, tried to get my money's worth from my Bodyline gym membership and basically, tried to take advantage of the fact that I no longer work evenings or weekends.
I just don't feel that I've had the time over the past few months or so to add to this thing.
I'm only just settled into a new job, a new routine and there's been plenty that I've wanted to get out of the way. Perhaps writing for a living has diluted my enthusiasm for blogging somewhat? I hope not.

Anyway, back to business.

See the place on the left, that's Stonehenge.








It's one of the 27 World Heritage sites in the UK and is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world.

It attracts tourists from all around the world with around 750,000 visitors making the journey to Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Now all of that is fine, until you actually get there and my gripe is this.

In the UK, it was decided that our "national treasures" should be just that, something for the nation to enjoy. Walk into any museum in the country with the word "National" in the title (amongst others) and the chances are that you won't find a single ticket booth. Instead, they are almost completely government funded so that anyone, regardless of their wallet size, can sample a piece of history or in some cases, the most modern innovations of our time.

Within a short drive from the place I'm currently typing, I've got the choice of seeing the Royal Armouries in Leeds, The National Railway Museum in York, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford and the National Coal Mining Museum near Wakefield and I could see any of them, in fact, I've seen three of them already, for nothing more that my petrol costs and a few hours in a pay and display car park.

And this is where the link with Stonehenge comes in. For a so-called "site of world importance", I was quite taken aback to see that, for the privilege of seeing something that belongs to the nation, I would be expected to part with nigh-on £7.00. Perhaps not a massive amount at first glance, but when you have a party of four to consider, £28.00 to see something that, whilst it has a lot of mystic and history behind it, isn't that much to look at all things considered.

Perhaps I'm not the only person who feels that way. The site was recently voted as one of the most disappointing tourist destinations in the world.

Now you might be reading this and thinking "Ah-Ha - When I go, I'll just drive past and look over the fence whilst taking photos!" Well, not so fast.

English Heritage, who are tasked with preserving the sight, have realised the flaws in their business plans and have plans afoot to put that right.

There are two roads that surround Stonehenge. One of them, which leads to the car park, will be closed. The other, which is the A303 trunk road, will be roofed over, putting the road in darkness where the henge was once visible. A new visitor centre is being constructed - two miles away - and tourists will be charged for the train-ride up to the site. It's such an elaborately villainous scheme, I couldn't possible make some sort of libelous and derogatory comment about them. Even a Dr Evil would have been proud of that. Oh - and guess whose paying?

But Stonehenge isn't the only target of my gripe either.

See this building here? That's Shakespeare's old gaff.









He was born at his very house in Stratford Upon Avon and it is from here, that he started his devilish plan to irritate every single GCSE English student.

Now again, you'd think that the birthplace of someone who is unquestionably the greatest play-write England has ever produced would be considered a site of national importance.

Well, it is important, but only if you're willing to stump-up the £7.00 entry fee.

I appreciate that these sorts of places have to be maintained and looked after, but given that anything remotely breakable is fenced-off from prying hands, it makes you wonder how big the financial 'black-hole' is at these sorts of places.

That said, don't let it put you off visiting Stratford, it's actually a very nice town.

I won't say much more, I'd only be repeating what I've said a few paragraphs prior but you get the general gist of what I'm trying to say. Perhaps it's just the rantings of a stereotypically tight Yorkshireman, or perhaps this 'national importance' thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.


PS: Oh, and the date, ignore that - I've had this idea saved as a draft for ages now!

Cornwall is a strange place

Having been away for more than a week, very few of you were probably wondering what had happened to me. Nevertheless, I've spent the last week learning how weird Cornwall is.


Head South down the M5 and eventually you'll reach the end of the motorway network - and civilisation itself it would seem.

Lots of tourists this summer will head to Cornwall and they too will discover that whilst this county can offer an enjoyable week away from home, it is a strange place.

One thing that immediately stands out is the natives. Now to say that all of them are a little odd is unfair, but after a short while you soon realise that films like 'Hot Fuzz' do offer an accurate representation of life in the West Country. Accent aside, there seems to be an innate fear of anything 'not Cornish'.
Almost any request for alcohol, food or tatty gifts was met with the expression "You're not from round 'ere are yer?" This is unusual, given that the Cornish economy would be completely non-existent without an influx of people every year from people who "weren't from round there".
The other thing that immediately strikes you is the number of 'Saint Piran's' flags, the local flag of 'Kernow', that's Cornish for 'Cornwall' - it's an educational experience is this you know.....
This flag is everywhere, dangling from windows, on tea towels and flying from car aerials as if there were a major football tournament taking place. This mass flag waving though is somewhat unnerving to the outsider. It makes you assume that the Cornish folk are forming some mass separatist group looking to succeed from the UK - who knows......

There's another problem with Cornwall. There's not an awful lot to do there and what attractions do exist are spread across the length and breadth of the county. Unless you are staying ion Newquay, which is quite a lively resort, you have to drive pretty much everywhere. That would be fine, but because there are no motorways, you can't drive anywhere without getting stuck behind a tractor or a caravan.
The main road that does exist, the A30, has struggled to cope with the tourist traffic flow for decades. Whilst we were there, they actually opened an expanded section of the A30 at Indian Queens to cope with the demand. The day after it opened, it was swiftly reduced back to one lane due to an accident.
A trip along the A30 also brings your attention to an unnerving amount of 'road-kill'. Birds, badgers, rabbits, squirrels, you name it, it's probably dead on the A30 and one journey in particular really made me question what was actually meant by the term 'local produce'.

We stayed in a small village, just outside Penzance, a town that fully supported the image of Cornwall that became ingrained in my mind.
I couldn't understand how anyone could actually live in such a town. Whilst it might make a perfectly adequate holiday destination, you'd struggle to sustain an interesting lifestyle there. The two main economic opportunities that appeared to exist consisted of selling ice cream or buying a barely sea-worthy fishing boat and then finding tourists stupid enough to pay money to ride on said vessel. Aside from that, if want to buy a range of products costing £1 or drink in an unwelcoming public house, then you might enjoy spending the best part of your life there.

Anyway, it's good to be back and I dare say that there'll be some more infrequent updates on my latest adventures in due course.

It's been a while....

This might sound like a stupid thing to say, given that I've not written anything on here for over a week, but it'll be another week and a half before you see anything else.

See you later!