Giftlines' Australia artificial (silk) hibiscus have a very natural look and feel. Blend these quality artificial flowers with fresh flowers and you will find it difficult to tell the difference. All petals and leaves are individually wired.
Size: Flower – 9cm H x 9cm W; Stem: 12cm. Note: The diameter will vary on how you shape the flower.


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Wales' Covid detection rate almost twice that of England and Scotland claims Labour think-tank
12 Jan 2021 2 minute read
Gordon Brown. Picture by World Economic Forum (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Wales' Covid detection rate is almost twice that of England and Scotland according to the think tank of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Our Scottish Future says 70 per cent of Welsh Covid cases are being picked up by testers, compared to 41 per cent in England and 32 per cent in Scotland.
Northern Ireland had the best rates of case detection in the UK at 81 per cent.
The think tank Our Scottish Future compared daily rates for positive coronavirus tests to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) estimates of the total number of people who had the virus.
The findings, however, have proven controversial in Scotland where the think tank was accused of being critical of the Scottish Government for political reasons.
A Scottish Government spokesman told the National newspaper that he rejected the report's finding. He said: "These comparisons are entirely inaccurate, and baselessly undermine confidence in our testing programme.
"We find – and therefore isolate – more contacts per case than the rest of the UK which means we isolate more potential cases without the need for testing."
The think tank's report says: "Scotland is currently only using around a third of its total testing capacity, with participation depressed by low levels of convenience and poor messaging across two separate testing systems [NHS Scotland and UK Government]".
"Comparing positive tests results to the infection rate estimated by the ONS surveillance survey implies that an average of 68 per cent of cases since November have not been identified through testing – meaning that the vast majority of cases have not been contact-traced.
"Scotland is the worst performer in the UK on this metric."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Overview A household account book, dated 1826 to 1827, containing a monthly record of foodstuffs and other goods purchased, perhaps for a hotel or private home on the east coast of Canada. There is currently no biographical information on the creator.
Overview This collection consists of records of the School of Continuing Studies (later the School of Education) at Johns Hopkins University, Division of Administration and Business, including correspondence, proposals, and budget materials, from 1916-1991.


We celebrated his first birthday by taking some beautiful portraits of him and his mum at MacArthur Park in Camden, and quickly followed it up with his Cake Smash! He loved his little cake and it was quite possibly the neatest and cleanest cake smash I've ever done – he ate his cake very delicately.
MacArthur Park is my favorite spot for photos and I know that I don't live in the area but's it's worth the drive! Being late May all the trees had turned orange & yellow, giving us an abundance of colour and warmth. Plus it was a beautiful sunny day so the colours were extra bright and the day was especially nice and warm.
For this session we got a beautiful 20 Image album made which I personally design myself. The front cover is made from a beautiful Asahi Material with Arthur's name embossed on the front giving it much more personal feel. Plus we also got a large canvas printed too to hang in his mum & dad's home.
Matching Bow Tie & Bloomers are hand made by Love Nest Gifts. You can visit their website here.
Are you wanting to have cake smash photos done of your precious baby?
to enquire about your custom shoot.
For this Cake Smash Session, selecting an album was the perfect choice to display these photographs. As you can see, there are so many beautiful photographs to choose from so it seemed appropriate to display them all in a beautiful album that will last a lifetime. This album is handmade by an Australian company and I designed the layout myself using the photographs that the clients chose themselves. With all my albums there are a lot of beautiful and colourful options available for the cover and they all come with personalised embossing on the front giving your album a very personalised look to suite your family.
Interested in getting photos done for your baby? Get in touch today – I'd love to chat with you about your photography session.
Be sure to check out my Session Information and details on all my Products and Packages that I have available.
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Over The Edge: A Brief History of Rock and Roll
There is a real, and somewhat ironic sense in which rock music has its tap-root in the Kingdom of God. Virtually all music historians trace rock's family tree back through rhythm and blues to the black gospel music of the deep South during the early part of this century.
The African-American culture had at that time cultivated a strong, albeit somewhat rudimentary Christian tradition, which was reflected everywhere in their music.1
Having experienced the ravages of slavery, racial hatred, poverty, and death, their music often focused on their experience with suffering and faith's response to it. Consequently, it tended to emphasize the emotional side of religious human experience rather than the more rational approach favored by the white culture.
The gradual freedoms afforded blacks after the Civil War saw the increasing secularization of gospel music and the corruption, or "sensualization" of this beautiful emotional dimension until a whole new musical category had been created – the "blues." To the casual listener, the difference be-tween the two was often subtle; involving more the "spirit" of the song than the music itself.
Respected "bluesman" Leon Pinson noted this distinction in an interview with Spin magazine: "I'm a minister of the music, and I don't play no blues… Two white folk asked me once, how come your music feels different than the blues? I said it's supposed to make you feel different – if you listen to the words and what the Good Lord says."2
This same negative characterization of the blues from a Christian perspective is echoed in these words by Jessie May Hemphill, a female blues artist: "Mama ain't happy with me, 'cause my soul can't be saved with me runnin' around singing the blues."3
The history of rock and roll was literally written by African-American artists who left the "light" of the church and gospel music in order to em-brace the darker and more main-stream possibilities of this emerging musical style.4 A good example is writer, producer, and musician Willie Dixon. Dixon was the master architect of the epochal Chicago sound defined by Chess records in the Fifties and early Sixties and practically shaped the musical destinies of groups like the Rolling Stones, Cream, and Led Zeppelin.
His own destiny, however, was worked out in a small farm in Mississippi some forty years earlier. His mother was a devoted Christian; his father an outlaw type he saw only periodically and who taught him that Christianity was just a subtle form of brainwashing. Whose example did he follow in his life and music? Sexually charged songs like "Back Door Man," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man," and "Little Red Rooster," among many others, leave little doubt.
Perhaps the best example of this corruption of gospel music and its subsequent influence on the development of rock is found in the life and music of legendary blues artist Robert Johnson. While not as well known as Little Richard or Elvis Presley, it can easily be argued that Johnson, more than these two men or anyone else, is the true father of rock and roll. For example, in the liner notes of Columbia Records re-mastered collection of his recordings, music historian Stephen LaVere writes:
And to the world at large, however unaware it might be, Robert Johnson is the most influential bluesman of all time and the person most responsible for the shape popular music has taken in the last five decades!
In August of 1990, Spin magazine featured an article entitled "35 Guitar Gods" – a rating of the most important guitarists in rock history. Johnson easily won the competition. And Eric Clapton, guitar legend in his own right, described his singing as "the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice."
Recalling the first time he heard his music, Clapton said: "It was as if I had been prepared to receive Robert Johnson, almost like a religious experience."5 Eric Clapton is far from alone in this type of adulation; from Keith Richards to Robert Palmer, those who un-derstand rock's heart know that Robert Johnson is the man who made it beat.
We know surprisingly little about Johnson's short life. As a young black man in Hazelhurst, Mississippi, however, there is little doubt that he grew up in and around the church and gospel music.6 Friends recall that one of his earliest and most lasting musical influences was Son House, "a precarious combination of bluesman and preacher."7
Sadly, like many musicians after him, the life of singing and living the blues was simply too at-tractive for a talented young man with a knack for playing the guitar and getting in and out of trouble – what little Christian idealism he might have possessed was all but lost in his pursuit of "wine, women, and song."
Most of the twenty-nine titles he later recorded focused on what were to become the great themes of rock and roll – illicit sex (and the consequences thereof), getting high, and, incredibly enough, Satan. It was even commonly accepted that his sudden and almost supernatural ability to play the guitar came from making a deal with the devil. Superstition? Probably – though songs like "Me and the Devil Blues" make one wonder.
Early this mornin', ooh when you
knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go."
Me and the Devil, ooh, was walkin' side by side
And I'm goin' to beat my woman until I get satisfied
On August 16 – the same day Elvis died – of 1938, and at the same age as Jimi Hendrix – 27- Robert Johnson died; the victim of strychnine-laced whiskey slipped to him by a jealous husband. The consummate rock star mold had been prepared into which many other talented lives would be poured in the decades to come.
To understand Johnson's life and legacy, we must first understand that classical satanic thought and activity, whether its sexual (moral), philosophical, or magical, is essentially a reaction to Judeo-Christian orientations within a particular society. As the "Resister" or the "Counterfeiter," both translations of the various diabolical names found in Scripture, Satan needs a God to resist; a truth to supplant with a lie.
It is in this context that we can understand not only the underlying forces that gave rise to the life and music of Robert Johnson, but why it was America and England that predominantly made rock and roll what it is today. Both countries were profoundly affected by the Great Awakening, a spiritual revival that firmly re-established Christianity as the religious and moral foundation of the nation.
Both had seen the gradual erosion of spiritual passion and the sub-sequent increase in social problems and unrest, particularly among their youth. And both ultimately provided a young, eager, and participatory audience for this new music's sensuous urgency. The battle had begun.
Where Christianity emphasized personal holiness and taught that physical passions needed to be brought under the control of the Spirit, the message of first the blues and then rock was to "get your mojo working." Because throwing off restraint is a gradual process, popular music initially maintained a certain measure of decorum, and sex was alluded to only euphemistically. Johnson sang about being a "steady rollin' man" and Fats Domino found his "thrill" on Blueberry Hill. Today, it's far more explicit.8
Where Christianity emphasized transcendence through God, discipline, and "seeking first the Kingdom of God," the new music told young people to "ramble," be a "freebird," get "satisfaction," and if they ever needed transcendence – to "get high with a little help from their friends."
Where Christianity gave preeminence and worship to Jesus as Incarnate God and Saviour, rock music either ignored Him, mocked Him, or tried to strip Him of His glory and parade Him about with a host of false prophets and cardboard messiahs.
Where Christianity abominated sin and its ravaging power and put forth a crucified God as its atonement, rock took as one of its primary themes the fiery embrace of rebellion against God's commandments. The blues was sin's lament, hard rock its celebration, soft rock its quiet advocacy – God's view was nowhere to be found.
Where Christianity insisted that children "obey their parents in the Lord" and respect, even reverence authority, rock and roll made Mom and Dad out to be idiots without a clue as to what was really going on. What began as "Don't trust anybody over thirty" became "I am an anarchist!" and suddenly time didn't seem to be on anybody's side.
Where Christianity identified Satan as the enemy of our souls, rock and roll lauded him as its patron saint.
Where Christianity warned of "a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which shall consume the adversaries,"9 dozens of rock groups sang enthusiastically about the "highway to hell." Contemporary music fiddled and the nation burned.
Practically anything Christianity extolled, rock tore down; and virtually everything the Bible and Jesus condemned, at least some segment of the rock and roll industry promoted. Ultimately, its own nature, or at least the way that nature was defined, necessitated this "anti-Christ" orientation – as a reaction against authority it had no other choice but to square off against the greatest Authority of all. But instead of a "palace of wisdom," this "road of excess" led to a darkness of such suffocating intensity that for many there has been no return.10
1 By "rudimentary," I simply mean that because there was little education available to blacks and most couldn't even read, their theological training was often not very sophisticated. This is not to say, however, that their spirituality wasn't. Quite the contrary; few seminaries can compete with the depth gained by a childlike faith and dependence upon God in the midst of tribulation.
2 Spin, June, 1990, p.48
3 Ibid, p.45
4 The same is true today. It's amazing how many black artists have received their musical training in church and then left to make a name for themselves in popular music. Some, like Lionel Ritchie and M.C. Hammer, even struggled with a calling into full time ministry before being "led" into the "big time." There's a lesson to be learned here somewhere.
5 "Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings," Columbia Records, 1990, pp.22, 23.
6 La Vere describes Johnson as "a simple country boy with a view of life encumbered by a strict set of social and sexual mores …" (Ibid, p.20) "Encumbered" is an interesting choice of words and tells the reader something about the bias that exists among the writers and reviewers who are into rock and roll.
7 Ibid, p.11. It's interesting that even La Vere recognizes the spiritual incompatibility that exists between these two styles of music.
8 I could use literally hundreds of ridiculously graphic songs as examples, including some by the biggest names in the music business.
9 Hebrews 10:27.
10 "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." (Proverbs of Hell, William Blake) Incredibly, this was among Jim Morrison's favorite quotes.
Eric Holmberg
Massacre of Innocence
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
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Just what is Calvinism? Featuring many of the finest Reformed thinkers and pastors of our time.
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Explodes the myths of the liberal critics and the movies, books and television programs that have popularized their views.
School Prayer Ban
God's Law and Society (DVD)


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Category: Wales
Revisiting Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Part 3
We were midway through a road trip taking in the three Welsh National Parks and after visiting the Brecon Beacons, we had spent the last few days in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Basing ourselves just outside of the park near the town of Narberth, we'd taken trips out to Skomer Island, walked alpacas, revisited some of our favourite parts of the South Pembrokeshire coast and taken a trip to St Davids, the UK's smallest city, and its surrounds.
Stopping at Dale
With two final days left to spend in the park, we decided to drive out towards the seaside town of Dale, somewhere I had not visited for more than a decade. I remember being less than impressed on my last visit, mainly because the pretty beach looked out across to the Pembrokeshire Power Station pumping clouds of smoke out into the sky. But I thought being older, maybe I'd appreciate the village more now.
Walking along the coast path towards St Ann's Head
Arriving at Dale, we parked up along the road behind the beach. Although visible looking out t sea, the power station was a lot less imposing than I recalled and didn't spoil the prettiness of the place as much as I had remembered. Across the road from the beach were a few cafes and hire shops, all busy with customers as lunch time approached.
While the weather wasn't sunbathing weather, there were still a few people strolling along the beach and plenty of surfers and windsurfers around.
Above, and below, more views walking towards St Ann's Head
After a quick stroll on the beach, we sat on a bench overlooking the bay to have a cup of tea and picnic lunch before driving on to the next stop along the coast path, St Ann's Head. We parked up in the free National Trust Kete Car Park, the sight of a former military base. Picking up a leaflet from under the car park's information board, we followed the instructions to walk through along the public footpath through farmland and out onto the coast path. Here we were met but beautiful views of Skomer, Skokholm and Grassholm Islands.
The leaflet mapped out a short circular walk cutting back through the farmland to the car park before reaching St Ann's Head itself but the coastal walk was so pretty, we decided to continue along the coast path further. Soon the lighthouse at St Ann's Head was in view. Once we reached it, we followed the road leading away from the coast half a mile back to Kete Car Park.
The next day was our final day in the park and we decided to drive to the north of the park towards Cardigan then work our way back down the coast where we'd revisit Poppit Sands then see parts of the park we'd not been to before between here and Fishguard.
Views of the Presleli Hills
The drive north would take us through the Preseli Hills, another part of the park we'd not really visited before. Driving along the A478, we pulled over at a layby for our first view of the hills. The weather clouding over and rain forecast, we weren't sure how visible the hills would remain and sure enough, by the time we reached our next stop, a viewpoint along the B4329, the cloud and rain was obscuring our view.
Pentre Ifan Burial Cgamber
We continued our drive, heading towards the historic site Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber, one of the best preserved of the many, 'cromlechs' in this part of Wales. The site was well signposted from the main road and easy to find and luckily, by the time we reached there, the weather had started to clear.
After spending a short time marvelling at the ancient standing stones, we headed back out on the road to drive to Poppit Sands just in time for a lunchtime picnic on the beach. It had been a long time since I'd last visited this bay and it was a lot prettier than I recalled.
Newport Sands
From Poppit Sands, we drove south to the town of Newport. Here, we pulled up at Newport Sands, its main beach and stretched our legs with a walk towards the harbour, Dinas Head in the distance. Back at the car, we drove through the town and down a side road to Newport Parrog Beach for views from the other side of the harbour.
Aberfforest Beach
Our next stop was a bit of a hidden gem as we went in search of Aberfforest Beach. This small, pebbly cove was reached by driving down a farm access road off the main A-road. After driving down the gravelly road, there was a small grassy pull in where a few cars were parked and we walked the rest of the way following the road to the left then picking up the Pembrokeshire Coast path. This lead us down some steps and onto the pretty beach.
Abovem finding a nearby waterfall at Aberfforest, and below, a viewpoint at Dinas Cross
We had read that there was a waterfall in the nearby woodlands so after spending a bit of time on the beach, we exited it and decided to follow a public footpath sign that seemed to be pointing away from the beach into the woods. We soon heard babbling water and reached a river running alongside the path. Crossing it over some makeshift stepping stones, we continued through the woodland eventually finding the pretty Aberfforest Falls!
The path continued from here, and I believe, loops back onto the coast path at some point but, as it looked quite steep and muddy, we decided instead to return to the beach and retrace our steps back to the car.
Our last stop in North Pembrokeshire, was just off the main road in Dinas Cross where we followed signposts up a rather steep hill with some sharp switchbacks to a Pembrokeshire Coast National Park viewpoint. It was worth the climb for the sweeping views across to Dinas Head with Fishguard to the south and Newport to the north.
Enjoying the views
Driving back towards Narberth, we relaxed over dinner for an hour or so before deciding to head out to the coast once more.
Above, sunset at Skrinkle Haven, and below, at Manorbier
It had turned into a beautiful evening so we wondered if we could catch a sunset somewhere. After looking at the map, we decided to try Skrinkle Haven but after arriving, realised it didn't quite face the right way so we hopped back into the car and drove the short distance to the neighbouring Manorbier where we watched the sunset from the beach.
We'd had a busy few days in Pembrokeshire and discovered lots of new places along the way but, after a quick stop in Tenby the next morning, it was time to finally wave goodbye and drive to the final Welsh National Park on our road trip – Snowdonia!
missstravels	National Parks, Road trips, Travel, UK, Wales	Leave a comment 12th December 2021 5 Minutes
Revisiting Pembrokeshire Coast National Park – Part 1
Having been holidaying in Tenby, a popular seaside resort in the south end of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park since I was a child, I know that area of the park at least pretty well so when we decided to include this park in South West Wales in our Welsh National Parks Road Trip itinerary, I knew I wanted to make sure we included some places and activities there I'd either not done before, or hadn't done since I was much younger while still revisiting what I consider to be some of the park's highlights for my friend who had not been before to see.
Views walking along the sea wall from Wisemans Bridge to Saundersfoot
With this in mind, we planned a 5 night stay in the area. With many of the hotels in the park itself sold out or way too pricey by the time we got around to booking and many holiday parks only offering the standard Sat-Sat, Mon-Fri or Fri-Sun stays which didn't suit our itinerary, we eventually decided on a roadside motel in the small village of Llandissilo, a few miles north of market town Narberth and, while quite a way outside of the park, a pretty central location to reach all parts of the park from with pretty much everywhere being within a 20-40 minute drive!
Arriving early on a Saturday afternoon wasn't what we had planned – we'd expected to spend most of the day still in the Brecon Beacons but the weather had had other ideas – so we made a hasty decision to stop off at Wisemans Bridge at the southern end of the park and the closest point of the park to our motel. When we had to queue along the a-road out of Carmarthen into the park, I should have realised how busy everywhere would be on a Saturday afternoon and we arrived to find all the spaces in the free car parks at Wisemans Bridge completely full. Continuing on, we came to the car park for Coppets Hall, a small bay lying between Wiseman's Bridge and the popular seaside town of Saundersfoot. Although busy, the car park had an attendant who directed us to park along a grass verge despite there not being an actual marked space there. It didn't cost much for a couple of hours parking so all paid up, we picked up the coast path and headed through the old railway tunnels and on to the sea wall path back towards Wisemans Bridge.
Rocky coastline at Wisemans Bridge
The Wiseman's Bridge to Saundersfoot walk is one of the easiest walks along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path being along flat and wide paved footpaths so it didn't take long to reach the pebbly beach at the other end. We spent a bit of time wondering along the beach looking in the rockpools revealed at low tide before retracing our footsteps back to Coppets Hall and walked in the opposite direction to the bustling town of Saundersfoot where we treated ourselves to an ice cream and wandered around the harbour.
After returning to Coppets Hall, we drove to our motel to check in deciding to have dinner in the restaurant on site realising it was unlikely we'd find anywhere with space for us to eat out at that evening!
Views from the harbour at Saundersfoot
For our first full day in the park, we had booked tickets to visit Skomer Island. Worried about things getting booked out, we had done this quite a bit in advance which meant we couldn't check the weather first.
Walking along the coast path near Martin's Haven
Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side that day. Arriving in Martin's Haven to check in for our boat trip an hour before it left, we were met by high winds and heavy rain. After checking in and looking around the small gift store,we found the rain had eased a bit so I decided to go for a walk along the coast path while we waited for our boarding time. The views were stunning as I watched the waves crash up against the rocks.
Once it was time to board, we walked down to the small bay and onto the awaiting boat. Just as we set off, the rain started to pour once again making for a rather uncomfortable crossing only cheered up by a seagull deciding to hitch a lift on the corner of the boat to save him the flight across!
On the boat to Skomer Island
Planning our route around the island upon our arrival
Arriving at Skomer, we climbed a set of steps up to a ranger station where we were met by an island ranger who explained a bit about the island, what we might see and the rules for our visit.
Above, and below, exploring Skomer Island
Because of Covid restrictions, the paths around the outskirts of the island had been made one-way in an anti-clockwise direction from the visitor centre and picnic area at the centre of the island. We had 4 hours until we needed to be back at the ranger station and were told that that should be more than enough time to walk the perimeter and be back with time to spare.
As we set off along the path to the centre of the island, the rain finally stopped and we made it about half way around the perimeter path before it started up again. The path around the island lead to many beautiful viewpoints from the cliff tops but wildlife wise, being slightly too late for 'puffin season', we instead had to make do with spotting a seal frolicking in the waves crashing against the rocks below.
The pouring rain and strong winds made the last section of our walk slightly more uncomfortable than we'd have liked and with not stopping as long as we otherwise would have to enjoy the views and speeding up our pace a bit to get out of the rain, we ended up back at the centre of the island quite a bit sooner than we had expected to.
The rain sets in again as we walk the coast path on Skomer Island
Luckily, we managed to find an empty bench in the covered picnic area so spent the last hour on the island having a leisurely picnic lunch and looking around the small visitor's centre before making our way back to catch our boat back to the mainland. Just as we were about to depart, we spotted another seal playing in the surf then scrambling up onto the rocks just off the island.
The rain had stopped again making for a much drier and more pleasant boat trip back to the mainland. Arriving back late afternoon, we drove back to our motel and change into some drier clothes before going for dinner there.
Above, and below, taking Reggie the Alpaca for a walk
The next day, we were pleased to wake up to a much drier day and a forecast of some sunny spells! We had booked an alpaca trek for that morning and tickets to Heatherton World of Adventures for that afternoon so after breakfast, drove out to a farm near Manorbier to meet our furry friends for the morning. Having never walked an alpaca before, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but it turned out to be a really fun activity even if we were technically just walking around a field.
My alpaca, Reggie, was pretty obliging, trotting alongside me and posing for photos when we reached the halfway point in return for a few handfuls of food.
After returning Reggie to his pen and saying our goodbyes, we drove on to Heatherton, an activity centre just outside of Tenby. This was a place I'd always go on a cloudy day with my family when I was younger. Back then, it was a much smaller affair and billed as a 'country sports' and golfing centre. We'd spend our morning on the pitch 'n' putt course and our afternoons trying out archery, pistol shooting, laser clay pigeon shooting, croquet, boules, and, of course, take a few trips round on the bumper boats. Now the park has extended to occupy a site across the road from when the original activities are still housed and the list of activities on offer has more than doubled to include baseball, ropes courses, slides, a hedge maze and many many more. I mainly just wanted to revisit all my old favourites for nostalgic reasons so we bought an 8-credit pass which we calculated to be enough to spend on all these with a couple left over for anything else that took our fancy.
Upon arriving, we couldn't quite believe how busy the centre was, especially as passes had to be pre-booked due to ongoing Covid restrictions and were supposedly limited each day. We struggled to even find a parking space in the overflow but once we had, went to pick up our passes from the main reception. Seeing that there were long queues for everything, we went with the one that currently seemed to be the shortest/moving the quickest and that was the bumper boats. Within 10 minutes we were sat in the boats – which didn't seem to have been updated at all in the slightest since my original visits in the late '90s – racing (well, more like crawling) around the small course trying to bump into the other boats. Great fun!
Riding the bumper voats
Adventure golf
Fun at Heatherton
Having forgot to take our lunch with us that day, we grabbed sandwiches from the on-site cafe before our next activity. We went with pistol shooting next. Although we were the next group to take part when we joined the queue, there was a loong, tedious wait as the group before us had their safety talk then slowly worked their way through their 20 pellets but once it was our turn, it was a fun activity to try out and when I collected my target after our session finished, I hadn't done too badly!
It was another long queue next, this time to try out laser clay pigeon shooting. This was always my favourite when I was younger as I was always pretty good at it but not today, as I failed to hit all but 2 clays as they flew through the air! At this point, having only averaged one activity an hour since our arrival and with still over half of our credit to use up, we were slightly worried we wouldn't get through everything but as we headed across the road to try out the park's new Dragon Slide – where you sit in a giant rubber ring, a bit like a water park slide but without the water! – we found a much shorter queue time and were on and off in 5 minutes. The slide was so much fun that we decided to use another credit up to ride it again!
Checking out my aim on pistol shooting
About to ride the Dragon Slide
Crossing back under the tunnel to the other side of the road again, we found the crowds had started to empty out a bit. We had 3 credits each left to use, 2 of which we knew we wanted to spend on the still extremely busy Adventure Golf, the other, we originally planned to use on archery but seeing there was still quite a queue for this and no queue at all for the bumper boats next to it, we decided to jump on these again instead!
Having left Adventure Golf to the last hoping the crowds would clear, we decided it was now or never and went to get our clubs and golf balls and were warned that we'd have to queue to play each hole. As it turned out, it wasn't too bad with just one group in front of us to wait for each time. Seeing how busy the park had been put us off booking to go to Oakwood, a nearby theme park, over the next few days as we worried we'd just be spending the whole day queuing so instead we decided to use the day we would have spent there exploring the coast a bit more.
It had been a fun start to our time in Pembrokeshire and we still had a few more full days left to explore the park as well as the morning before we left for Snowdonia. With the weather forecast not looking too bad, we were looking forward to spending a bit more time out on the coast.
missstravels	National Parks, Road trips, Travel, UK, Wales	2 Comments 17th September 2021 15th September 2021 8 Minutes
Brecon Beacons National Park
After a few weeks of planning, we were starting a 2-week tour of Wales concentrating our time mainly on the country's three National Parks. First up was the Brecon Beacons, situated in the middle of South Wales. The park was one I'd driven along the outskirts of many a time, bypassing it on an A-road at least once a year for the last 25 years as we headed on family holidays to South West Wales and I'd visited the town of Brecon as a 'halfway to our destination' stopping off point many times over. But I had never crossed that busy A-road to see what lay on the other side!
At the trail head to climb Pen y Fan
We arrived at our motel for the next three nights early evening on a Wednesday. We were staying in the town of Merthyr Tydfil just outside the southern end of the park as prices were a lot cheaper here than to stay in the National Park itself but in just a 5 minute drive, we were across the park boundaries.
After settling in to our room, we went out in search of dinner thinking that we'd have no problem getting a table anywhere on a Wednesday evening.
As restaurant after restaurant told us they were full though, we began to realise we were once again going to have to plan ahead for our meals this trip, pre-booking and making sure we were back in time rather than seeing where the day took us and grabbing something wherever we ended up. Finally finding a Pizza place that could squeeze us in, we had dinner a little later than we'd hoped but still found time to fit in a walk around town after our meal.
On our way up Pen y Fan
Sheep near the top of the mountain
Our itinerary for our stay in the park was more a list of ideas and suggestions than a definite plan. A walk up Pen-y-Fan, the highest mountain in Southern Britain, was top of that list and we were keeping an eye on the weather to decide which day was looking best for it. The weather looking to be ok and expecting the National Park to be pretty full with the August summer holidays in full swing, we were up early for our included breakfast at our motel the next day, aiming to be at the car park for the main path to the top of Pen-y-Fan by 9am to beat the crowds.
While the car park was by no means empty when we arrives, we did comfortably find a space and when we returned later to find cars parked everywhere in the main car park, along the road and in lay-bys within a mile or so either way, were glad we made the effort for an early-ish start.
Made it to the top while there's still a bit of a view!
The weather was pretty clear for the most part, the sun shining as we set out. The path was easy to follow and the instructions I'd downloaded from a National Trust circular walking route helped us work out which of the two peak we were aiming for when the path split – and it's a good job it did, We reached a very windy peak of Pen-y-Fan just as the cloud started to move in, some kind of view still visible to us from the top but just minutes later, we made our way across to the peak of Corn Du, the second peak to find ourselves completely immersed in fog and cloud and unable to see Pen-y-Fan, or anything else, anymore!
On top of Corn Du in a cloud!
From Corn Du, we retraced our steps back down the path we had walked up rather than taking the circular route down an alternative path to the road. Exhausted, but feeling a sense of accomplishment, we collapsed into the car feeling grateful that we had a space so close to the path entrance so that we didn't have to walk any further, and treated ourselves to our packed lunch and a nice hot cup of tea from a flask!
Lunch over, we drove north and seeing the National Park Visitor Centre signposted, decided to use the facilities, get some more park information and buy some souvenirs. There were a number of walks signposted from the visitor centre of varying lengths and difficulties but deciding we'd done enough walking for the time being, we moved on to do a circular scenic drive through the east side of the park.
Above, and below, Gospel Pass drive
Driving up towards Brecon, we turned off back into the park and followed an extremely narrow, steeps, twisting and turning track which, judging from the grass growing up the middle of the road, is rarely used. Thankfully, we didn't meet any oncoming traffic and just as we were wondering where the sat nav was taking us, the road opened out to reveal Gospel Pass, the road we were aiming for, in front of us.
This mountain pass is seen as a 'must-do' drive in the Brecon Beacons for it's stunning views and we made our way along it past pretty countryside and wild horses roaming the hills. We pulled up at Hay Bluff, a parking area from where we could admire the views.
Llanthony Abbey ruins
After taking in the scenery, we continued along gospel pass, the road again narrowing and heading through woodland. Eventually, we reached Llanthony Abbey. The abbey ruins are free to visit and there was a cafe on site run by neighbouring Llanthony Priory Hotel for refreshments.
From here the road continued to a main A-road which we then followed west back to our Merthyr Tydfil Hotel giving us a few hours to relax and freshen up before our dinner reservation in town that evening.
Exploring Llanthony Abbey ruins
The next day we were once again up early, this time to drive out to the car park at the start of the Four Waterfalls walk. As the name suggests, here there is a circular path with paths leading off it at various intervals to see four waterfalls!
Above, and below, on the Four Waterfalls walk
Finding the car park almost empty at around 9am, we chatted to the car park attendant who explained to us that none of the waterfalls are visible from the main circular trail and that the paths leading down to each of the falls were quite strenuous. He recommended we did the loop in reverse to see the most impressive waterfall first so if we were to decide we'd had enough at that point, we could just retrace our steps back still having seen a pretty good waterfall!
Although we were pretty sure we'd not give up after one waterfall, we decided to take his advice so we could at least get the waterfall with the most steps up and down out of the way first!
The main path to the waterfall exit was easy but we could straight away see why we were warned over the path to the waterfall itself. The steps down were often uneven, made of slippy blue stone and way too deep for our short legs to manage easily without grabbing onto something for support as we lowered ourselves down – and often there was nothing to grab on to! But it was worth it once the waterfall was revealed. It was possible to scramble across some rocks to go behind the waterfall but seeing as we'd had a tough time just getting down to that point, we stayed to admire it from the base of the steps before climbing back up to the path again – surprisingly, it was easier going up than down!
We continued along the path which narrowed, had frequent unpaved sections and rocky sections and was in itself, not an easy walk anymore, until we reached the next branch off to another waterfall. Again, we found a steep path with loose gravel sections, muddy areas and even a few boulder sections! It certainly made the walk more interesting though. It took us about 3 hours to complete the full walk with stops for a bite to eat along the way and taking our time across trickier sections of the path and we made it back onto the main paved section of the path back to the (now packed) car park just as it started to rain, grateful that it hadn't rained while we were scrambling over already slippery rocks to see the falls!
Pretty views from the lay-by opposite Crai Reservoir
After a lay-by late lunch stop, we looked at a map and consulted our list of itinerary ideas deciding to loop around to the centre of the park and visit one of the park's many reservoirs. We decided on Crai Reservoir which would put us back on a road heading towards Merthyr Tydfil again rather than taking us out of the way. We had read that there was a path you could walk there towards the reservoir dam with great views across but upon pulling up at the car park across from the reservoir, we couldn't actually find this path!
There was a bridge across a valley stream leading off from the car park which offered a pretty view of the hills and some footpaths signposted up into the hills but across the road, we walked along the grass verge alongside where we could barely even see the reservoir peeping out from behind dense hedgerow, never mind find a path to access it.
Carreg Cennen Castle
Giving up and returning back in the other direction, we walked a bit further south of the car park to a driveway down to a house where there was a public footpath sign which seemed to be pointing along the side of the house's grounds but a path was barely visible and overgrown with nettles to the point that we weren't completely sure if it was even there or if the sign was pointing along the road we had just walked along instead.
Not wanting to end up walking across private property, we instead returned to the car and, as it was now nearing 3pm anyway, took a scenic way back to the southern end of the park looping background to our Merthyr Tydfil motel.
Nearing the castle
With no rush to get to our Pembrokeshire National Park destination the next day, we had planned to spend the majority of the day still in the Brecon Beacons but checking the weather, we saw there was heavy rain forecast the next morning. We checked to see if there was any availability at the Dan yr Ogof Welsh National Showcaves but fond all the timed slots already sold out so decided to see what the weather was like the next day and take it from there.
We did indeed wake up to heavy rain and cloud and decided our original loose plans to hill walk to a view of a glacial lake Llyn y Fan Fach or to drive along Black Mountain Pass at the west side of the park were probably not worth it as the views wold be obscured by cloud.
Exploring the castle ruins
Instead, we decided to begin our drive to Pembrokeshire making a stop at Carreg Cennan Castle on the edge of the Brecon Beacons along the way.We had downloaded instructions for a circular walk around the castle providing views it without having to pay to go in but once there, the weather still not great, we decided to pay the small fee to visit the ruins instead. Luckily, the weather started to clear just as we were about to leave so we got to see a bit more of a view from the top!
It was great to finally see what lay on the other side of the busy A-road bypassing Brecon that I'd driven down so many times in the past and as it turned out, our 3 nights in the Beacons was nowhere near enough time to see anywhere near all the park has to offer but it was a start. I was glad I had the chance to visit and definitely plan to return sometime!
missstravels	National Parks, Road trips, Travel, UK, Wales	2 Comments 13th September 2021 8th September 2021 8 Minutes
A Wales National Parks Road Trip
Who'd have thought when our US National Parks Road Trip planned for last summer had to be cancelled that we'd be unable to reschedule it for 2021 either?! But with Covid still dominating new headlines around the World, the US still not allowing UK visitors and strict rules on entering and exiting the UK still in force over a year on, we realised pretty early into the year that making any plans to travel out of the UK was not a good idea. Despite some travel being allowed out of the UK to the few 'green/amber list' countries who will have us, with all the uncertainties over how long countries will remain on these lists for and all the complicated – not to mention expensive – testing rules to travel, we decided we were best to make summer travel plans a bit closer to home again.
In the beautiful Brecon Beacons
We had a few early discussions about possibly travelling to Ireland, a country I've seen very little of, for a road trip around the coast but not being sure if we'd both be fully vaccinated in time to go there, that idea was soon put hold for the future and our thoughts returned to the UK National Parks.
After a successful 2-week trip to the National Parks of Northern England last summer, we narrowed this year's options down to the parks in Southern England, a trip up to Scotland for a mixture of National Parks, isles, highlands and cities or heading west into Wales. We eventually settled on visiting the 3 National Parks of Wales, a country I am very familiar with having holidayed there at least once a year for the last 27 years. In fact, my annual family holiday is usually taken in Tenby, a seaside town in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park but as this is mainly spent as a beach holiday with the occasional trip out to other nearby beaches, there was plenty of the National Park I'd not seen as well as some activities and attractions I'd not visited since going as a teenager which I wanted the opportunity to relive. I figured I could then play tour guide on the day we planned to spend in the southern end of the park which I know and love.
Visiting Brecon Beacons National Park
Regularly visiting Snowdonia National Park too with a friend having a holiday home at the southern end of it as well as often taking out of season trips there with the dog meant I was somewhat familiar with this area too although once we started looking into what to do there, I soon realised I'd actually seen very little away from the southernmost tip where the seaside town of Barmouth is located.
One of the many waterfalls in the Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons was a National Park I was totally unfamiliar with outside of the town of Brecon itself where my family would often make a pitstop at en route to Tenby so I decided to concentrate my initial research here.
Looking at a range of websites, blogs etc on each of the parks, we eventually came up with a plan to split our time with 3 nights un the Brecon Beacons and 5 nights at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and Snowdonia National Park respectively during which time we'd tackle some of the big hikes including Pen-y-Fan and the Four Waterfalls Walk in the Brecon Beacons and, of course, Mount Snowdon in Snowdonia National Park.
On Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire National Park
Despite pretty much having our trip all planned out, we put off booking longer than we usually would as we waited to see what restrictions would or wouldn't be eased. Then, just as we were starting to think about booking hotels for our stay, our plans had to be briefly put on hold as my friend suffered an injury which could have put an end to any hiking and long days driving followed by a death in the family.
When we finally came to book some places to stay we found very limited availability and extremely high prices, especially as we'd decided to book fully cancellable options just in case things changed before we went.
Walking an alpaca
We eventually settled for a pub/motel room in the town of Merthyr Tydfil, a few miles south of the Brecon Beacons National Park and just a short drive from some of the walks we planned to do. The motel was within our budget and included breakfast and its location was also convenient for eating out in the evenings as there were plenty of cheap and cheerful chain restaurants just a short drive from the town centre.
For Pembrokeshire National Park we had to stay quite a way out of the park in a roadside motel near the town of Narberth. The motel cost us a lot more than we'd wanted to pay but was still the cheapest place we could find. It did include breakfast though and although being a bit out of the park, was at least pretty centrally located meaning we never had more than a 40 minute drive to the north or south end of the National Park from there.
The pretty coastline of Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia proved to be the most difficult and expensive park to find accommodation for and we ended up having to split our stay between 2 places, choosing a small farm guesthouse just outside the south-west end of the park for the first 2 nights and a chain motel in Bangor, a seaside town north of the park for the final 3 nights.
Visiting Snowdonia National Park
With our accommodation finally sorted, we moved on to the activities. Whereas many of the activities and attractions in the park are usually turn up and go, many of them currently had pre-book only rules which can be difficult when you're going somewhere with very unpredictable weather! We had the National Welsh Showcaves at Dan-yr-Ogof pencilled in as a rainy day activity for the day we left the Brecon Beacons in case it was too wet to hike but decided to hold off booking in case the weather did turn out to be ok.
As soon as we realised it was almost certainly going to pour down that morning, we went to book only to find we were too late and it had sold out. That wasn't our only booking failure – we also left booking activities at the popular ZipWorld attractions in Snowdonia way too late, finding the Velocity 2 zipline and the mountain coaster we really wanted to do both sold out until the autumn (we did eventually manage to get a cancellation slot on the ziplines at a later date!)
A trip to Portmerion
We did manage to pre-book a boat trip to Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire National Park – something I'd wanted to do for years – but pre-booking weeks in advance meant it was pot luck with the weather and, of course (spoiler alert!), it ended up absolutely pouring down that day.
About to zipline over an old quarry in Snowdonia
We were luckier with the date we picked to walk Alpacas or that would have been miserable too. Other activities such as visits to Heatherton World of Activities and Oakwood Theme Park both in Pembrokeshire, we decided to leave til the last minute and check on the weather and luckily, when we did decide to attend Heatherton, there were plenty of tickets left booking the day before we attended.
Despite everyone staycationing leading to accommodation prices shooting up and activities selling out way in advance, our trip was, overall, a success and while it still wasn't quite up there with our US adventures, we were grateful to be able to get away at all and had a pretty great time.
missstravels	Road trips, Travel, UK, Wales	1 Comment 7th September 2021 6th September 2021 5 Minutes


text:
Three's a fam!
Updated: Aug 9, 2018, 02:00 IST
Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
They have been together since 2010 and share an adorable son, Jack, 1. And on Monday night, Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley exemplified family goals in photos of them all together ahead of the Los Angeles premiere for the British actor's new film, The Meg.
The action star looked chiselled in a tailored suit with his heavy designer stubble while his model fiancée, 31, stunned in a figure-hugging black Stella McCartney gown as their son toddled around in his nappy. She shared the three black and white snaps on Instagram which saw little Jack demand attention from his parents, even wrapping his arms around his father's legs at one point.
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How can museums employ new media to enhance their visitors' experience and their collections' accessibility? With the Internet moving into the public domain through wireless connections, broadband mobile telephony, and location-aware technology, museums are no longer bound by their physical limits (the building), but can use all relevant spaces, be it the city, the country or the public domain.
Technology enables audiences to access, produce, and share media everywhere and at all times, and museums are quite far on in digitizing large parts of their collections. The combination of 24-hour on-line audience availability and rich digitised cultural musem content brings ample opportunities to create new cultural experiences.
In this context, Waag Society recently developed a number of projects in which users are guided by mobile technology. The paper gives an overview of these projects and argues that the physical non-institutional environment is a great setting for appreciating cultural content and inducing active user participation.
More and more location-based projects are being developed in the heritage domain. Although they are still relatively small in both number and in size, the impact of these projects on established cultural practices may turn out to be surprisingly great.
The motivation to explore location-based projects lies in the (technical) developments that take place, as well as the opportunities they offer for heritage institutions to connect to (new) audiences. But location-based projects trigger a lot of questions within heritage institutions. Is this for us? (How) can we first stimulate and then deal with user participation? What technological choices are best in the long term? The actual user experience seems distant in these discussions.
This paper describes the impact that location-based projects have on the users/participants, and analyses a number of the projects Waag Society has initiated. By offering this glimpse into our practice, the authors hope to further the discussion on the (im)possibilities of locative experiences in the cultural domain.
With the emergence of the Internet and developments in digitization, museums and related organizations are forced to reinvent themselves to find and establish new and unusual alliances. The Internet is rapidly rearing its head in public space. With the advent of wide-band mobile phone with advanced positioning capabilities (TomTom principle), it is possible to produce, consume, and share media anywhere. People are always on-line somewhere,and know more and more how to take advantage of this. In addition, institutions are busy implementing the policies of the government regarding digitization of museum collections. In Holland, the 170Meuro project "Beelden voor de Toekomst" (Images for the Future) gives both space and money to do this right. This brings forward new opportunities for the experience of heritage museums. Where the collection was previously (arbitrarily) confined inside the walls of the museum, it is now possible to make it visible in other places where it is relevant: in the city, in the country, and in public space.
The growing availability of digital culture, greater familiarity with digital media and increasing digital skills of the Dutch will stimulate the use of virtual cultural heritage. It is plausible that the balance between the different kinds of uses will change. The Internet is now mainly used as an information medium, but in the future, there will be more emphasis on the use for relaxation, personal development and communication and the formation of communities….. Finally, the emergence of many Web 2.0 applications leads towards the user taking a creative, producing role regarding cultural heritage. This will intensify the use of existing content and even more and new people will make use of virtual cultural heritage.
The experts also expect a further rise of the mobile Internet, leading to place-independent network access. The interface is no longer (only) the PC; the laptop or mobile phone is the ideal tool. According to the experts, because of the emergence of the mobile Internet, cultural consumption is increasingly becoming a cross-media experience, which uses different kinds of media to stimulate a reaction or emotion with the viewer/visitor. In exhibitions or performances, for example, physical and virtual environments can alternate or overlap each other. An online game can help visitors to explore a museum and people can add information to an exhibition themselves.
As mentioned, in this context location-based projects have started up all over the world, but heritage institutions - and their financers - struggle with the questions they bring to the table. The possibilities seem endless, the technology is not transparent enough for making choices, the costs are often high, the staff is not used to audience participation, the audience is aging, etc. Our own experience with location-based projects can provide new angles to a more user- and content- driven discussion.
The Waag Society is an Amsterdam-based Media Lab that develops technology for social Innovation. The foundation was established in 1994 and continues to empower people to both express themselves and connect to other people. It works in the domains of Culture, Health Care, Education, Sustainability, and the Public Domain. One of the key subjects that Waag Society has researched is the use of locations, and more recently, modern mobile phones, both in education and in cultural heritage. This research was set up in 2001 with Amsterdam Realtime, with users drawing a real time map of Amsterdam by tracing their routes with GPS. Amsterdam Realtime was a collaboration with artist Esther Polak and sparked several location-based projects. Some of these are detailed bellow.
In 2005, the project Frequency 1550 was developed. Frequency 1550 is a mobile city game that uses GPS and UMTS technology to let pupils of the secondary schools actively learn about history - instead of passively absorbing knowledge - by walking around and playing in Amsterdam's city centre. The aim of Frequency 1550 was to bring the Middle Ages alive for pupils, within the context of their history lessons. The reactions were overwhelmingly positive, both with the participating schools and with a general audience. At that point, the technology was so new that, by itself, it didn't attract the attention of a wide audience. Frequency 1550, however, made it to The Dutch TV News because of its innovative and applied character.
For the pupils who played it, the technology was not the only attractive aspect. The impact of the experience was boosted both by the use of game elements and by the fact that they navigated the centre of Amsterdam on a medieval map. Looking at familiar surrounding with this different view provided the pupils with a strong experience, stronger than any textbook can provide.
the feeling of an immediate contact with the past, a sensation as deep as the purest enjoyment of the Arts… you touch the essence of things, the experience of Truth through history.
It is an experience often described as 'immersive'; we like this definition even though it's different from the popular use of the word immersive used to describe VR and theme park experiences, because of its link to the authenticity and personal nature of the experience, and because it's small, a fleeting moment.
As an example of an historical sensation, Huizinga asked the reader to imagine the following.
You walk on the street, and a barrel organ [the well-known organ you find in the Dutch streets] is playing, and if you approach it, it suddenly happens that a breeze of recognition blows through your mind, as if for a moment you understand things which otherwise would be covered by the shrouds of life.
Such fleeting moments of recognition help to introduce you into History more than any statistics or generalizations could do (Boone, 2008).
Dutch historian and philosopher Frank Ankersmit (2005) elaborates on Huizinga's comparison to the arts.
... our experience of a work of art is a quite specific situation and most fundamentally different from the epistemological situation that historians normally find themselves in when having to develop the most plausible hypothesis about what has happened in the past.
All spatial and temporal demarcations have momentarily been lifted: it is as if the temporal trajectory between past and present, instead of separating the two, has become the locus of their encounter. Historical experience pulls the face of past and present together in a short but ecstatic kiss. Historical experience is, in this way, a surface phenomenon: It takes place on the surface or interface where the historian and the past meet each other.
In other words, it is where the interpretation and experience meet each other.
Is it the case that an active experience of history through the immersing qualities of a location-based game really adds to historical awareness, knowledge and appreciation of the city and its history, and enhances competencies such as the interpretation of historical sources and references? This question can be answered positively, according to Joost Raessens, Professor of New Media and Digital Culture (Raessens, 2006; and additional research by ILO and IVLOS on learning competences).
As the concept of historical sensation seems to create an openness to enjoy history and a willingness to learn more about history, it is a powerful concept for cultural projects. In addition, the concept of such a strong sensation can have broader meaning as it can be defined as an experience, triggered by an unplanned, surprising, and maybe even magical moment, that somehow connects to you, in the way that art can do. The trigger can be an event,some music, an image - basically anything and everything. Apparently the historical sensation has a strong relationship with the present. It can give agency to cultural projects with a more general user group: we actively pursued this in the Rituals project.
Rituals is a GPS-based walking route connecting religious monuments in a theatrical approach. The project was part of the activities that accompanied the European Year of Religious Heritage. In Holland, formal religions are in decline, while at the same time spirituality is taking a more important place in our increasingly individualistic society. Therefore we decided to target the personal and emotional level: the private (spiritual) experience of the participants. To achieve this, we attempted to combine the notion of an on-site historical sensation with the concept of storification. Storification involves not only experiencing a story, but also simultaneously making sense of the experience (Akkerman, Huizenga, Admiraal, 2009). Maybe we are capable of experiencing an historical sensation and at the same time relating it to our every-day life and making sense of it. Storification seems to ask for strong narrative organization and possibilities for internal structuring of the experience.
As the goal here was to evoke personal reflection and active audience participation, the narrative was organised in a such way that participants could experience the power of rituals and share stories of their own, by using dramaturgical elements such as writing down a personal confession (whether big or small) at the start of the walking route and referencing that confession at several locations. The confession was written down in private in front of a huge mirror - which participants found powerful. In addition, several mirrors were used throughout the route, as metaphors for personal reflection. In a church, participants listened to a (recorded) confession. In a Buddhist temple they burnt an incense stick while having to think about their own confession. In the "hidden church" Onze Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic, one of the oldest and most remarkable museums in Amsterdam), they created their personal place of worship.
By carrying out these acts and by walking the route, a new ritual was introduced: distancing oneself from the confession, tossing the confession to the wind at the end of the route. In the end, the route brought about an exchange or dialogue that transcended religions and enabled people to experience familiar urban surroundings in a different manner.
City Ragas is a visual cultural exchange game played on mobile phones. City Ragas was developed for the Amsterdam-India Festival that took place in November 2008. In November, throughout the city, cultural events that originated in India took place. With City Ragas we tried to set up contact between people from Amsterdam and Delhi, bringing the experience of Delhi to the streets of Amsterdam and the other way around - based on the exchange of user-generated content.
On the Web, users are increasingly approached as content creators. Web sites like YouTube, Flickr, and MySpace are dependent on the input from the community. Without contributions from users there is no content and no linking between people. For mobile applications, it is also valuable to think about user participation. In the Rituals project, the participants knew that their confession would be kept secret; in City Ragas, the users' input is central and public. Within a given theme, participants in Amsterdam and Delhi made a photo story onsite. The acts consisted of photographing the city and responding to photographs from the other, unknown city. Players found it very special to receive a picture of someone else whom they do not know, from a distant land, a foreign culture - making the Amsterdam-India Festival very relatable on a human level. Empowerment of the users is important because it allows them to create "new forms of global awareness or connectedness that are not part of the global commercial media or consumption industry, nor part of a cultural elite of 'high culture'" (Sassen 2006).
It is often assumed that young people especially are interested in mobile applications. In Rituals, we deliberately aimed at a general, older audience. These elderly people were interested in the mobile application and mastered it much faster than we expected. This target group however differs from younger people in the way they react to and use mobile applications. Elderly people like to be guided by the application, they prefer to be told where to go, what to do, etc.... Younger participants like to determine what they do themselves. Also, they prefer to do things in their own order. It was found that young people tend to capture their own images more often. They are more inclined to be producers of their own content. The development of mobile applications specifically for the elderly, however, needs specific attention.
Based on our experience with cultural heritage projects, we conclude that the physical environment is a great setting for triggering historical sensation, storification, personal reflection, and cultural exchange. Technical (locative) tools can further enhance this, linking history and personal or present-day experience. Looking back on the three projects described, we have moved from a technology-driven, very controlled situation (Frequency 1550) to an open system for content exchange (City Ragas), with a growing role for user participation. As we are dealing with interfaces between the fictional and the real, the urban and the virtual, as well as the interaction between street and 'players', it is a logical step to connect the locative experience to gaming and theatre and performance art, in order to trigger active user participation. Critical design practice should investigate the scenarios and dramaturgies that are necessary for a general audience to assume an active and independent role.
Also, the connection of this type of project to existing museum practice needs more research, though it is clear that heritage institutions can provide critical context for the experience. The Waag Society's strategy in this is to set up more experiments with cultural heritage partners in a long-term programme by the name of Location Based Heritage, incorporating partnerships with artists, heritage institutions and sector institutions.
Akkerman, S., J. Huizenga, W. Admiraal (2009). Storification in history education: a mobile game in and about medieval Amsterdam. Computers & Education archive Volume 52 , Issue 2 (February 2009), 449-459.
Ankersmit, F.R. (2005). Sublime Historical Experience. Stanford University Press.
Boone, M (2004). 'L'automne du Moyen Age': Johan Huizinga et Henri Pirenne ou 'plusieurs vérités pour la même chose'. Autour du XVe siècle. Journées d'étude en l'honneur d'Alberto Varvaro, 27-51.
Raessens, J. (2007). "Playing History. Reflections on Mobile and Location-Based Learning". Didactics of Microlearning: Concepts, Discourses, and Examples. (Ed. T. Hug. Münster: Waxmann Verlag), 200-217.
Sassen, V. (2006). Publieke interventies. Open 2006/Nr. 11/Hybride ruimte, 18-27.
Social Cultural Planning Bureau (2008). The Virtual Culture Visitor.


The past decade has given rise to the amusement of creating politically-correct definitions. Merriam-Webster researchers have found the term "politically correct" in H.V. Morton's book In The Steps of Saint Paul, (1936). It was reported that the term was used in a 1793 US Supreme Court decision.
Michaelsen, O. V. (1999) "PC Madness," Word Ways: Vol. 32 : Iss. 4 , Article 12.