Life's about experiences. These are mine.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised at the level of security to get into the Bank of England Museum, but I was. There are airport-style scanners through which all your stuff has to go, including anything metal, so off came the belt. This, of course, is not to protect the museum but what is housed …
It is somewhat ironic that both my attempts to visit the London Transport Museum have come with transport problems. I had intended to visit last week but then the line between Reading and Paddington was closed due to an “incident”. Today the train was merely late. Major Sidebar Fortunately, in keeping with many others attractions, …
The second of my two Heritage Open Days this year and this one was closer to home. Reading Minster My first stop was the Reading Minster on St Mary’s Butts an interesting chequered building that I had never been into before. I was drawn in by the promise of “historic parish records alongside Norman foundations, …
Continue reading “Reading Minster & Brock Keep, Heritage Open Days 2026”
Another one to add to my “I never knew that existed in Reading” list. This morning, we visited Green Park, where there was a free photography exhibition being held run by The Photographic Angle. No, I’d never heard of them either but this is what they say about themselves: The Photographic Angle (TPA) stages photographic …
Continue reading “The Photographic Angle, Creativity, Reading”
It’s that time of year again when places that would normally be off limits to the public throw their doors open and let us in. It’s time for the annual Heritage Open Days. In every other year that we have attended an event during the period, and we have been attending now for seven years, …
Continue reading “Oxford Open Doors, Heritage Open Days 2026”
It never ceases to amaze me how, after over 35 years living in Reading, I am discovering new things about it. In this case, I wasn’t certain that I wanted to highlight this publicly, as it’s a perfect spot, and I don’t want others to find it! To the Dump The Fobney Island Wetland Nature …
Continue reading “Fobney Island Wetland Nature Reserve, Reading”
I’ll get the jokes out of the way at the beginning. I was concerned that today’s trip would be a load of rubbish and a waste of time. There, now we can move on. Our u3a Out and About group had considered a trip to a waste centre in Oxfordshire but trips around there were …
As the weather is taking a break from being in the 30s, we decided to get in another leg of the Thames Path. Because of our desire to only use public transport wherever possible, we chose to only go as far as Eynsham today. This is because to get home (and therefore back to the …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Seventeen – Oxford to Eynsham”
I forget how I came across Longplayer but I was fascinated by its intersection between two of my interests: music and technology. Conceived by Pogues member Jem Finer for the turn of the millennium, Longplayer is a composition that plays for 1,000 years without repeats. It can be played by a computer or “live” using …
Reading the latest Martin ‘Money Saving Expert’ Lewis email last week it reminded me that Amazon do behind the scenes tours of their fulfilment centres, something that I’d had on my to do list for a while. Why was Lewis highlighting it? Because it is free to attend. In the week between my booking and …