Scientists recognised that the world was changing. Careful monitoring of weather patterns and their effects showed patterns that did not look good. Trends in weather patterns showed that it was going to get worse. Animals can migrate - sometimes! But what about plants and trees? These would be helpless if the habitat that gave rise to them ceased to exist.
It was time to do something epic. Seeds needed to be gathered from around the world and stored in a purpose-built Global Seed Bank, in permafrost to keep the precious store safe, forever. but who would do it? No argument. Norway's government saw the need and had the perfect spot, so their Ministry of Agriculture and Food funded and ran the whole project. Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, was chosen to house this addition to the wonders of the world.
In Svalbard, permafrost is typically about 100m thick in major valley bottoms and up to about 400-500m thick in the high mountains. (Liestøl 1976). In 2003, glaciers covered 60% of the total land area of Svalbard, with the remaining 40% being periglacial and permafrost. The total permafrost surface area was aboutr 25,000km² - the largest permafrost area in Europe outside of Russia.
So, since 2008, and 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, the world's largest secure seed storage has been keeping a million precious plant seeds safely stored deep beneath the permafrost.
Did I say 'secure'?
In the world of politics outside of Norway, things have been much less decisive. Political dithering and inaction over greenhouse gas emissions - the gases that trap the sun's rays and warm up the atmosphere - is continuing to affect the climate. Droughts are lasting longer, floods are becoming more frequent, heavier and more destructive, glaciers have begun to shrink backwards up the valleys they created thousands of years ago.
And alarm bells have begun to ring. A massive ice shelf, twice the size of Wales, is poised to break off from Antarctica and large cracks are forming in the Petermann Ice Shelf in Greenland. The ice is melting.
Everyone learned at school that pure water freezes and melts at 0°C. at +1°C, it can't be ice. at -1°C, it's all ice. That's the physics. So, a year or two ago, when the permafrost began to soften around the Global Seed Bank, it was serious!
And it just went critical.
After record warm temperatures in Svalbard last winter (7°C above normal), the Global Seed Bank has been breached. A river of meltwater gushed in through the entrance tunnel threatening the million different seed varieties stored within.
As recently as 2008, when the vault was completed, it was inconceivable that a vault buried deep inside a mountain of permafrost would not survive. It was designed to continue safely without any human intervention; but now it is being watched night and day while measures to protect the precious herbal ark are hastily drawn up.
This is double jeopardy. The global rise in temperatures that is threatening plant species around the globe is now also threatening the one facility that could save the million species stored there, ready for a saner world, should that ever occur.
My title for this piece was "Stupider and Stupider" because it's what I think when I see the leaders of our world walk away from summit talks having signed lukewarm deals that pay lip service to climate change action whilst really protecting commercial interests that might suffer a loss of profit if we got serious about arresting climate change. This is Nero fiddling while Rome burns, only it's not that local! We need to put the fiddles down and start putting out the fire. It may be already too late, but this is the only world we've got. Let's try to keep it habitable.
More information:
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Guardian - Arctic stronghold of worlds seeds flooded after permafrost melts
Newsweek - Cracks in Petermann Ice Shelf
Antarctic Ice Shelf hanging by a 12-mile thread
Saturday, 20 May 2017
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
My Lonely Windows Tablet
Android is great ... when you first buy it. Pretty soon, the data mining activities of the various apps grinds the thing to a virtual standstill unless you regularly clean it out; and it never gets back to full speed. It was particularly irritating that I couldn't free up space by deleting any of the numerous Google apps that I never used, but suspected were using me.
So I bought a Windows tablet. It's a well-written platform with the official Microsoft apps running well; my only gripe being that the keyboard often obscures the fields I'm trying to enter the information to. Solved this with a separate keyboard.
So, everything working well, I went to look for the apps I wanted to add: Amazon, Ebay, Facebook and Twitter at first. Ebay is the shoddiest: every time I click on a search item, it returns "String reference not set to an instance of a String Parameter name: s (EX)" which I have to close before re-selecting the item. Annoying. Those apps that have been ported to Windows have often not had the kinks ironed out of them, making them difficult or irritating to use; and there are many apps that are simply absent! There's no Flickr, no WhatsApp, no Instagram. A major phone and tablet platform has been ignored, probably because so few people use it; but so few people use it because the apps they need are not available on it.
I don't know whether Microsoft has just been sitting back and accepting that this platform will only be relevant to corporate or anti-social users, so has not provided the tools for app development in an easy format, or whether app developers have ignored it because Google is gyrating its pelvis before them in such a sexy way that Microsoft is sat in the kitchen, friendless and alone. Maybe a bit of both.
However, I will continue to elbow my way past crowded Google and uptown Apple to join my Windows tablet in the kitchen. It may be lonely, but that annoying little icon that means "waiting... waiting... waiting..." is refreshingly absent.
So I bought a Windows tablet. It's a well-written platform with the official Microsoft apps running well; my only gripe being that the keyboard often obscures the fields I'm trying to enter the information to. Solved this with a separate keyboard.
So, everything working well, I went to look for the apps I wanted to add: Amazon, Ebay, Facebook and Twitter at first. Ebay is the shoddiest: every time I click on a search item, it returns "String reference not set to an instance of a String Parameter name: s (EX)" which I have to close before re-selecting the item. Annoying. Those apps that have been ported to Windows have often not had the kinks ironed out of them, making them difficult or irritating to use; and there are many apps that are simply absent! There's no Flickr, no WhatsApp, no Instagram. A major phone and tablet platform has been ignored, probably because so few people use it; but so few people use it because the apps they need are not available on it.
I don't know whether Microsoft has just been sitting back and accepting that this platform will only be relevant to corporate or anti-social users, so has not provided the tools for app development in an easy format, or whether app developers have ignored it because Google is gyrating its pelvis before them in such a sexy way that Microsoft is sat in the kitchen, friendless and alone. Maybe a bit of both.
However, I will continue to elbow my way past crowded Google and uptown Apple to join my Windows tablet in the kitchen. It may be lonely, but that annoying little icon that means "waiting... waiting... waiting..." is refreshingly absent.
Friday, 3 July 2015
One Minute's Silence
Today was July 3rd 2015. At 12 noon, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood for one minute, to remember the fallen from last Friday's massacre in Sousse, Tenerife.
So, why did we bother?
Over the past century, as a nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been getting better at valuing life. It began after The First World War; instead of dumping into mass graves the carcasses of soldiers slaughtered in battle, each was afforded his own individual plot and headstone. Fabian Ware and Neville Macready, after pointing out the blatant class distinction, when fallen officers were repatriated yet other ranks were buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves, founded the War Graves Commission. For the first time, each life lost was counted, documented and respectfully buried. At the end of the war, the Unknown Warrior was repatriated to represent all those fallen who could not be identified, and a day was set aside, each year, to remember them.
And so it continued, right up until the Falklands War in the early 1970s; British soldiers killed abroad were buried in military cemeteries, often created for the event.
Maybe it was the Northern Ireland conflict that changed this habit; soldiers were close enough to home to be repatriated. Whatever the reason, at major conflicts thereafter, those killed were repatriated, their deaths medically and forensically investigated, and their military graves began to appear in the churchyards of The United Kingdom, not on "some corner of a foreign field".
The loss off life became personal and public when, because a runway was being resurfaced, the fallen from the conflicts of the 21st century began to be repatriated through a little Wiltshire town called Wootton Bassett. Percy Miles, a British Legion member, was chatting with friends on the High Street when they noticed one of the first of these hearses pass by. They stopped their conversation, turned and stood in respectful silence as the hearse passed; and they decided then and there that they wanted to do more.
It could have been anywhere, but this small town, without a bypass to anonymise the repatriations, became a byword for honour and respect. Its name spread worldwide, and when the airbase at Lyneham closed in 2012, sending the repatriated coffins on a different route, the town was renamed by letters patent: Royal Wootton Bassett.
A later development has been the appeal from funeral directors for attendees at the funerals of old soldiers who have died with few or no known relatives to attend their funerals. Hundreds now turn out for these send-offs. Why, you might ask? Because those still living, whose lives are similarly adrift from all they once knew and loved, know that their kind are respected and honoured.
A belated, yet heartfelt review of other tragedies follows. Those whose lives were lost in a stadium, where careless neglect or ignorance of risk ended the lives of many and who were denied full closure, because of the fears of those responsible for their own well-being. We are learning, slowly but surely, that every life has incalculable worth, and where they are put at risk, or lost, answers must be given.
And now, to those who chose to go and fight, we add the hapless victims of conflict: targets, mown down on the beach where they were enjoying a much looked forward to holiday. Their families are changed forever. Their futures have been stolen; but the ripples of their existence will continue to touch lives for many years to come. Every single one is precious; and the World knows that we care.
And this is why, at 12 noon today, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood silently for one minute; because we will never be able to calculate the loss of these lives, to families, to communities and to the world.
So, why did we bother?
Over the past century, as a nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been getting better at valuing life. It began after The First World War; instead of dumping into mass graves the carcasses of soldiers slaughtered in battle, each was afforded his own individual plot and headstone. Fabian Ware and Neville Macready, after pointing out the blatant class distinction, when fallen officers were repatriated yet other ranks were buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves, founded the War Graves Commission. For the first time, each life lost was counted, documented and respectfully buried. At the end of the war, the Unknown Warrior was repatriated to represent all those fallen who could not be identified, and a day was set aside, each year, to remember them.
And so it continued, right up until the Falklands War in the early 1970s; British soldiers killed abroad were buried in military cemeteries, often created for the event.
Maybe it was the Northern Ireland conflict that changed this habit; soldiers were close enough to home to be repatriated. Whatever the reason, at major conflicts thereafter, those killed were repatriated, their deaths medically and forensically investigated, and their military graves began to appear in the churchyards of The United Kingdom, not on "some corner of a foreign field".
The loss off life became personal and public when, because a runway was being resurfaced, the fallen from the conflicts of the 21st century began to be repatriated through a little Wiltshire town called Wootton Bassett. Percy Miles, a British Legion member, was chatting with friends on the High Street when they noticed one of the first of these hearses pass by. They stopped their conversation, turned and stood in respectful silence as the hearse passed; and they decided then and there that they wanted to do more.
It could have been anywhere, but this small town, without a bypass to anonymise the repatriations, became a byword for honour and respect. Its name spread worldwide, and when the airbase at Lyneham closed in 2012, sending the repatriated coffins on a different route, the town was renamed by letters patent: Royal Wootton Bassett.
A later development has been the appeal from funeral directors for attendees at the funerals of old soldiers who have died with few or no known relatives to attend their funerals. Hundreds now turn out for these send-offs. Why, you might ask? Because those still living, whose lives are similarly adrift from all they once knew and loved, know that their kind are respected and honoured.
A belated, yet heartfelt review of other tragedies follows. Those whose lives were lost in a stadium, where careless neglect or ignorance of risk ended the lives of many and who were denied full closure, because of the fears of those responsible for their own well-being. We are learning, slowly but surely, that every life has incalculable worth, and where they are put at risk, or lost, answers must be given.
And now, to those who chose to go and fight, we add the hapless victims of conflict: targets, mown down on the beach where they were enjoying a much looked forward to holiday. Their families are changed forever. Their futures have been stolen; but the ripples of their existence will continue to touch lives for many years to come. Every single one is precious; and the World knows that we care.
And this is why, at 12 noon today, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood silently for one minute; because we will never be able to calculate the loss of these lives, to families, to communities and to the world.
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
The Beautiful People
We see them every now and then, here in Wiltshire: The Beautiful People. They are the ones who, if they populated the whole Earth, it would be safe.
Link: How many Earths would be needed if everyone had your lifestyle?
You can't recognise a Beautiful Person just by looking at them. Yes, many of them dress in a bohemian style, wear their hair at lengths that would get them on the 'reject' pile for many office jobs, and would have no idea what's in fashion this season; but there are too many imitators to be sure that the person you are looking at is One of the Beautiful People.
You will find both The Beautiful People and their imitators: The Ugly People, at Druidic High Holidays,such as the Summer and Winter Solstices, Beltane and Alban Elfed. The Beautiful People and The Ugly People will wander together around the stones of Stonehenge and the fires of Beltane, indistinguishable. But if you watch closely, you will soon see which is which.
The Beautiful People will stow their empty water bottle back in their bag. The Ugly People will toss theirs aside once it's empty. The Beautiful People will walk away and you will not know they have been. The Ugly People will walk away, leaving their trail of litter behind them. For the Ugly People, it's someone else's job to clean up after them.
After all, these places are for everyone. Many just want to say they've been there, to witness The Summer Solstice; to see The Northern Lights; to watch the total eclipse of the sun; and that's fine; if they can learn to behave like The Beautiful People, or already do, then they are not The Ugly People. If they let go of so much as a toffee wrapper at one of our precious, ancient sites, then walk away leaving someone else to pick it up, they are, most definitely, one of The Ugly People.
When the festivities are done, many of The Beautiful People will stay behind, to help clean up the mess left by The Ugly People, even knowing that The Ugly People will turn up again, next time, to soil and pollute the sacred sites again. The Beautiful People don't complain; they are too busy caring.
I love The Beautiful People.
I just wish that The Ugly People wore their ugliness on the outside, so we could bar them at the gate.
Link: Litter at Stonehenge
Link: How many Earths would be needed if everyone had your lifestyle?
You can't recognise a Beautiful Person just by looking at them. Yes, many of them dress in a bohemian style, wear their hair at lengths that would get them on the 'reject' pile for many office jobs, and would have no idea what's in fashion this season; but there are too many imitators to be sure that the person you are looking at is One of the Beautiful People.
You will find both The Beautiful People and their imitators: The Ugly People, at Druidic High Holidays,such as the Summer and Winter Solstices, Beltane and Alban Elfed. The Beautiful People and The Ugly People will wander together around the stones of Stonehenge and the fires of Beltane, indistinguishable. But if you watch closely, you will soon see which is which.
The Beautiful People will stow their empty water bottle back in their bag. The Ugly People will toss theirs aside once it's empty. The Beautiful People will walk away and you will not know they have been. The Ugly People will walk away, leaving their trail of litter behind them. For the Ugly People, it's someone else's job to clean up after them.
After all, these places are for everyone. Many just want to say they've been there, to witness The Summer Solstice; to see The Northern Lights; to watch the total eclipse of the sun; and that's fine; if they can learn to behave like The Beautiful People, or already do, then they are not The Ugly People. If they let go of so much as a toffee wrapper at one of our precious, ancient sites, then walk away leaving someone else to pick it up, they are, most definitely, one of The Ugly People.
When the festivities are done, many of The Beautiful People will stay behind, to help clean up the mess left by The Ugly People, even knowing that The Ugly People will turn up again, next time, to soil and pollute the sacred sites again. The Beautiful People don't complain; they are too busy caring.
I love The Beautiful People.
I just wish that The Ugly People wore their ugliness on the outside, so we could bar them at the gate.
Link: Litter at Stonehenge
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Keeping Women In Their Place
Charlie Hebdo
As I write, the horrific Charlie Hebdo killings are still on the TV news. The male gang members are dead, and the female is still at large. What prompted me to write today, was the BBC News narrator's description of the female, after having said she was armed and highly dangerous, he said she was the girlfriend of one of the gang members. I wondered whether, if the male in the relationship was at large instead of her, he would have been described as "the boyfriend of...". I doubt it, especially as such relationships are frowned upon in Islam.
There are Women where once there were only Men
The BBC has women fronting the news, the sports and narrating documentaries, where once there would have been only men. Sports viewers were quick to complain when Mark Lawrenson said Sergio Romero "should have put a skirt on" after Romero's weak attempt on goal. The BBC wisely spiked Colin Murray's sexist comment about Jessica Ennis, which prompted calls for more positive coverage of women in sport.
I pick on the BBC's usage, rather than the commercial channels, because it is our BBC. We pay for it. Its mission statement is to inform, educate and entertain whilst being independent, impartial and honest.
There's been some progress
In the promotion of equal treatment for women, the BBC produces some excellent documentaries and, I am sure, strives to be even-handed in recruitment and selection (though I have not researched this); though there have been reports that once female presenters start to look old, they are kicked into touch; and while ageing, balding, grey-haired men continue to front the news, the women who sit alongside them seem to be younger, trim-bodied and wrinkle-free. Maybe, to quote W.S. Gilbert, they just wear well.
Getting the wording right
The BBC is skilled at avoiding sexist phrases. Talking about women's work, the weaker sex, or expressions of surprise at a woman's achievements are, it seems, things of the past. The word "girl" has been banned as a description of an adult female. However, the sexism persists. I doubt many viewers noted that the woman in the terrorist gang in Paris was assigned the role of "girlfriend" despite being Muslim (no girlfriends allowed), an adult female, an apparent full member of the gang, armed, dangerous and at large.
BBC Sports Coverage
What surprises me more is how the BBC gets away with announcing sports on its main channels and in the news. "The football results" consist entirely of the men's game, unless the women's national team happen to have got to a World Cup quarter final. Rugby, cricket, golf, football, are all, by default, the men's games. Footballer of the Year is actually Male Footballer of the Year. The last time it was awarded, not to a Briton, footage of his grinning face receiving the trophy was followed (without visuals) by "the women's title went to..."
But this is not a given. Any sport that has taken the trouble to include men's and women's competition within one tournament has gained equal coverage and status for males and females alike. Where this has not happened, only the male competition receives serious interest, and the BBC happily goes along with that sport's agenda of ignoring (and, in consequence, underpaying) its female participants. They give prime time, prime channel space to the men's competitions, consigning the women to an online channel, BBC3, or ignoring them entirely.
Caring and Sharing and Bad Journalism
It is an inescapable fact that, across society, women do the majority of the caring while men gain most of the status and tangible rewards. However, whilst acknowledging this, and applauding those who do both of these well, things could change. The current situation should not be the base that informs how the media portrays women, but should be a goad to promote change. Commenting on women's bodies and dress sense, while commenting on men's goals and achievements should be viewed as bad journalism and bad for one's CV. The Olympic Committee has forced countries that oppress females to allow women to enter The Games, or be excluded entirely. Golf clubs hosting the British Open have been shamed into allowing women members. Why not extend this principle to UK politics? Political parties with any affiliated club or group that excludes women, or any other innate characteristic, should not be permitted to stand for election. That would wake them up.
When Racism was Normal
There was a time when it was acceptable, even normal, to use racist language, not only in conversation, but on the media and in sit-coms. Before that, there was a time when it was acceptable, even normal, to refuse entry, or lodgings, to blacks, gypsies, Irish, etc. None of this is now acceptable or normal. It didn't happen overnight. The change came about because one or two people began to challenge what was acceptable, what was normal; they often did this at some risk to their reputations, careers and their own safety.
Thankfully, racist behaviours are no longer acceptable; no longer considered normal; and no political party that harbours hope of gaining power would dream of allowing their representatives to say or do anything that implies anyone, apart from their political opponents, is of lesser worth.
I'm Watching!
I shall continue to watch and monitor the progress of sexism in broadcasting. I doubt anyone will pay any attention to my sarcastic tweets about BBC sports coverage, or my occasional rant her on the Blogger; but sometimes, one drop more water sets the bucket moving; one more straw breaks the camel's back; one small stone starts and avalanche. This is a long battle; while voices are crying out about the oppression of Islamic women being forced to cover up, a hotel manager forces a breastfeeding mother to put a tablecloth over her baby's head, and only men may remove their tops unless they are on a beach, without fear of arrest. It's a funny old world; so why aren't I laughing?
As I write, the horrific Charlie Hebdo killings are still on the TV news. The male gang members are dead, and the female is still at large. What prompted me to write today, was the BBC News narrator's description of the female, after having said she was armed and highly dangerous, he said she was the girlfriend of one of the gang members. I wondered whether, if the male in the relationship was at large instead of her, he would have been described as "the boyfriend of...". I doubt it, especially as such relationships are frowned upon in Islam.
There are Women where once there were only Men
The BBC has women fronting the news, the sports and narrating documentaries, where once there would have been only men. Sports viewers were quick to complain when Mark Lawrenson said Sergio Romero "should have put a skirt on" after Romero's weak attempt on goal. The BBC wisely spiked Colin Murray's sexist comment about Jessica Ennis, which prompted calls for more positive coverage of women in sport.
I pick on the BBC's usage, rather than the commercial channels, because it is our BBC. We pay for it. Its mission statement is to inform, educate and entertain whilst being independent, impartial and honest.
There's been some progress
In the promotion of equal treatment for women, the BBC produces some excellent documentaries and, I am sure, strives to be even-handed in recruitment and selection (though I have not researched this); though there have been reports that once female presenters start to look old, they are kicked into touch; and while ageing, balding, grey-haired men continue to front the news, the women who sit alongside them seem to be younger, trim-bodied and wrinkle-free. Maybe, to quote W.S. Gilbert, they just wear well.
Getting the wording right
The BBC is skilled at avoiding sexist phrases. Talking about women's work, the weaker sex, or expressions of surprise at a woman's achievements are, it seems, things of the past. The word "girl" has been banned as a description of an adult female. However, the sexism persists. I doubt many viewers noted that the woman in the terrorist gang in Paris was assigned the role of "girlfriend" despite being Muslim (no girlfriends allowed), an adult female, an apparent full member of the gang, armed, dangerous and at large.
BBC Sports Coverage
What surprises me more is how the BBC gets away with announcing sports on its main channels and in the news. "The football results" consist entirely of the men's game, unless the women's national team happen to have got to a World Cup quarter final. Rugby, cricket, golf, football, are all, by default, the men's games. Footballer of the Year is actually Male Footballer of the Year. The last time it was awarded, not to a Briton, footage of his grinning face receiving the trophy was followed (without visuals) by "the women's title went to..."
But this is not a given. Any sport that has taken the trouble to include men's and women's competition within one tournament has gained equal coverage and status for males and females alike. Where this has not happened, only the male competition receives serious interest, and the BBC happily goes along with that sport's agenda of ignoring (and, in consequence, underpaying) its female participants. They give prime time, prime channel space to the men's competitions, consigning the women to an online channel, BBC3, or ignoring them entirely.
Caring and Sharing and Bad Journalism
It is an inescapable fact that, across society, women do the majority of the caring while men gain most of the status and tangible rewards. However, whilst acknowledging this, and applauding those who do both of these well, things could change. The current situation should not be the base that informs how the media portrays women, but should be a goad to promote change. Commenting on women's bodies and dress sense, while commenting on men's goals and achievements should be viewed as bad journalism and bad for one's CV. The Olympic Committee has forced countries that oppress females to allow women to enter The Games, or be excluded entirely. Golf clubs hosting the British Open have been shamed into allowing women members. Why not extend this principle to UK politics? Political parties with any affiliated club or group that excludes women, or any other innate characteristic, should not be permitted to stand for election. That would wake them up.
When Racism was Normal
There was a time when it was acceptable, even normal, to use racist language, not only in conversation, but on the media and in sit-coms. Before that, there was a time when it was acceptable, even normal, to refuse entry, or lodgings, to blacks, gypsies, Irish, etc. None of this is now acceptable or normal. It didn't happen overnight. The change came about because one or two people began to challenge what was acceptable, what was normal; they often did this at some risk to their reputations, careers and their own safety.
Thankfully, racist behaviours are no longer acceptable; no longer considered normal; and no political party that harbours hope of gaining power would dream of allowing their representatives to say or do anything that implies anyone, apart from their political opponents, is of lesser worth.
I'm Watching!
I shall continue to watch and monitor the progress of sexism in broadcasting. I doubt anyone will pay any attention to my sarcastic tweets about BBC sports coverage, or my occasional rant her on the Blogger; but sometimes, one drop more water sets the bucket moving; one more straw breaks the camel's back; one small stone starts and avalanche. This is a long battle; while voices are crying out about the oppression of Islamic women being forced to cover up, a hotel manager forces a breastfeeding mother to put a tablecloth over her baby's head, and only men may remove their tops unless they are on a beach, without fear of arrest. It's a funny old world; so why aren't I laughing?
Monday, 25 August 2014
TRAVEL: How we managed a Day Trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum from Rome
I took my teenage daughter to Rome in August 2014, and one of the things she most wanted to do, after visiting The Colosseum and The Vatican, was to go to Pompeii and Herculaneum. I was pretty sure there'd be trips to Pompeii available from Rome, but was doubtful they would include Herculaneum. I promised to look into it, and did some internet research before we set off.
This blog from 2010 was a great help. How to Visit Pompeii and Herculaneum in One Day Without a Tour by Jessica. It helped me to navigate Napoli Centrale Railway Station. Now all I had to do was fit it in with a trip from Rome first. It went like this:
The evening before, I studied the railway times from Roma Termini (the main railway station in Rome). Napoli is written in red, as a principal station, which helped. I decided to pay more (double!) for a ticket on the IC (inter-city) fast train from Rome, on which everyone has a designated seat. To do this, just go to the automatic ticket points and select the national flag on the screen that represents your language. There are card, note and coin slots and it's well guided. I chose a slow train for the return journey, as our hotel was quite close to the station, also to save money, and because you can catch any AR train before midnight (bear in mind that you can't get on an IC train with an AR-regular train ticket). We set off at around 7am as the fast train still takes two hours. Check the ultimate destination of the train; Napoli Centrale is not a terminus, and they often go through to Sorrento. This will help you to find the right train along Roma's 20 platforms!
Once at Napoli Centrali you need to switch to the Circumvesuviana line (a local service). To do this, you go down two levels to the Circumvesuviana station "Napoli Garibaldi" where you can buy return tickets to Pompei Scavi station (Scavi means excavations). It can take an hour to get to Pompeii. Now, Herculaneum is on the same line, at an earlier stop. We couldn't make ourselves understood when asking whether we could break the journey at Herculaneum, so we decided to do Pompeii first, then take the line back to Herculaneum (the stop for Herculaneum is called Ercolano, or Ercolano Scavi, depending which window you look out of). That way, if our ticket got swallowed at Ercolano, we could just buy another for the remainder of the journey back to Napoli. (This wasn't tested, as there were open, unmanned gates at the station where we didn't need to use our tickets.)
We got off at Pompeii, and immediately saw a huge sign saying TICKET OFFICE. It was not the main Pompeii ticket office, but one of those guided tour ones so we ignored it. We found the site entrance and official ticket office a few yards down the hill, and joined the long queue (should've got up earlier; I noticed it was open from 08:30). Tickets are €11 in 2014, or €20 for all 5 sites (I never knew about the other three!). Under-25s get a discount, so take some ID if this applies. It is no cheaper at Herculaneum, so if you're sure you will be visiting there, get the €20 ticket.
It takes literally hours to walk all around the site, and it's a good idea to be as well informed as possible when you do so (eg: audio-guide you can rent at the gate, the free map you get on entry - they do run out of English ones, but a map's a map - and researching it all beforehand). There are plenty of water fountains where you can top up your drinking water, so hold on to your bottle. A picnic is a good idea, as all the food places are outside the site - most of them outside the exit (from which turn right and walk up the hill to return to the Circumvesuviana). Leave yourself at least an hour for the smaller Herculaneum site, and another hour to get there, in case you're unlucky with train times; Remembering that you also have to get back to Napoli Centrale for your train back to Rome (you must be back in Rome the same day or your ticket becomes invalid).
When you get off the Circumvesuviana at Ercolano Scavi, you leave the station by a steep set of stairs that lead onto the streets of modern Ercolano. Just head downhill. The signs say the excavations are 500m away, but that's not strictly true. You get to the main gate by then, but there's another 500m before you reach the ticket office (however, the path looks over the site and you can get some superb photographs from above). The steep walls of the town on the seaward side used to be where the sea came up to - before the eruption of Vesuvius.
Just retrace your steps back up the hill after your visit (the steps are somewhat off to the right - I say this because I forgot!) to catch the Circumvesuviana in the same direction you were travelling when you got off, back to Napoli Garibaldi and the main Napoli Centrale station, where you catch your train back to Rome. The AR trains are double-deckers, and we had no trouble finding a seat as we arrived well after the rush hour. For this journey, I would have a good book, some music or a download to watch; especially if you're on the AR train and not the IC!
One more thing; you don't have time to walk up Vesuvius on this schedule.
Enjoy your trip!
This blog from 2010 was a great help. How to Visit Pompeii and Herculaneum in One Day Without a Tour by Jessica. It helped me to navigate Napoli Centrale Railway Station. Now all I had to do was fit it in with a trip from Rome first. It went like this:
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| As you leave Roma Termini, you can see the vast ruins of the aquaduct that supplied the city. |
Once at Napoli Centrali you need to switch to the Circumvesuviana line (a local service). To do this, you go down two levels to the Circumvesuviana station "Napoli Garibaldi" where you can buy return tickets to Pompei Scavi station (Scavi means excavations). It can take an hour to get to Pompeii. Now, Herculaneum is on the same line, at an earlier stop. We couldn't make ourselves understood when asking whether we could break the journey at Herculaneum, so we decided to do Pompeii first, then take the line back to Herculaneum (the stop for Herculaneum is called Ercolano, or Ercolano Scavi, depending which window you look out of). That way, if our ticket got swallowed at Ercolano, we could just buy another for the remainder of the journey back to Napoli. (This wasn't tested, as there were open, unmanned gates at the station where we didn't need to use our tickets.)
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| Traffic Calming and pedestrian crossing all-in-one at Pompeii |
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| Vesuvius overshadows the ruins |
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Overhead info at main railway stations. Check whether
it's for arrivals or departures, then it gives the name
of the other station, the scheduled time, minutes late,
(where applicable) and platform number.
|
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| Herculaneum, from the approach path |
Just retrace your steps back up the hill after your visit (the steps are somewhat off to the right - I say this because I forgot!) to catch the Circumvesuviana in the same direction you were travelling when you got off, back to Napoli Garibaldi and the main Napoli Centrale station, where you catch your train back to Rome. The AR trains are double-deckers, and we had no trouble finding a seat as we arrived well after the rush hour. For this journey, I would have a good book, some music or a download to watch; especially if you're on the AR train and not the IC!
One more thing; you don't have time to walk up Vesuvius on this schedule.
Enjoy your trip!
 |
You can see the island of Capri from the main
line and the Circumvesuviana.
|
Saturday, 14 June 2014
The World Cup and the War against Women.
My soccer-fan husband makes sure that The World Cup is unavoidable in our home; that's the men's tournament, for those who've managed to avoid it. The women's tournament is next year - in Canada. Also this month, The Wimbledon Tennis Championship takes place, and both male and female players will converge on London for the same tournament. What difference does the segregation of football tournaments, or the integration in tennis championships, make?
Alongside the vital news of which World Cup football player has managed to kick their ball into the net most times, the rest of the world news is showing more and more how there is a worldwide undercurrent of disregard of, or disrespect for women and their human rights. This can be manifested in the relatively minor inconvenience of being barred from certain jobs, or from driving motor vehicles, or enforced dress codes; through the life-changing denial of rights such as equal access to education, then whether or who to marry and genital mutilation.
Western news outlets like the BBC report on the worst manifestations of cultural violations of women. They interview politicians and activists who plead that more needs to be done. They rush their cameras to the female anti-rape protest groups and to the rich and famous who add their voices and their presence to the coal-face of abuse.
More locally, where abuse of women is frowned upon, the BBC, when short of exciting news to report, has run items on overweight teenage girls, or campaigns to get girls more engaged in sport.
Yet, the BBC sees no irony whatsoever in following this with a sports roundup consisting entirely of the triumphs and woes of male football, rugby, cricket and golf tournaments and male personality trophy events such as Footballer of the Year (note the absence of the word 'male' in that title). This week, the news has reported that girls don't want to get sweaty because it's unladylike or not 'cool'. After all, when do they ever see a sweaty female role model engaging in a sporting activity on prime time TV (OK, apart from Wimbledon!)?
The message the broadcasters are sending to our own hearts and minds, when they glorify male sport and male achievement and exclude those of their female counterparts, is this: WOMEN DON'T MATTER. IF YOU ARE A WOMAN; YOU DON'T MATTER EITHER. This message is amplified around the world. Instead of challenging the segregation of sports, we turn up with our cameras, commentators and crowds to celebrate each male-glorifying event.
The successful integration of the sexes in tennis shows that there is no shortage of support for the female sections of the sport and that, given enough air time, women can be as famous and financially successful as the men. If the current soccer World Cup had scheduled women's matches alongside the men's, the fans would turn up to watch both; and would stay until their last team, male or female, had left the tournament, as they did for the London 2012 Olympics.
Summit on Women's Football. Etihad Stadium
Summit on Women's Football. Etihad Stadium
So, why am I mixing together the messages of sport and human rights? Because we are still guilty of sidelining women; of not giving them an fair slice of the cake. We send our men, not our women, to Brazil to face the scrutiny of the world on a great sporting stage. We broadcast the achievements of our men, not our women, on the sports round up on television, unless briefly reporting on the closing stages of a major women's tournament. When women reach the top of their sport, they are abused for their looks, or even just for being a success, on social media sites like Twitter. In short, there's still a plank in our own eye, while we are advising the world to remove the splinters from theirs. We're all blind to the worldwide, sometimes subtle, oppression of women.
No wonder we are still catching people at Heathrow armed with genital mutilation kits. No wonder girls are still being taken "on holiday" to be married off to strangers or operated on. No wonder girls in British schools are having their education subtly marginalised in the name of religion. Until we get our own house in order, and treat girls and women equally IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE, our moral high ground will always be a slippery slope that we will never get to the top of. This starts with our own national broadcaster, the BBC - paid for with a tax on all television sets - giving equal status to all licence fee payers, not just by lip service in general news items, but in their broadcast of all sports. They should be monitoring, by gender of teams and individuals, the air time given to sports coverage. I'm monitoring it, and to date, BBC, you fail; big time.
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