Tag Archives: Wales

Feb 15 2016
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Daily Post, Interior

The robot greenhouse

Monday 15th February 2016, 4.00pm (day 1,635)

Robot greenhouse, 15/2/16

The reason I am in Wales is to do a talk at the University of Aberystwyth, which I did tonight. Beforehand I had a tour of this facility. Aberystwyth is well out in the sticks — for its size (which is not large), the most isolated town in Britain — and thus has a focus on rural and agricultural research rather than, say, heavy engineering. But that doesn’t mean high technology is just something other people do. This is a near-fully automated robot greenhouse, full of computer imaging equipment and automated water dispensing pipes. And you thought growing your food was just a matter of getting the weather right…

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Feb 14 2016
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Daily Post, Landscape

Devil’s Bridge

Sunday 14th February 2016, 3.30pm (day 1,634)

Devil's Bridge, 14/2/16

The weekend’s tour of noted tourist spots in West Wales continues. But sometimes one just has to admit one is a tourist. Devil’s Bridge was first named for the lowest of these three structures, built in the 11th century, and named for the Devil because people simply did not believe that the precipitous gorge that it spans could have been tamed by human hand alone. Anyway, just think what it must have meant for an 11th-century peasant to trust their lives to this new-fangled engineering stuff. The middle bridge was built in 1753, and the current, topmost one in 1901.

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Feb 13 2016
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Daily Post, Landscape

Portmeirion

Saturday 13th February 2016, 11.15am (day 1,633)

Portmeirion, 13/2/16

Portmeirion was built by Clough Williams-Ellis over a fifty-year period as a demonstration of his theories about landscape and architecture. It should be visited by anyone with an interest in the Italianate and the exquisite configuration of the….

Oh, sod that. We all know why Portmeirion is cool. It’s because it’s THE VILLAGE, from The Prisoner, the best TV series ever made. And because this is a hotel, private ground, it hasn’t since become defiled by McDonalds’ or Starbucks or just disappoint slightly because of the fact that this location you see carefully pieced together on screen isn’t like that in reality. But at Portmeirion, everything that brought Patrick McGoohan et al to the place, seeing it as the perfect setting for his vision, is still there. There’s number 6’s cottage in the background of this shot! There’s the bandstand where they play in the episode “Hammer into Anvil”! I am in geek heaven!!

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Dec 09 2015
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Daily Post, Landscape

Golf course, December

Wednesday 9th December 2015, 2.00pm (day 1,567)

Golf course, 9/12/15

I would like to point out that except for — and perhaps because of — a brief flirtation between the ages of about 17 and 20, I have no interest in this game, pastime, sport, good walk spoiled, whatever. I just happened to pass this scene today. Although it’s quite a distinctive golf course — on these greens, the 2010 Ryder Cup was played out. There’s something kinda melancholy about it I think…. and I like the colours, the bright green contrasted against the grey of the woods, with the flag and magpie each being a part of the one in the other, like an (unequal) yin and yang. Which has nothing to do with golf, but hey.

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