Life's about experiences. These are mine.
A while back I decided to walk all of the Inner Distribution Road (IDR), Reading’s least glamorous route. As a follow-up I decided to tackle the iconic number 17 bus route. Running just under seven miles from the water tower in Tilehurst to The Three Tuns, in, er, where is it exactly? (Earley, apparently, on …
Last full day in Rome and our last AI inspired itinerary. Today was a walk along the Tiber to Isola Tiberina, into the Trastevere area before walking up Janiculum Hill for the views. The timing of all of this was crucial as we needed to arrive at the Piazza Gianicolo at just before midday. To …
Continue reading “Rome 2026 – Day Four – Out with a Bang”
Day two of our AI built itinerary of Rome today took us in the other direction down Via del Corso to the Piazza del Popolo, up into the Villa Borghese and back to the Spanish Steps. We’d learned from yesterday’s walk that the suggested route wasn’t going to fill a whole day so we added …
We’ve been to Rome a few times before and so didn’t feel the need to do all the big ticket locations once again, well at least not to pay and go inside. We wanted some alternatives and so asked AI to help us out. Prompt me an Itinerary I flit between different AI tools but …
Today was the first time we had travelled to Europe since their new Entry/Exit System (EES) was introduced. I had read horror stories in the press about long queues and wait times as people got used to the technology and the bugs are ironed out. There seems to be a two-step process to gain entrance. …
I’m on the V&A mailing list. Normally it’s only of passing interest but when I opened one and found that they were running an exhibition featuring the work of Aardman Animations I was there and booked tickets. Hold on a Minute… When I originally booked the tickets, I hadn’t realised that the exhibition was actually …
Continue reading “Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends, Young V&A, London”
The underpass to Katesgrove, specifically the stretch beneath the IDR near County Lock, has had a series of murals installed in it, and I was keen to see it. What apparently used to be a somewhat grim, graffiti-prone passage has been turned into the Time Travel Tunnel, unveiled earlier this month (February 1, 2026). A …
Continue reading “Time Travel Tunnel (Katesgrove Murals), Reading”
I guess you could say that I am somewhat late to the party with this post, given that all those annoying Spotify Wrapped posts were flooding social media late last year. I don’t use Spotify, having a) a roll-your-own version in the form of Plex and b) many, many vinyl records. How many?! I thought …
I’ve been driving under the A329M flyover on Loddon Bridge Road for years, admiring the street art there and meaning to take a closer look. Today I finally did. The graffiti art under the A329M flyover near the Showcase Cinema and The George pub in Earley/Woodley is widely considered Reading’s “Hall of Fame” for street …
Continue reading “Street Art, Loddon Bridge, Woodley, Reading”
It’s time for my annual round-up of the year just gone (you can read the previous year’s reports here). This was my first full year of retirement so it will be interesting to see what, if any , impact that has had on the figures. I have worked from home for the last ten years …