On New Year’s Day this year, we went over to the university to check out the globes that had been installed to create an art trail on the campus. This was part of a wider na… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/14/the…

When I was on the university campus the other day, visiting the new World Reimagined globes that had been installed, I made a slight detour to visit one of the ugliest buildings around— the… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/16/reg…

A couple of years ago Reading Town Hall played host to an art work called Gaia by the artist Luke Jerram. Essentially this was a giant inflatable ball with an image of the Earth printed on it and suspen… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/18/luk…

We’ve talked about doing a Wales road trip for quite a while now and just never quite got round to it. Then when we were planning a few days away for my birthday, which may or may not be a big one, we decided … neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/20/wal…

For our first full day in Wales we had decided to start at the nearby Bodnant Gardens, a National Trust property with extensive grounds. Bodnant Gardens We arrived just after opening, and the… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/21/wal…

We moved on from Conwy today winding our way on towards our next top of the Italianate village of Portmeirion. Anglesey Our first stop was to be the island of Anglesey, where we had p… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/22/wal…

The final two stops on our Welsh tour today waking in the lovely Portmeirion and then travelling on to the bookish Hay–on–Wye. Portmeirion After all the hoi polloi paying day guests had lef… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/23/wal…

Today is the last day of my 6th decade. Tomorrow I will be eligible for free prescriptions and a senior railcard. I don’t feel old enough to warrant those and other concessions but the grey hair tells me… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/08/24/wal…

We’ve not been able to do a leg of the path since late April. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, it was very hot over the summer— too hot for us to want to walk; and secondly,… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/13/tha…

THIRTY QUID!!! I know that it is currently half price but even so. Mind you, as my son said, that’s about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000003p a page😂

Something new for Heritage Open Days this year and arguably, something without any heritage— a trip up the newly opened ONE Station Hill building in Reading. Having done all the other things on… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/14/one…

Just as the weather begins to change at home, we are off to warmer climes. Back in 2019 we did a combined trip to New York and Washington but felt that we hadn’t spent long enough in the capital so vowed to … neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/18/usa…

Jet lag wasn’t too bad. I’m sure that it’s perfectly normal to be wide awake at 5 am! Still it did allow us to get out early and avoid the crowds. National Mall Today we’d earmarked to do the sights, wh… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/19/usa…

Today we took the metro south to Alexandria, a city seven miles out of Washington in Virginia. We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented As we walked from the station to old town Alexandr… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/21/usa…

When we came to Washington last time, we stayed in Georgetown, a beautiful and affluent suburb of Washington. It was a nice area but probably a bit too far from the action. Foggy Bottom This trip we are stayin… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/21/usa…

I must admit that of all the places I expected to find myself on holiday, the zoo wasn’t one of them— at least not without children. Don’t Panda to Them Like many of the museums on the National Mall, t… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/22/usa…

We were sat in Starbucks this morning having breakfast and watching a little tableau unfold on the pavement (“sidewalk”) opposite where five police officers were arresting one guy. I’m not sure wh… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/23/usa…

I posed a question on our Alexandria day asking “How do the blind of America cross the road?” as there didn’t seem to be any audio feedback. Our eyes and ears on the ground (👋Angel… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/24/usa…

Last day in Washington DC and we needed to avoid last-day syndrome, particularly as we had the whole day to kill as the flight wasn’t until 22:45. We had done all the major sites and places th… neilthompson.co.uk/2025/09/25/usa…

.Reading Buses You need to sort out the signs on the Marketplace MA stop. This says it’s closed 2nd&3rd October and yet buses are sailing by it. I know the app says otherwise but that’s really not good enough.