A very speedy drumroll here, since I’m about to be thrown out of my hotel room and hence off wifi – the Carnival of Feminists No 66 is now on Apu’s World. And it is as spectacular as ever – so don’t waste time here, do go over there and check it out.
The next one will be on Jump off the Bridge on October 22. Do get nominating!
Apologies for the silence – have been doing a very busy “one-day, one-city” work run through Paris, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Paris and Autun … don’t worry, all by the wonderful European train network. It is just amazing that you can confidently plan to arrive in a city two hours before you are due to deliver a talk and be sure that there won’t be a problem.
Also very impressed by the arrangements for rubbish on German trains – separate recycling bins for paper, glass and packaging, and there’s clearly an expectation that everyone will use them.
Also impressed to see many cyclists of all ages and attires in the German cities, although less keen on the fact that cycle provision is almost entirely taken from pedestrian space – the cars are left to speed free. (Which when you are a visitor makes walking feel a little hazardous, although the locals obviously rub along well enough.)
Was taken by Frankfurt train station, definitely the least “chain-stored” one I’ve seen in Europe – beyond the Body Shop, Burger King and what was probably a chain newspaper store, everything else looked like little local shops. (And the Thai there – run by real Thais, is definitely to be recommended – and adding to the cultural mix I used Thai to order, since I wasn’t doing too well guessing at the German). Although I’m puzzled as to why there’s a stall there selling surgical instruments – I can’t actually think why I’d want to buy a stethoscope at a train station.
Talking of transport, for those who think there’s something “green” about Australia, a shocking statistic: there are suburbs in Melbourne where only one out of 100 people use public transport to get to work.
A week late in my notice on which, for which apologies – since I’ve been back from a lovely holiday I’ve felt like I’ve been riding a powerful motorbike along a high wire while having to throw missiles at targets that I can’t afford to miss.
But it is worth waiting for, if you haven’t caught up with it already: the Carnival of Feminists No 65 is now up on Green Gabbro, and a spectacularly fine collection it is: a good collection of US election posts, about much more than Sarah Palin, and good coverage of gaming and graphic novels.
But don’t waste time here – do go over there and check it out!
… at least not for France and Germany (or unless you are booking at the last minute or don’t care about the price).
That’s my advice after booking a rather complicated itinerary for the end of next week that runs Paris-Nuremburg-Hamburg-Paris. Using the German site saved me at least 50%; you could print out most of the tickets yourself; and they’ve got a very good hotel booking section – definitely recommended!
The Musee Terra-Amata is curiously located at the foot of a standard huge apartment block overlooking the port of Nice, somewhere that humans have been gathering for a long time, for it was here, now some distance from the sea but then the shore, that a group of Homo erectus – hunters of young elephants and rhinos particularly camped, probably for a number of seasons.
The museum is on the very spot where their camp was found, complete with what must have claim to being the oldest wall in the world, a small stretch perhaps 50cm high that was the foundation for a wooden framework. They weren’t very tidy, these erectuses – the site is scattered with discarded tools, human coprolites, and the inside of the shelter was scattered with discarded bones – presumably throwing your bones out of the hut wasn’t required etiquette. There’s even one (not very distinct) footprint. Most of the tools are basic, but one of them is rather fine…
Once again, though, I found my feminist hackles rising, for this is the image used to illustrate the replica of the site…
The other thing that I was left puzzled by was the purpose of the “shelter”. Certainly, as reconstructed upstairs, it wouldn’t keep out rain or wind; maybe it would serve as a certain barrier to dangerous predators – but really what would it achieve for the amount of effort required? There are several apparent heaths in and around it, but I couldn’t help wondering if it might have supported some kind of hide cover – although I don’t think it would generally be thought that erectus was that far advanced.
The last of the potatoes, and the tomatoes that I decided were never going to ripen. I combined them with some pork mince and onions for a baked green tomato hash, which wasn’t half bad – a real autumn dish.
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