Bits and pieces, news, views, reviews and stuff
Now I am no expert in this area, nor do I really like random graffiti being sprayed onto buildings, however across Bristol is some really nice street art appearing on the sides of buildings or on building site hoardings.
On a recent stroll around Bristol I found these two pieces which I really like.
The ten most popular posts from 2017 in reverse order.
9. Trenchard Street, Bristol, circa 1970s
8. Things never said in the office…
7. Cinematic Advent Calendar #05 – Leon
6. Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Five
5. Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Four
4. Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s
3. Bryan Brothers’ Garage Demolition, Bristol, 1999
Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2016 which was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular. The top tweet back then was this one for #WednesdayWisdom
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. #WednesdayWisdom
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 18, 2016
So here are my top ten tweets of 2017, ranked by the number of times it was seen on Twitter.
My tenth most popular tweet was about the difference between teaching and learning.
Teaching is not the same as learning. Everything can be taught online, not everything can be learnt online. Experience is part of learning.
— James Clay (@jamesclay) October 11, 2017
Though we knew this all along… the ninth most popular tweet was a link to the Nature article on the myth of the digital native.
The digital native is a myth. We all use technology in the same way regardless of age. Finally! HT @m1ke_ellis https://t.co/tdMqZ3RsX7
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 31, 2017
In eighth was a tweet about my favourite child book, The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.
#MyFavourite book as a child was The Enchanted Wood https://t.co/XblkMC4wkz anyone for pop biscuits or a google bun? #WorldBookDay @tes pic.twitter.com/2m2bnyzBK9
— James Clay (@jamesclay) March 2, 2017
The seventh most popular tweet was the photographs I took when the first passenger service GWR Inter-City Express Train arrived at Weston-super-Mare.
Arrival of the first GWR Inter City Express train at Weston super Mare. I am such an anorak. cc @GWRHelp pic.twitter.com/r272HXfAAd
— James Clay (@jamesclay) November 13, 2017
I attended ALT’s annual conference and made some sketch notes, the sixth most popular tweet was my sketch of the keynote by Peter Goodyear.
Here is my sketch note from the #altc keynote by @petergoodyear on Shaping Spaces pic.twitter.com/F2NEnO1LR6
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 7, 2017
Another tweet from that conference was the fifth most popular of the year and was a photograph of Josie Fraser receiving her Honorary Life Membership of ALT.
Huge congratulations to @josiefraser for being awarded Honorary Life Membership of ALT. #altc pic.twitter.com/3wZr47hiFf
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 6, 2017
Fourth position was one towards the end of the year and the only @ reply in the top ten. Amy Pearlman had asked for some best follows for women in IT, HE and Tech. Looking at her profile and seeing she was from Philadelphia in the US, and knowing lots of fantastic women in this space from the UK I added some in a reply.
I would follow @MarenDeepwell @sheilmcn @DonnaLanclos @LornaMCampbell @sarahjenndavies @bonstewart @audreywatters @KerryPinny @ambrouk @VivienRolfe @chrissinerantzi @suethomas @suebecks @Dr_Black @actualham @WarwickLanguage @jsecker @suewatling @dresdeb @nicwhitton @liz_isabella
— James Clay (@jamesclay) December 13, 2017
This response then went somewhat viral and lots of other people added their top follows, it got retweeted and liked a lot, so of course more people saw it and added more people to the list. It’s a fantastic list of some great women to follow on Twitter.
Third place goes to a temperate graph of the tube lines in London.
TfL has revealed the hottest Tube line in London during summer | London Evening Standard https://t.co/kYpV9EAb7c pic.twitter.com/yeXrG3AEhs
— James Clay (@jamesclay) June 21, 2017
Last year a fair few photographs of WHSmith made the top ten, this year my second most popular tweet was about a cat in Boots
That WHSmith may have their carpets @WHS_Carpet but our local branch of Boots have a cat guarding their entrance. pic.twitter.com/RgWKO3R3Zs
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 20, 2017
I did like this response to it.
— David Bonney 🇺🇦 (@isetta_windsor) May 20, 2017
So what was my top tweet for 2017, well it was another one from the ALT Conference and it was my sketchnote of Bonnie Stewart’s keynote on openness.
My sketch note of the @bonstewart keynote here at #altc pic.twitter.com/1ZvARS9R7t
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 5, 2017
My longer thought piece on this keynote can be found on my e-learning blog.
Overall an interesting and delightful year on the Twitter for me.
Does this sound familiar…
It shouldn’t!
On Tuesday evening, a bundle of muscle cars and American trucks arrived on the Weston seafront for a “cruise”
Nice looking vehicles, but to be honest I have no idea what they… though I can see this is a US Ford F150 pickup truck.
…and this one is an older Ford pickup truck.
A Ford Popular.
No idea what this one is….
Big gas guzzler…
Ford
A Ford hotrod!
A Ford Mustang?
All looked very nice, bright and shiny.
In our local branch of Boots they occasionally have a cat guarding their entrance.
Seems quite happy to sit there in the doorway.
It wasn’t raining either.
Canopy & Stars at Crane 29 is a unique treehouse built around one of the cargo cranes outside M Shed. The treehouse will grace Bristol’s skyline from June until September 2017.
I don’t know if you can really call it a treehouse as it’s not built in a tree, but it certainly looks very nice (see more pictures here).
To register for the ballot to stay in the treehouse, visit www.canopyandstars.co.uk/crane29. A night’s stay costs either £185 for a weekday or £250 for a weekend, with the final ballot open until July 3. All profits from Canopy & Stars at Crane 29 will go to Friends of the Earth.
When I mention where I live, the talk often comes round to people getting stuck in the mud or cars getting caught by the tide.
Those who live in Weston-super-Mare will know that every summer weekend, a visitor or three gets caught in the mud trying to cross between Uphill beach and Break Down. The river Axe gets in the way, but it’s usually the mud that gets in the way first.
After the mud, the other thing that comes up in conversation is the tidal range.
Usually referred to the as the second highest tidal range in the world, it is actually the third, only the bay of Fundy (North America) and Ungava bay (Hudson straits) are bigger. The tidal range on the Severn can be as much as 15m (49ft). What this means for Weston-super-Mare is that the low tide mark in Weston Bay is about one mile from the seafront. For most of the time you don’t see the sea, which is why when I get the chance to see the beach with the tide in I take a photograph!
Although the beach itself is sandy, low tide uncovers areas of thick mud, hence the colloquial name, Weston-super-Mud.
The other aspect of this long ideal range is that sometimes people get caught out by the fast rising tide having parked their car on the beach and their car gets swamped by the incoming tide.
This was the first time seeing the tide in at Uphill beach (just along from the main beach at Weston-super-Mare) that I saw a bus right by the high tide.
This wasn’t any old bus though, this bus served coffee!
I could easily get asorbed watching this multiple times….
May the 4th is seen by many as Star Wars Day. Over in Legoland there is a whole miniland scale exhibit on Star Wars.
The exhibit covers the six films, the original three and the three sequels.
A recent addition was a Miniland scale model of the trench run from the first film. There is Luke Skywalker flying down the trench in his X-Wing followed by Darth Vader and two TIE Fighters.
There is a also a model of the Death Star in the process of firing its primary weapon.
I like how they have used air conditioning to add an icy feel to the Assault on Hoth display. Here the rebel forces face attack from the might of the Imperium.
No Star Wars exhibit would be complete without the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy! This is the Millennium Falcon that “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.”
There is also an Endor display complete with Ewoks.
The three prequels make up quite a few models and includes this huge tank.
Virtually all the models have lights, like this palace from Naboo and the displays go from day to night.
Miniland scale droids.
As well as the Miniland scale exhibits there are also some larger Lego models too, such as R2-D2.
…and Lord Vader!
I wonder if at some future point the exhibit will cover episode VII or Rogue One?