07th April 2008
Drinking in New York is like drinking anywhere else. But Americans will expect a 15% tip according to most guides and this means, in practice, forking out a one dollar note extra every time you go to the bar. Bearing this in mind the canny drinker will go...
07th April 2008
London has wonderful, gloomy cemeteries. It is useful to think of them as spacious open air museums that preserve an atmosphere of stillness amid the tumult of the city. The association with celebrated personalities makes things even more exciting for the...
06th April 2008
Before it became a territory for men to dispute, Cyprus was home to dwarf elephants and an equally diminutive version of the hippopotamus. This phenomenon is well known in nature where an absence of predators negates the advantage afforded by bulk. Elepha...
04th April 2008
For hundreds of years the Anglo-Norman colonisers made few inroads into the Irish hinterland. Coastal strips around Dublin and Wexford were settled quickly and these areas were defended. Indeed, the word “pale” refers to a wooden stake which would hav...
03rd April 2008
Frankfurt does not have an established reputation as a short break destination. This is because most people recognise the city as a European financial centre and this tends to dampen the interest of visitors. However there is plenty here to merit a short ...
03rd April 2008
A 70 year old driver was born into a world in which the horse drawn plough was still a familiar sight. It’s a different world today and a new study from the Institute of Advanced Motoring indicates that our senior citizens are ill-equipped to cope with ...
03rd April 2008
The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was developed to ease the burden on astronauts encased in their bulky suits. It was deployed in three of the latter Apollo missions (Apollo 15, 16 & 17). With a top speed of barely 10mph and a total range of around 70 mile...
02nd April 2008
The real inconvenience of driving the sQuba in its particular element is the bind of having to bring your own oxygen, to say nothing of wearing a wet suit. Nevertheless for anyone with a bit of Roger Moore in them or indeed anyone with a fancy for things ...
01st April 2008
The compelling spectacle of young, sunburnt Brits trawling and trashing bars in Ibiza, egged on by boorish tour reps, has been well documented in the media. In the cold light of day, it is a bit embarrassing, although the subjects of these studies, one fe...
28th March 2008
Many associate Australia with the arid desertscapes familiar from much Australian iconography: Ayres Rock, outback and endless dusty cattle ranches. Queensland is different: the north-eastern reaches of Australia fall within the tropical zone.
A coast...
28th March 2008
Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) was a bad thrower because when he scraped up most of Ulster’s heart to hurl at his Scottish counterpart across the water, the earth and stone splashed into the Irish Sea and formed the Isle of Mann. The depression in the...
28th March 2008
Secure in their Norman wisdom, William the Usurper and his fighting men saw the English as insular barbarians. The whole bloody spectacle of Caldbec Hill was sewn up shortly after the event on la tapisserie de la reine Mahilde, or, as we would know it, ...
27th March 2008
Brainy TV legend Carol Vorderman was raised in Prestatyn and when you consider how much this town has to offer it seems a real conundrum that she ever moved away. Plentiful good value accommodation allows the visitor not only easy access to this quintesse...
27th March 2008
Beloved of science fiction writers for decades, the vision of the flying car transporting people to and from the office has remained distant from scientific reality. However, the NASA Personal Air Vehicle Challenge projects a future where helipads on roof...
27th March 2008
Whoever said “Life’s a beach” might have been talking about Qatar. The lone, level sands of this Gulf Emirate stretch from one coast to the other with little between but for the occasional decaying mud-built fort.
It’s hot here: the mean tempe...
