Dilemma

Many of you have been asking about my travel plans for this year.  My first trip is to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand next week. In April I am on a coastal walk around Norfolk on the East coast of England. In June I am in Paris and in September another long distance walk in Scotland. Those are the trips that have been booked. However, the dilemma is about whether or not to go to Vietnam etc. The coronavirus is spreading rapidly and whilst I don't fear for my own safety and would be taking all known preventative actions, I am worried about bringing the virus back home and passing it on to my daughter and grandchildren. At the moment I am undecided but the risks seem to be increasing on a daily basis. The best outcome for me would be a government ban on travel to these countries but that is unlikely. What would you do?
Postscript:
I have spoken to the travel company and at the moment the tour is going ahead. If I cancel, the cost will not be refunded either by the travel co. or the insurance co. Money is only refunded if the gov decide to ban visits there. It is all  about the risk to my family which would be high.

Walk around Downe

This is the first walk  that I have done, since we've had the storms, which have left a lot of damage and floods in their wake.

Saw lots of snowdrops.

This tree had fallen across the pathway but fortunately it was easy to get climb over.

What wasn't so easy was the mud! Because of brambles etc you need to keep to the paths but hauling yourself through the deep mud was energy sapping. You also needed to watch what you were doing as the last thing you want is to end up on your backside in the mud.

The walk took me through the village of Downe. There are a couple of pubs and cafes so you can stop off for refreshments if you want. I was only doing a short walk of 5 miles so I continued on my way.  Charles Darwin chose to live in Downe when he moved his family from London in 1842. It was here that he worked on his book 'On the origin of species' .

The village church of St Mary which dates from the 13th century.

Interesting place for seating.

My return walk was mainly through woodland and lots more mud. These trees must have come down in the last storm as they have  not yet been made safe.

I cleaned my boots in a puddle before changing out of them but they are going to need much more cleaning when I get home.

Frank Pick

Frank Pick (1878-1941) was the Managing Director of London Underground in the 1920s and the first Chief Executive of London Transport. He commissioned some of the most recognisable icons of London Underground's identity such as the red, blue and white tube roundel, the Johnson typeface and the art deco architecture of many underground stations designed by Charles Holden.

To celebrate his life and work there is a  large piece of artwork dedicated to his memory in the ticket hall of Piccadilly Circus underground station.

This is a permanent addition to the station's architecture incorporating the Johnson typeface and the roundel. The words used were taken from some of his lecture notes which are housed in the London Transport Museum archives.

It is worth going to Piccadilly station to just admire the colourful tile designs.

If you want to see more of Piccadilly check it out on my other blog here

Destinations 2020

At the weekend I met up with a couple of friends to go and visit the 'Destinations' exhibition at Olympia, Earls Court in London.  As it is always at the end of January it is the ideal time to look for new places to visit.

There are lots of different stands from the familiar ones

to the not so familiar.










This is the Gadventure stand, the company that I usually use especially when I am travelling solo.

There were also many talks happening during the day. I listened to a couple of them.

These slides are from a talk on Jetlag which was very interesting.

Well that's 2020 sorted! More about where I will be going in a future post.