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Marks on a beer mat

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Encountering cultural differences  is one of the benefits of attending overseas events. When in Rome (or Palermo or Helsinki) and all that.... I've been fortunate to have that opportunity due to ERASMUS+ - I sincerely hope that the UK will reconsider the decision to  One of the aspects of visiting cities is to explore them culturally. Last week, I had the chance to go back to Europe to attend the Practical Pedagogies Conference. I've blogged more about that over on the LivingGeography blog. These markings are important in German beer cellars. This one was called the Schreckenskammer. The beers are served in small 20cl glasses with plenty of froth. As each one is placed on the table, a mark is made on a beermat. The glasses are called stange glasses. Unless you say otherwise, a new glass will be placed on the table to replace any empty glass. Once you've had enough, place the beermat on top of the glass to signal you are ready to pay. It's also worth bearing in mind tha
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Clannad at the Royal Albert Hall

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A cross-posting from my LivingGeography blog. I was heading for London on Wednesday to stay overnight so that I could get an early Eurostar train to Brussels. In the evening, I was due to go to an EXPLORE session as part of the RGS's exploration festival. I noticed that the Irish band  Clannad were playing at the Royal Albert Hall . It was to be their final concert. I was introduced to Clannad by their singles Newgrange and Theme from Harry's Game, from the album 'Magical Ring'. I also played their first few albums quite a lot including Dulaman (seaweed). In 1983-4 they produced the music for an essential series for me at the time: 'Robin of Sherwood'. Michael Praed played Robin, and a second series saw him replaced by Jason Connery.  The album has just been rereleased onto Spotify with a whole extra album of 'lost' music, which is mostly excellent. I saw Clannad quite a few times during the early to late 1980s when they were touring following this peri
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'Til Tuesday!

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One of my favourite musicians is Aimee Mann . She has been a regular part of my listening life for over 30 years. Her first band and success was with 'Til Tuesday but she has had a long solo career... with her soundtrack to 'Magnolia' and recent albums being highlights. Today, she posted this message on Instagram which has resulted in quite a lot of excitement. Aimee Mann’s ’80s new wave band ‘Til Tuesday will reunite for their first show in 33 years (it’s billed as their first show with the original lineup in 35 years)  I spent the day with all her music on Spotify... 
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A Tangerine Dream session for you

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 As per the previous post, here's a bit of TD with an Earth-related video projection they used...
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Phaedra at Fifty

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Earlier this week I headed for the Barbican to see Tangerine Dream again. This time it was the 50th anniversary of Phaedra. A really excellent evening with a long semi-improvised session. Someone shot a video of one of my favourite tracks from the evening. Not great quality but you can see the energy and interactions between Thorsten and the others, and you have the inevitable people who use the evening as a pub crawl... sit down for the duration!
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Curriculum and Assessment review - your views please...

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An RGS-heavy day today alongside my teaching. This post is a cross-posting from my dedicated RGS blog - please go and check it out if you haven't already.   It shares all the news linked to my role as Vice President: Education. This curriculum review will be one of the things I'm interested in for the next year or so. Joined a very interesting Zoom call followed by some emails related to the opening of the RGS' request for your thoughts as part of the 'call for evidence' of the Francis Curriculum Review. That request is now open as of lunchtime today. New on the RGS website is this call for your thoughts ahead of the Curriculum and Assessment Review for England, which is being chaired by Becky Francis. At the moment, the review is in a phase where they call for evidence. This evidence will inform later stages of the consultation. The Government has launched an open call for evidence to inform its curriculum and assessment review for England, which is being chaired
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'Orbital'

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A cross-posting from my GeoLibrary blog which has hundreds of books recommended and with some information about where they might be used, and why they deserve a shelf on the GeoLibrary. This book is on the Booker longlist . It's a fiction book, but is packed with geography. It's about four astronauts and two cosmonauts in the International Space Station. The author said of the book that she wanted to write a 'space pastoral' The book follows one day, and the orbits they trace over the world. In between their routine jobs and exercise, we hear about them and their families and their thoughts as they stare down on the earth below - tracking the path of a super-typhoon with their privileged view of the world below. There are some truly wonderful passages, and it's definitely a geography book. The descriptions of each landscape and country as they appear are really beautiful. The section here is part of a chapter - they are all very short and this helps you subdivide t
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