Glastonbury After Hours

You have another chance tomorrow (Sunday) on BBC4 to see Julien Temple's film 'Glastonbury After Hours' which looks at the places that some of the festival-goers never see.... It's reviewed HERE.
There's life beyond the Pyramid Stage...
Watch the programme on iPlayer HERE for the next six days too.

I went to Glastonbury with the Geography Collective in 2010 to work with Mission:Explore, and spent five days at the hottest festival yet... unbroken sunshine and blazing temperatures.
As someone who never thought I'd ever go, to find myself amongst over a hundred thousand other people was an amazing experience. Glastonbury has a very definite 'sense of place'.
My pictures from the festival are embedded below...

I blogged extensively at the time about my experiences. We were staying in a tent right behind a dance stage which went on until about 3.30am.... not conducive to getting any sleep.
This meant that, as I couldn't get to sleep, each night I spent a good few hours between midnight and 3 or 4am wandering the festival exploring and experiencing some amazing sights and sounds. Julien Temple's film explored some of those places that I visited too...

There was the amazing show in Arcadia, the weirdness of the Unfair Ground and Shangri La, wandering along the old railway line, up to the stones and the letters... It was a remarkable experience.

It's a reminder that there is plenty of interest to be found around the edges...
When planning a curriculum or lesson sequence, it's important to go right to the edge... there are some interesting discoveries to be made there...

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On the trail of the 'Detectorists'

As I was in Suffolk last week, I headed for Framlingham as I knew that there were various locations from the series 'Detectorists' and also a wonderful pub just a few miles away where we could go for lunch. Parked up in the Market Square, and from there it was a short walk to several locations. Here are plenty more on a map. Managed to track down four locations: the outside of the 'Two Brewers' pub (the interior was filmed elsewhere), Lance's upstairs flat, the shop where Lance's former partner sells Spiritual goods and scented candles, and the village hall where the DMDC met. Here's me outside said hut. Don't forget the uniformbooks book of course. Still available and an excellent read.

Jonathan Meades on Sustainability

Have blogged about Jonathan Meades before, and his particular presentation style which I like... Lunchtime today was spent in the company of the first in the series "Off-Kilter", made for BBC Scotland and was about Aberdeen . I liked the look of the area known as Fitty. Towards the end, he moved on to Donald Trump and his controversial plans for a golf course in the sand dunes close to Aberdeen. He called the planned development "New Trumpton on Sea" and talked about gated communities and their absentee residents. He riffed on the idea of ' sustainability ' and how every architect and development trumpeted its sustainable credentials. New words like : "Sustain-abulous" and "Sustain-astic" ! Called it "architectural correctness"... "It's a slogan of conformist unoriginality..." "The very act of making a building is energy hungry and vastly wasteful even if the building is an eco-igloo of Fairtrade otter dropp...

Edexcel Cultural Geography Contexts

Those teachers who have opted for the Edexcel 'A' level specification in the UK (for students aged 16-18), there is a unit called "The World of Cultural Diversity" . Today, the pre-release titles were announced. Students will be expected to prepare OPTION 4: The World of Cultural Diversity • Explore what is meant by a global culture, how it is defined and, if it exists, what its characteristics are. • Research contrasting locations, some of which show the effects of cultural globalisation and others which seem to be resisting the process. Would be interested in hearing the thoughts of any blog readers on any suggested resources or thoughts on these particular contexts...

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