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Follow the Brown Signs Blog - July, 2012
The Alternative Brown Sign Torch Relay comes to an end
July 31, 2012
So on day 64 the Olympic torch entered London, my very own home town (I went along, please see small white torch bearer running through Crystal Palace on left). But in the last few days of the Olympic torch relay it proved more than a little difficult to pick a brown signed destination along the Olympic torch route because, without boring you too much with the nerdy details, brown sign rules change once you're inside the M25, making them far less prevalent here. This means that I've had to think of another...Read more >>
The death throws of the Olympic torch relay – Shipwrecks, community parks and English wine – YUM!
July 24, 2012
We're nearing the end of our mammoth jog around the country with our torches and it's time to take you through the random brown signs along the last leg, let's go...
Day 60 - Brighton to Hastings - The Shipwreck Museum, Hastings.
"At the Shipwreck Museum in Hastings there is a remarkable collection of artefacts and information about ships and shipping. Although our focus is principally on wrecks, we aim to use the artefacts recovered from them as stimulus for insights into the past. Our displays also show how we learn about and understand...Read more >>
Trinity Buoy Wharf – A 1000 year long song, eggs over easy and Michael Faraday
July 22, 2012
Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to Trinity Buoy Wharf, right across the river from the Millennium Dome (sorry still can't allow myself to call it the O2) because I wanted to go and experience the Long Player project which plays out from listening posts inside the lighthouse there (I love lighthouses, another thing that gives me the willies but love anyway - creepy cool). The Long Player project is the brain child of one of the founder member of The Pogues, Jem Finer, who also happens to be a maths genius. In collaboration...Read more >>
More catching up the Olympic torch via water lilies, clock makers and kingfishers – ahhh joy…
July 20, 2012
Today we have a look another 6 days along the torch relay that it covered in my absence and we'll be getting distracted by yet more brown tourist signs as we go. No time to lose, that flame ain't gonna be burning forever...
Day 54 - Reading to Salisbury - Destination: Salisbury
A new destination to be technically allowed on my website because it recently got itself permission for a brown sign on the road leading into the city. There was a big hoo haa about this in the local paper on which I...Read more >>
Catching up with the Olympic torch via pubs, teapots and Indian wells in country villages
July 18, 2012
Right, I've moaned before on the blog about life getting in the way of me doing what I love most (hanging out and visiting/writing about brown-signed attractions) however while this pursuit of mine continues to pay me no money at all I also need to engage in other far more boring time consuming things like doing a proper job. Boo. Two of my other issues over the last few weeks have been 1) writing a piece for the Guardian which almost certainly won't get published but I thought I'd give...Read more >>
The brown sign torch relay is behind…
July 9, 2012
Despite desperate efforts to keep up with the Olympic torch and singing the praises of a brown signed destination every day along the relay route over the last few days I've been moving, and when your flat looks like this with no internet and no hope of knowing where your computer might be it makes the task pretty impossible. Thus I have been doing very little other than unpacking and enticing my inner carpenter out after gargantuan trips to Ikea. I am going to do some of my other paid...Read more >>
The house of Rudyard Kipling
July 4, 2012
Today I went to Batemans in Burwash, East Sussex - the National Trust owned property where Rudyard Kipling once lived. I went with an old family friend who I hadn't seen for some time and before we did anything we headed for the tea room to have a catch up. I told her all about my progress on the brown sign project and also about the trials and tribulations that go with it sometimes. I've got a lot going on at the moment and it was nice to just be...Read more >>
The Brown Sign Torch Relay Day 46: I love unique rocket brown sign symbols
July 3, 2012
Today the Olympic torch had a pretty spectacular send off (which included all sorts of excitingness including a man with a jet pack) from the National Space Centre in Leicester. I often get texts from people who know about my obsession with brown signs while travelling up or down the M1 telling me about the unique and exciting brown sign symbol for the Space Centre. I've never actually had the pleasure of seeing it myself but, by the genius that is Google Maps you and I can see that bad...
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The Brown Sign Torch Relay Day 45: If you’ll excuse me, I’m off for a spot of gongoozling
The Olympic torch travelled from Coventry through the Northamptonshire countryside and up to Leicester today. This area is well stocked with canals and waterways so I decided to feature a watery attraction of my alternative brown sign torch relay.
Just outside the brown-signed town of Market Harborough is Foxton, where there's a very intriguing lock system which was built to enable boats to navigate between the junction of 2 canals - the old Leicester and Northamptonshire Union Canal and the Grand Junction Canal which lie on different heights. The boats need a "lock...Read more >>
The Brown Sign Olympic Torch Relay Day 44: Out of the ashes…
July 2, 2012
Today the Olympic torch travelled from Birmingham to Coventry in a big U shape, taking in Solihull, Chipping Campden and Royal Leamington Spa along the way.
I pricked up my little ears when I heard the torch's destination because I happened to go to university in Coventry, for 3 whole weeks in 1998. I dropped out pretty spectacularly after finally admitting to myself that I'd only gone there because I had mucked up my A-levels and managed to bag a random place through clearing, not because I actually wanted to spend the next...Read more >>