Forget the Taj Mahal and head for Orchha, as well as other lesser-known
locations, to help prevent popular destinations getting overrun
I first noticed the phenomenon in Seville cathedral. A tour group
trailing behind an umbrella-wielding guide were put on the spot. Quite
literally. The guide pointed to a particular flagstone and said: “This
is where you take your picture.” And they all did. And the next group,
too.
That was before Instagram and the trend for bucket lists, so I don’t
think either of these can be entirely to blame for the threat to some of
the world’s most popular tourist sites, as a new Abta survey has suggested. Instead, they have simply exaggerated a human trait to the point where those favoured sites can no longer cope.
The US national parks have always had a neat way of protecting their
real treasures: no roads, no waymarkers, often not even any recognisable
footpaths. On one recent trip, I visited Crater Lake, Oregon, and felt
the great hole we had come to see might have been filled with all the
tour buses. A few days later, I trekked out into the Sawtooth Mountains wilderness area in Idaho and for three days didn’t see another human. The scenery was better, too.
For every Instagram honey pot, there are dozens of alternatives – here are just a few:
I told you I had written to Corban Adisson, the author of The Garden of Burning Sand and he has replied!!
I'd like to share his message with all of you, as you are mentioned in his message. Hola Maria!
I wish I still had the vocabulary to
reply to you in Spanish, but, alas, I haven’t spoken it in many years.
Thanks so much for your lovely note. I’m honored that you used Garden in
your English class, and I’m delighted to hear about your students’
response. What you described is precisely what I hoped to achieve with
the book. All of us spend most of our lives in our own little worlds,
not knowing or having reason to care about what is happening to so many
people in other places around the globe. Our world is getting smaller
thanks to travel and technology, but the stories of individual people so
often escape us in the rush of our daily lives. The beauty of a novel
is its invitation to set aside the world we know, the world we’re
comfortable with, and enter another world, to walk a mile in the shoes
of someone else. I’m so glad that Garden offered that opportunity to you and your students.
Please
give your class my best, and please do let me know what you think of my
other stories. You should be able to get all of them from your
English-language bookstores in Madrid, especially the most recent one, A Harvest of Thorns.
I wish you all the best!
Corban
And this is his latest book, the one he suggests. Would you like to give it a try?
Watch this short video to get to know why the author decided to write this thought-provoking book.
And, if you are interested, you'll be able to find some other interesting thoughts and information about his other books and stories in this link to his webpage:
“Car nation” Germany
has surprised neighbours with a radical proposal to reduce road traffic
by making public transport free, as Berlin scrambles to meet EU air
pollution targets and avoid big fines.
The move comes just over two years after Volkswagen’s devastating “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal unleashed a wave of anger at the auto industry, a keystone of German prosperity.
“We are considering public transport free of charge in order to
reduce the number of private cars,” three ministers including the
environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, wrote to EU environment
commissioner Karmenu Vella in the letter seen by AFP Tuesday.
“Effectively fighting air pollution without any further unnecessary
delays is of the highest priority for Germany,” the ministers added.
The proposal will be tested by “the end of this year at the latest”
in five cities across western Germany, including former capital Bonn and
industrial cities Essen and Mannheim.
The move is a radical one for the normally staid world of German
politics – especially as Chancellor Angela Merkel is presently only
governing in a caretaker capacity, as Berlin waits for the centre-left
Social Democratic party (SPD) to confirm a hard-fought coalition deal.
On top of ticketless travel, other steps proposed Tuesday include
further restrictions on emissions from vehicle fleets like buses and
taxis, low-emissions zones or support for car-sharing schemes.
Action is needed soon, as Germany and eight fellow EU members
including Spain, France and Italy sailed past a 30 January deadline to
meet EU limits on nitrogen dioxide and fine particles.
Vella gave countries extra time to present further pollution-busting measures or face legal action.
“Life-threatening” pollution affects more than 130 cities in Europe,
according to the commission, causing some 400,000 deaths and costing
€20bn euros (US$24.7bn) in health spending per year in the bloc.
Countries that fail to keep to EU limits could face legal action at
the European court of justice, the EU’s highest tribunal, which can levy
fines on member states.
Even without the pressure from Brussels, air quality has surged to the top of Berlin’s priorities over the past year.
Suspicions over manipulated emissions data have spread to other car
manufacturers since Volkswagen’s 2015 admission to cheating regulatory
tests on 11 million vehicles worldwide.
Environmentalists brought court cases aimed at banning diesels from
parts of some city centres, and fears millions of drivers could be
affected spurred Merkel into action.
Titans like BMW, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler or the world’s biggest
carmaker Volkswagen agreed to pay some €250m euros into a billion-euro
fund to upgrade local transport.
The government “should make sure that the car manufacturers finance
the emergency measure” of free transport, Greenpeace urged, adding that
more parking and road tolls in cities could help reduce urban traffic.
On their own account, the auto firms have stepped up plans to
electrify their ranges, with a barrage of battery-powered or hybrid
models planned for the coming decade.
Public transport is highly popular in Germany, with the number of
journeys increasing regularly over the past 20 years to reach 10.3
billion in 2017.
In comparison with other major European nations, tickets can be
cheap: a single ticket in Berlin costs €2.90, while the equivalent on
the London Underground costs £4.90 (€5.50 or $6.80).
But cities were quick to warn that more planning was needed if free travel was to succeed.
“I don’t know any manufacturer who would be able to deliver the
number of electric buses we would need” to meet increased demand if
transport was free, Bonn mayor Ashok Sridharan told news agency DPA.
Meanwhile, the Association of German Cities chief, Helmut Dedy,
warned that “we expect a clear statement about how [free transport] will
be financed” from the federal government.
Other attempts around the world to offer citizens free travel have failed, including in the US city of Seattle.
Ministers “should think again during a ride on the U6 [underground line] in Berlin at 7.30 am,” Die Welt newspaper commented.
“The conclusion would be clear: more carriages, more personnel, and
maybe even more tracks and lines would be needed. Where would the
billions for that come from?”
Philip Oltermann, The Guardian
1.She was
the one in my family who / whom I thought would go on to great things.
2.I let my
parents down because they had high expectations for me which/that I just couldn’t
live up to.
3.The exam
was easier than we expected, which made for a nice change.
4.Their team,
whose results were consistent all year, showed great promise for the final.
5.I had a
good feeling about the apartment which/that we were about to move into. / I had
a good feeling about the apartment into which we were about to move.
6.I spoke to
a lot of people, many of whom were disappointed about their career.
Maybe you can find some good clues in this link from Womenalia.
This time and only this time the information is in Spanish but I include it on my blog because it is so closely related to our activity and it could be useful for you. But please, don't try to put into practice the fifth suggestion in our classes. I won't accept this idea, even if you argue that it was on my blog!
