Earth Day 2018 | Drowning in Plastic

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. This year is focused on ending plastic pollution.

Minuscule plastic beads on a north Cornish beach

These tiny beads of plastic were found on a Cornish beach, so tiny if it wasn’t for the brightly coloured pieces they would have gone unnoticed. Easily swallowed by fish and other sea creatures. In other parts of the world the problem is enormous with whole rivers choked with discarded plastic. It is not only their problem to solve, but ours too as we only have the one planet.

Debris washed up on a Canadian beach in B.C

We cannot change the world in a day, but together, each of us can change it for the better. This year pledge to reduce your use of plastic.

Daily Post Photo Challenge | Prolific

home thoughts from abroad

Home thoughts from abroad is a new series on Travel Words featuring a single photograph that reminds me of a country visited and showing something that uniquely identifies it as being ‘abroad’.

Plaça de Catalunya

A more recent visit to Europe on a ‘Mother/Daughter’ trip and the place we probably went through every day. The Plaça de Catalunya, a large plaza surrounded by monumental buildings, is Barcelona’s busiest square. It is located between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and the nineteenth century Eixample district. And has lots of pigeons!

Call to Place: Australia

Cathy from ~wander.essence~ is re-inventing her travel blog(s) and encouraging us all to think about the ways, the reasons and the whys about how we travel. Her posts are certainly making me think about how I blog.

The Call to Place: “I invite you to write a 500-700 word (or less) post on your own blog about what enticed you to choose a recently visited or a future particular destination.”

There is one place that has had a very strong pull on my emotions pretty much the whole of my life. And still does.

The Land Down Under

I was ten years old when my parents told me that we were going to move to Australia. The other side of the world. I was so excited. There lived kangaroos and wallabies and parrots. The sun shone every day, everyone lived by the beach and doctors flew in planes.

Cockatoo
Kookaburra
Wallabies

It didn’t happen. At the last moment my dad backed out. He was fifty and worried that he wouldn’t find a job and with a wife and three kids to support he decided that being a £10 POM wasn’t for him. Or us.

For years I dreamed of that big island continent. I learned about Australia in my geography classes and the more I learned the more I wanted to be there. A friend in the same class as me emigrated when we were both fifteen. She was a Judith too. I was so jealous.

Several years later and I was ready. I had just finished six months working in a hotel in Norway and had saved almost every penny (or kroner) I earned to make the journey to Australia. I was going overland with a someone I’d met who was returning to South Africa. We made it to India together which was where we would split up. He to the west, me to the east. Continue reading Call to Place: Australia