Continuing my account of my holiday in the channel islands by completing the story of the German Occupation Museum.
This post continues my account of my recent holiday in the channel islands. It is the second post that I dedicate to the German Occupation Museum on Guernsey.
OCCUPATION STRASSE
The main part of what is left of the museum after what I covered in the previous post is Occupation Strasse. This is a reconstruction of a Guernsey street as it was during the period of the occupation. I also bought a couple of sets of Guernsey stamps of the period as souvenirs, and we all had some refreshments from the cafe. There is a bus stop close to the museum and Guernsey has an excellent bus system, so getting back to St Peter Port was not difficult.
My gloss on an excellent little fact sheet produced by George Monbiot.
INTRODUCTION
This post was inspired by a fact sheet created by environmental campaigner George Monbiot which you can read in full by clicking the screenshot below:
CARS
This short piece outlines some very valid objections to the over-use of cars. However, the pollution aspect of the problems caused by the over-use of cars (which in this country has reached scandalous proportions) is more properly a criticism of the fact that the vast majority of cars continued to be powered by the infernal combustion engine. There are many non-polluting means of powering vehicles available these days. Addressing the pollution issue however does not address the problem of congestion. To avoid misunderstandings: Monbiot’s fact sheet is bang on the money, and everyone should read it in full.
As an example of my own approach as a non-driver, here courtesy of google maps is a suggested walking route from my home to the scout hut on Beulah Street, which I quite often have cause to visit:
My usual choices of walking routes are actually longer than those recommended above because I prefer routes that spend less time around roads even if they take longer (see this postfrom yesterday for examples of two routes that I used on Saturday). There is a bus route that I could use if so inclined – there is a stop close to the Wootton Road end of Beulah Street but for a journey of this distance I positively prefer Shanks’ pony.
However, I freely acknowledge that while cars are over-used for short journeys there is another reason why there are far too many cars on British roads, and that leads to the next section of this post…
BUSES AND TRAINS
British public transport is in a shocking state. There are many people, particularly in rural areas, who have no public transport options available to them, and even where there are public transport options they are overpriced and unreliable. It is only by creating a public transport system that works for those who use it that we can seriously reduce car usage.
I always like to include photographs in my posts, so to conclude this little post here is a shot of the front of King’s Lynn railway station:
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