'Nice things' and The fun of experiments

Nice stuff.

Unusual to get a nice note

Yesterday I was again conducting my short tours of the Design Museum Life on Foot exhibition - enjoyable and again interesting and interested people took part.

'A life on foot' soldier

One of the things I mention in the 'Urban walking' section is the 'nudge' concept now favoured by public bodies, the idea of encouraging people to do the right thing in this case more walking with the benefits being less pollution/congestion  and better mental and physical health.

Today in the post I got my own nudge from the allotment where I spend time - the idea of a letter saying well done is low cost but will (I'm sure) lead me to trying (at least) to maintain my plot and just think how much nicer it is to have than the usual 'Bills' and junk post.

As I know too the thanks at the end of my tour does mean something to me as a volunteer.

Be an Explorer and experiment

Keri Smith has written about Exploring and when I studied Horticulture as a mature (old anyway) student the person in the class who was the most fun looked at many things as 'experiments'.

When I was young my school curriculum used to include subjects with a practical element at Junior school we sent a small toy  rockets up and plotted the distance travelled against angle of elevation and (I think) we worked out a rough constant for diameter and circle circumference (it came out at about 3- but of course it's actually pi).

I also recall a trip  where we went to a nearby wild field and measured out a small patch of land - the amount of things in one square foot was incredible - more than enough to spend your whole life studying

Later at secondary School we had physics experiments with electrical conductivity (Kevin Geraghty's hair does not pass electricity well) and did experiments for double glazing and  thermal conductivity - practical experiments are great fun ands are the way we really connect with a subject - it's a shame many of us as we get older lose this connection - Art Philosophy, Cooking and even using maps can return some real engagement - I recommend it - don't stop marvelling at things that are around you.

A spider in a web - Don't forget to marvel