• Long empty tunnel with subdued lighting
    Dark tourism,  Jersey,  War

    Jersey under occupation: the War Tunnels

    In June 1940 France fell to the advancing Nazi army and was occupied. The British government decided that the Channel Islands, just off the Normandy coast, were of no strategic importance and would not be defended. The islands were effectively demilitarised, and the residents were faced with an impossible choice. Should they stay and face occupation or go, leaving behind families, friends and possessions?

  • Wartime sign about spies
    England,  Friendly Friday,  War

    Cracking the code at Bletchley Park

    The first computer my husband and I bought had a memory of around 500 MB. The second seemed a huge advancement at a whole gigabyte! Today I have 32 GB in my phone, i.e. 64 times as much, and 64 GB (128 times as much) in the memory cards I use in my cameras. And yet that first computer of ours was of course a massive advance on the earliest computers.

  • School children in the Hiroshima Peace Park
    Dark tourism,  Japan,  War

    Finding peace in Hiroshima

    ‘Excuse me, may we ask you some questions?’ The three school girls spoke in chorus, politely and in good English. We naturally agreed and, armed with a clip-board and a work-book with a set of these questions, they proceeded to ‘interview’ us.