Llangollen - Of place and technology

I have just returned from a long weekend in Llangollen. I love the place and the family visits regularly and rents a small town house from friends. To those unfamiliar, it’s a small Welsh Town on the River Dee, famed for its scenery, international eisteddfod, canal, and steam railway. Nice people too. It’s a place to escape to for relaxation and contemplation, such is the calm and beauty. It’s also a place for adventure and boasts fantastic white water sports, hiking, and mountain biking. In fact I cycled the 30 miles to get there on a fat tyred mtb from Birkenhead, up and over the beautiful Horseshoe Pass. Its tough, but great biking terrain.

It’s a place in tune with its environment. Somewhat different to Liverpool or Birkenhead. It stretches along the valley, and occasionally creeps vine-like up the steep wooded slopes towards places beyond, that are oblivious and remote from the closed valley. The towns’ character is derive from the geography and the local slate, rock, and rich red brick. It has many honest and attractive buildings and a busy retail core of interesting small businesses. There are great restaurants and in the Corn Mill perhaps one of the most scenic pub/restaurants in Britain. Go, if you don’t believe me. Its streets are tight and neat, and give no quarter to cars in either fluidity of movement or parking. So get there early, stay late, and be in no rush.

It was a multi generational family affair, with family arriving from several directions. The house has no TV and is low tech, but it was interesting to see the amount of technology amassed between us. There were mobiles, sat navs, a DVD player, and a PDA. I may have missed more, but it’s amazing how cheap such gear is, relative to the price of energy to power it. The gear seemed important for our visit, and perhaps our lives, but none is as important as being able to self-organise, make decisions, and communicate. Useful tools yes; but secondary to other values.

Llangollen was a wild place once; witness its amazingly romantic castle ruin, and technology helps us get there, keep us in touch, and be entertained. The castle symbolises power and whilst technology empowers it can isolate and create dependency. It is certainly true that social networking in the 11th and 12th Centuries was different to today when rivers and mountains were barriers to interaction.

It’s interesting to observe how different generations use technology and to gauge its impacts on society and community. The young embrace technology, and seek to exploit it. The old try to rationalise it. There is a massive void between the two. Expectations between generations were always different but in terms of technology as lifestyle and image, I doubt the gap has been wider.

Its relevance is also interesting. My father grew up in a rural South Shropshire farmstead with well water, and no electricity until the late 50’s. So technology has a different meaning to him. Its about amenity and leisure. My mum on the other hand likes gadgets. She’s graduated to a sat nav and a PC but requires occasional help from her grandson. Old versions are fine, as to upgrade defies thriftiness and is wasteful. She buys basics. Her influence on me is that I try to recycle my old stuff, but I am well aware that more people just bin it.

Usability and reliability are important to us all, so with two cars and a trip to Barmouth proposed, we seemed to be in good stead for the day ahead. But navigating out of a busy Saturday morning Llangollen where it is awkward to stop and wait in a convoy is a challenge to anyone, and we became separated. With technology initially failing to solve the problem, a blame culture arose, but eventually signals and family were reconnected.

So whilst technology can help find where you are, it does not necessarily reveal who you are, that is until it all goes wrong and we are reduced to an anxiety state. Meanwhile spending time in a place like Llangollen helps find who you are, and even allows reflection on where you might go in the longer term.

First Posting

At last, a long promised treat to myself, and perhaps others on what I do and what I experience in the wonderfully complex city of Liverpool.

I hope to use this site to post a few narratives on my experiences here and to possibly mobilise a few responses. I believe in open source, the creative commons, bottom up ideas, networking, emergence, and alike. So perhaps this medium will allow my thoughts to develop and grow. We will see. I aim to discuss the mundane as much as the profound, so watch this space.

Cody