Further to my recent postings on the CRU hacking incident.  Here’s quite an interesting interview on the CRU email hacking with George Monbiot.

He makes the obvious point that the emails do not disprove climate change science, but suppressing skeptics is unacceptable.  Bearing this in mind he is still clear on the fact thast the real manipulators and fabricators of science are the fossil fuel companies.

Watch the video and make your own judgements about it.

Since the early 1970s I’ve been concerned about carbon emissions.  I think what started to crystallise this concern in my mind was reading a brilliant book one winter in London. Murderous Providence: A Study of Pollution in Industrial Societies was written by Harry Rothman. For the first time someone challenged that comfortable feeling shared by many who grew up through the 1950s and 1960s. Many of us were greatly impressed by the wonderful scientific and technological achievements that characterised the post war boom and the 1960s.  Despite the Cold War, for many these were times of immense confidence. Technology would solve all the problems, the Green Revolution would feed the world’s poor and we’d all live happily ever after. Clearly this hasn’t come to pass.

As the century progressed is became increasingly evident that some of the technological decisions we were making were having an increasing impact on our atmosphere. Our use of Hydrofluorocarbons was found to be associated with a hole developing in the ozone layer, most markedly over the Antarctic. Photo chemical smog became a dangerous feature of cities, increasingly reliant on internal combustion engines for transport. Our dependence on fossil fuels was increasingly criticised both for it’s fundamental unsustainability and because reliance on them was leading to a build up of green house gases and changing the composition of our atmosphere. As with the Hydrofluorocarbons skeptics argued that the concentrations were so small they couldn’t have a significant effect. We noticed increasing deforestation and loss of natural carbon sinks and an alarming growth in the Sahara desert that had clear anthropogenic causes.

Now with advanced climate science at our disposal the existence of anthropogenic global warming is accepted by scientists across the world as a reality. Sadly, a small group of skeptics and deniers have been given undue prominence by the media. This had had serious consequences amongst a general public that is understandably under educated on climate science.

After posting several comments on Global Warming recently, I came across some additional comments on the Floating Life Blog, maintained by a former collegue

He wrote:

You should also note that I can sympathise at least with Greg Sheridan’s dilemma (see yesterday’s entry) when he says: “I do not know whether the science that says we’re all doomed if we don’t de-carbonise the economy is true. Neither does anyone else.” Sympathise but not entirely agree, as I do think the odds are that the IPCC is more than likely right. Yes, we are talking about something which by definition cannot certain until after it has happened, and I probably won’t be around to see it. But Margaret Thatcher’s last line makes as much sense now as it did in 1990 when a great deal less was known on the subject.

I don’t think the government has done a good enough job of explaining the issues at stake, or what their ETS is actually meant to achieve. That is a shame. (New Zealand passed its own ETS the day before yesterday. Did anyone notice?) On the other hand there is much clear material on the Department of Climate Change website.

My opinions aren’t worth a lot. Lord May of Oxford is much better informed.

He also offered this YouTube clip from Lord May

Recently I met a teacher, while out shopping, and I asked if they were working with any DER classes.

“Yes, but the kids are just playing games”, they said.  “I think they’re doing less work now”.

I thought this was quite a strange and self revealing statement. “Well why are they?” I asked.

“You can’t see what they’re doing, so they just flick onto games.”

“What are you asking them to do?”

“Do their work on the computer.”

“But isn’t it your responsibility to ensure that they’re engaged?”

“Yes, but I can’t see what they’re doing.”

It went on in this manner.  I guess this might be a conversation being had in a number of settings as the novelty of the laptop roll-out wears off and teachers are facing the challenge of just how to work with them. All I could do was suggest that they made a point of moving to a place in the room where they could see most of the screens.

As we chatted the real problem emerged.  They had very basic computer skills, they were just expecting students to use the computer as a note book. Of course, OneNote makes this possible.  Students take to it quite easily and can make up a simple electronic notebook with little or no guidance.

After a basic demonstration of OneNote on a data projector, I encouraged one selective class to do this very thing, just to see how they’d go.  Most were able to set their OneNote book with ease.  There was some fine tuning necessary but all eventually achieved a functional means for recording information.

I don’t see this particular colleague very often and I hadn’t realised just how challenged they’d be once the DER roll-out occurred.

What’s clear to me is that apart from having basic skills with a range of software applications it’s also essential for teachers to be able to imagine what students can do with their laptops and then re-caste and re-image their approach and role with this in mind.  This is a central challenge for those of us working with the DER Laptops.  I’m hearing this regularly.

As often as possible I try to introduce something new, like demonstrating an additional feature of an application. Presently I’m working with Excel and Photoshop to present notions of spatial inequality.  A good place to start is the ABS Social Atlas , ABS Community Profiles and reliable old Google Map. There’s probably a lot of cross over with Maths here.

As a basic strategy with OneNote, as Term 4 has unfolded, I’ve begun discussing the possibilities for working with it.  Encouraging a bit of group discussion and throwing in a few ideas of my own led my small elective Geography class to come up with the Mindmap that I posted under the heading Student ideas on using OneNote with DER Laptops on Novermer 18. A week after that Adrian Ship from South Sydney High School sent me a Mindmap his Commerce students had done on using OneNote.  I was able to share that with my students and we discussed the various insights that each group had.  Adrian went on to post an excelent Blog on The Power of Sharing.

Staff development is essential and it starts with sharing.  I’m encouraging teachers to visit my class and I help as many as I can.  In response to Adrian Ships Blog on The Power of Sharing Stu Hasic makes these fundamental points:

Too many teachers feel isolated – like they are responsible for those 30 students in that classroom inside those four walls and door. If only they knew how EASY is is to share and to benefit from the resources happily shared by others.

Here is my challenge for you now that you’ve had your eyes open to the benefits of on-line sharing. Get all the other teachers at your school to follow suit. It’s no easy feat – believe me. I’ve been trying to do it for the past 11 years.

Difficult as it might be, sharing eventually creates connections and conduits that are tangible and can deliver just when everything might seem hopeless and insurmountable.  We have never before had such aparently limitless opportunities for sharing.

I’ve also made a point of sharing my knowledge with key students, outside the class room.  We’ll sit where there’s WiFi signal and explore some of the apps.  The last one I was working with was Adobe Portfolio.  I didn’t know about Adobe Portfolio until I watched an online video about it.

Then of course there’s Twitter. I learn a great deal from Twitter and find myself constantly using it as a source of bookmarks for my Delicious collection.  Incidentally I’m happy to network with any colleagues and share bookmarks. On Twitter recently I read this Tweet from  Simon Job, a Maths teacher, who wrote  “Lesson with #DERNSW in class of 18 (many absent): 5 forgotten, 3 with trackpads not working until restart, 1 no internet, 1 could not login”

Simon flags another set of challenges, most of which I’ve encountered perhaps not all at once at once but at times. I assume that not being able to get access to the Internet is likely to be less of an issue once the S2 WiFi is in place.  Students that forget their computers or come without a charge, have been a problem and we’ll certainly need to be firm about this as the novelty further wears off.  I certainly talk about the Charter, about taking responsibility for one’s own learning and the powerful possibilities that this technology unleashes, when this pattern repeats.

I could write a lot more but I think I’d rather learn what others have to say about this.

As someone with more than a passing interest in Geography I’ve long been aware of the complexities involved in making firm statements about planetary processes.  I often challenge my students with the inevitability that even the best science is about approximation because there are no theories that explain everything. In my own life time, for example, we’ve gone from knowing very little about about ‘Continental Drift’ to an increasingly dynamic understanding of the processes of plate tectonics, we’ve mapped the human genome and we’ve come to understand that small increases in CO2 and other Green House gases bring about an Enhanced Green House Effect that has implications for planetary climate change.

My reading of the emails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia reveals a certain candour amongst the scientists involved.  It is very much a case of catching a glimpse of the way a group of colleagues were attempting to reconcile data drawn from a variety of different settings, using a variety of different tools, and integrate them into a coherent theory. It wasn’t a perfect process and as a sub text, typical of academia, there were the customary unsavoury criticisms of colleagues and academic rivals.  Clearly being a scientist doesn’t automatically confer a capacity to selflessly love one’s fellow beings.

Troubled as I am by the academic jealousy I’m far more troubled by the timing of this breach of the CRU and by the character of the political beings who’ve been so vocal about it.  So it was with some interest that I encountered this fascinating article The SwiftHack (ClimateGate) Scandal: What You Need to Know.  The article makes the following points:

• The scientific consensus on climate change remains strong.
• The impacts of catastrophic climate change continue to rear their ugly head.
• Hacking into private computer files is illegal.
• All of the emails were taken out of context.
• The story is being pushed by far-right conspiracy theorists.
• Scientists are human beings and they talk frankly amongst themselves.

Clearly this hack of a research organisation is an interestingly timed diversion.

Perhaps a more productive approach to this subject for those of us in Australia is to look at some of the known impacts of climate change. A useful place to start in analysing the implications of climate change is to start with the vulnerability of our own coastal zones in the face of climate change and sea level rise.  This is a concern throughout Australia.  A recent  CSIRO report  Mapping Climate Change Vulnerability in the Sydney Coastal Councils Region outlines the risk of storm damage to low lying parts of Sydney.  There are some useful  Fact Sheets in the report.  I found  Fact Sheet 3 most helpful.  Another good example of coastal  vulnerability can be seen at Narrabeen.  It’s also worth looking at some of the animations based on real tidal conditions at Narrabeen. There are similar sites in the USA and in Europe

In Australia Local Government and the Real Estate, Tourism and Insurance industries have a cause for concern about the security of coastal and near coastal zones.  Consequently, there is an increasing interest in coastal morphology, for very legitimate and sound business reasons.  Of course climate change skeptics and deniers frequently  argue that scientists, and I guess coastal morphologists are included,  merely pursue funds and research grants.

Everyone knows that sea level has risen and fallen through Geological history.  The Aboriginal peoples were able to successfully adapt when it rose a staggering 150 metres over the past 8000 years.  Of course they didn’t invest so much capital in coastal developments and they were quite mobile compared with more recent settlers.

It’s not surprising that under these circumstances Australia’s Federal Government would conduct the Inquiry into climate change and environmental impacts on coastal communities.  Although I’ve glanced at it I haven’t read thoroughly yet but I will shortly because, and I must confess this, as a Geographer,  I’m a student of coastal morphology.  Having made this admission, I can assure you that I’ve only accepted limited amounts of money in employing this skill and that this was from the previous Federal government. The results of this work are freely available for anyone to view and assess.

A considerable effort, and no doubt expense,  has gone into climate change models.  Merely because there’s an expense and governments use tax payers money to fund this, doesn’t confer any lack of ethical standards on the process.  It shouldn’t be necessary to dwell on this except for the fact that in discussions about Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) some of the more extreme commentators claim that it’s all just a hoax. One the other hand research bodies such as the Hadley Centre in the UK it part of the UK Meteorological Office and it has some interesting things to say about anthropogenic carbon dioxide generation and about climate change and climate modelling.  The UK Met itself also has a very interesting site.

Recently the Hadley Centre in association with the Science Museum, unveiled a climate map showing the impact of a 4°C global temperature rise.  It’s interactive and well worth a look.  Click on all the tags at the bottom to deselect everything and then add them one at a time, for the best effect.  It makes more sense this way.

Globally scientific research continues, particularly in Europe where ENSEMBLES, a five year climate change research project involving 66 partners across Europe, has been established. It’s led by the Met Office, and funded by the European Commission.  It has been studying the likely effects of climate change across Europe as a whole. Some of its material is very sobering.  One finding seems to indicate that if global mean temperature increase is to be kept  below 2 °C, implied emissions of CO₂ to the atmosphere at the end of the century will need to fall close to zero.

National Geographic offers this confronting photo essay about the impacts of climate change.

As a footnote, have a look at just how far the Meren and Carstenz glaciers in Irian Jaya have retreated since 1850

The more I read into this topic the more I feel the need to address some of the solid research and science that underpins understandings of climate change.  There has been an ongoing discussion on it in scientific circles for at least a generation. I can’t address every point, but what I’d like to do is present a summary of the arguments, but in proportion to the a mount of science actually involved. On this last point I’ll set the emphasis that I believe is appropriate by quoting Ed Miliband, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, who said:

The overwhelming body of scientific information is stacked up against the deniers and shows us that climate change is man-made and is happening now. We know that we still have a way to go in informing people about climate change and that is why we make no apologies about pushing forward with our new Act on CO2 campaign.

Majority Scientific Position on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading body for the assessment of climate change.  It was stablished by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It has an established protocol for assessing scientific research on climate change. The most recent major statement from the IPCC was the The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) which released by the IPCC in 2007.  This report provides the best scientific evidence on the causes and effects of climate change. The AR4 led the governments of the world, meeting in Bali at the Conference in 2007 to agree on a roadmap that would lead to an effective agreement to fight climate change at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, just a few weeks from now.

In Beyond the Ivory Tower: the scientific consensus on climate change the AAAS online journal reminds us that while the IPCC states unequivocally that the consensus of scientific opinion is that most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations that the IPCC is not alone in its conclusions. They cite a number of bodies in the US affirming the IPCC position. These bodies include, the National Academy of Sciences , The American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) all of which have colcluded that the evidence for human modification of climate is compelling.

Climate Change Sceptics
A useful place to start in examining the arguments put forward by the climate change sceptics is The Climate Sceptics. They have support from a significant minority group amounting to about 650 globally named in the 2008 US Senate Minority report on Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). Amongst their number is a significant group from Australia and New Zealand.  One position adopted by climate change sceptics is expressed  in the Manhattan declaration on Climate Change.

As someone with a background in teaching Geography, both in the class room and, extensively, in the field I have a broad interest in environmental matters. Although this is the case I’ve had little to say about climate change as such, in fact I’m more interested in the way all environmental processes are influenced by human activity and in turn have impacts on society, culture and our capacity to lead healthy productive lives as a species.

Over the past 24 hours I’ve become aware that hackers have breached security at the University of East Anglia and have hacked into emails and documents, exchanged by some climate scientists , over a ten year period. Initial reports from some sources, insisted that it was the Hadley Centre, part of the UK Met, that had been hacked. It isn’tclear whether this was mere confusion or an attempt to associate the Hadley Centre with the breach as well.

The emails were initially uploaded to a Russian server and accessible through FTP.  Climate change sceptics claim the leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists

Several sentences out of hundreds, if not thousand of emails are being used in an attempt to suggest that scientists are attempting to hide the facts.

One can only speculate about the motives of people who would seek to malign and discredit researchers.

The university has responded in general terms.  There is also an interesting response to hacking of the emails on climate change at Real Climate

I have much more to say on this and will post again later today.

After a month working on an assignment about development in Indonesia using OneNote to organise the results of student research, we reviewed some of the reports this morning, as a group.  My students, who have a wide range of abilities and learning styles were a little reserved about evaluating one anothers work.  When we started to discuss ways that we could make better use of OneNote to organise Geography assignments they were far more forthcoming with their ideas and opinions.

Thanks to Adrian Shipp, at South Sydney High School, I was able to use bubbl.us a simple mind mapping tool.  The students enjoyed this.  They all created their own accounts and will attempt their own mind maps tonight.  So we considered the question: How can we use OneNote more effectively in Geography?

The results aren’t particularly profound, but they were an interesting exercise in collaboration and in sharing thoughts and insights into the app’s potential.

Student ideas on ways of using OneNote in Geography

Several days ago now I was chatting with library staff at the school where I work.  Boxes of books were carefully assembled on a large table as we spoke.  This reminded me of the challenge I face with my own library.  Vast as my library was I have managed to pare it back over the past two years.  Still there’s a core occupying two substantial spaces, the themes very much related to interests, vocation and the writing I’ve been doing recently.

Now I live in quite a small space and the clutter seems increasingly irrelevant. I relate to much information through a digital medium.  Twitter has been a revolution for me.  Always apt to flick my gaze and my attention across the vast field of possible interest points, wherever I go, Twitter allows me to pick up examine, pursue or discard information as I might rocks on a river bank. In this context the very notion of books and their value to me has a transforming meaning.  Some are beautiful, others do have references and information that I know aren’t yet freely accessible on the Internet.  A large proportion of my library focuses on Australia, Indonesia and South East Asia with economic, historical, geographic and environmental themes.  These are important books but not all so.  My task is to sort the superfluous from the essential.  I’m moving up on it slowly.

I enquired about the boxes.  They were a charitable exercise, bound for schools in remote parts of New Guinea. They all seemed well used and quite out of date, by my standards. Reflecting, I thought, well at least some will be timeless, but even history is being constantly reviewed, revised and re written.  How could this possibly address the educational needs of children in remote parts of New Guinea? I keep wondering.

My own experience is that globalisation renders contemporary knowledge pervasive, if not in all it’s depth certainly in its commercial forms, particularly where there’s a dollar to be made.  One of my earliest memories as a traveller, back in the 1960s was the iconography and the promises of soap and detergent manufacturers beginning to ply their wares in remote parts of S E Asia.  Later satellite technology was a compelling and confrontating edge of globalisation.

Morning Coffee & 'LA Law' in Serdang, Karo Highlands, Sumatra

Around about the same time as this photo was taken in the early 1990s I started working with a precussor of the NSW DET’s Centre for Learning Innovation.  At this time is was a branch of the Correspondence School known as The Learning Materials Production Centre. Several incarnations later the newest initiative is CLI.  We worked on Macs, that suited me.  We researched and prepared materials that were contemporary, at least when they were written.  I wrote a Geography unit on the Pacific and one on Indonesia.  They had the latest statistics and contemporary developments I could find.

The pace of knowledge change has significantly quickened since then, so has a person’s capacity to reach out into a largely borderless information world. Of course there are still borders imposed for many reasons.  Even the most powerful merchants of information such as Rupert Murdoch are inclined to self censor.  Star TV in China being a fine example of this self regulation.

What of our schools, our curricula and our designers of courses that purport to address the essential learnings? What of the standards and skills our leaders claim to be able to measure and to compare in ‘League Tables’?

I don’t have answers to all of these questions but I was prompted to write this very hasty comment, that’s fast making me late for work, after watching this remarkable trailer of a newly released film on education. I picked up the lead from a Twitter contact, which in turn took me to Sir Ken Robinson’s presence on Twitter and a tinyurl leading to a YouTube Trailer.

The notes read:

We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For is a full-length feature film on education which was inspired and guided by Oscar-winning producer Lord Puttnam. The film is supported by various sponsors including independent education foundation, Edge. The film follows the experiences of five Swindon-based teenagers. What unfolds during the course of the film is a very inconvenient truth about education. It concludes that, while there are signs of spring, a transformation of the education system is vital if the UK is to continue to compete effectively in an era of globalization the world has changed enormously but our education system has not kept pace. We need to recognise that there are many paths to success for young people and provide the right support and opportunities for them to develop their individual talents.

This was a press release that I sent out on behalf of the International Organising Comittee – Australia – For the restitution Of The Parthenon Marbles.

PRESS  RELEASE
Sydney
11 November , 2009

The issue of the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles continues to be the world’s most celebrated cultural property dispute.   Since Lord Elgin took them their history has been the subject of both neglect and controversy. Now in the British Museum they’ve been rendered mere artefacts in a distinctly British construction of world history and their place in it.

The remaining parts of the chest and abdomen are in the new Acropolis Museum

Removing great works from their cultural context and displaying them in gloomy spaces is a distinctly 19th century approach to knowledge.  It is particularly sad when these brilliant works are acknowledged globally as expressions of the very heart of Greek culture.  The real tragedy of their exile in a foreign setting is in denying the world an opportunity to see them in the very place that gave them ‘life’.

In Athens the new Acropolis Museum has been built to display theses irreplaceable masterpieces, close to their original setting.  Here, aligned as they were on the Parthenon, it will be possible to  view these unique Hellenic Sculptures in a completely holistic context.

The real history of the Parthenon Marbles is an extraordinary story, far more interesting than their sombre display in the British Museum can possibly suggest.

On Sunday 15 November, Emanuel J Comino OAM JP Founder and Chairman of the International Organising Committee – Australia – For The Restitution Of The Parthenon Marbles, is presenting an address on the fascinating history of these priceless expressions of Hellenism.

Founder of the first organised committee to campaign for the Parthenon marbles return, his contribution to the campaign has been unwavering since the Committee’s foundation in 1981.  In 1983, Melina Mercouri asked the Committee to provide all the support it could to the newly formed British Committee. In 1997 similar support was given to the new American Committee and in 2000 the New Zealand Committee.

Emanuel speaks to a wide range of International conferences and seminars in places as far a field as Athens, New York, New Zealand and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Global interest in restitution of the Parthenon Marbles is now benefiting from a growth in the number of organisations campaigning for their return including Facebook support groups.

The International Organising Committee-Australia-For The Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (EST. 1981) in conjunction with AHEPA and The Greek Australian Professional Association, invite you to attend at AHEPA Hall Rockdale next Sunday.

Ring 95884144 or  0418204466 for further information.
Russell L Darnley OAM
Secretary

Mass global tourism is still a relatively new phenomenon.  Prior to the 20^th century mass global travel was usually military in nature.  Travel and tourism did exist but were usually the preserve of the pilgrim or the post Renaissance super rich of Europe whose children finished their preparation for ‘cultured’ adult life by embarking o a ‘Grane Tour’ of Europe. This involved visiting the Renaissance cultural centres of Western Europe. Later, for the more adventurous the Otterman world  was an exotic add-on.

Construction of large ocean liners in the early decades of the 20^th century soon permitted reliable inter-continental travel on a scale and of a standard not previously experienced.  Travel at this time was still a luxury, something for the cashed up elites of the developed world. By the 1950s when young Australians embarked on their Grande Tour of Europe they did so as back loads on migrant ships retracing the voyage back to Genoa or Southampton.  In these times the subsidised passage of migrants did something to off set the cost of travel from the antipodes to Europe, but such travel was still relatively expensive and globally speaking, for all but privileged few.

Not until the era of wide-bodied jets in the 1970s was it apparent that the cashed up developed world was on the cusp of a new economical era of global travel.  The rest is plain for anyone to see.  Now global air travel is a huge industry. In October 2009 he world’s airlines had 299.9 million seats available

Also in the face of the global economic down turn world air travel was still showing positive growth of 1.04% compared with October 2008 although the level

Growth is strong in the Middle East, with 12 percent more flights; Latin America, with 54 percent international and 48 percent domestic capacity growth; and Africa, with a 9 percent increase in flights.

Importance of the Youth Travel Market
Youth travel is no longer a pastime for European elites, but a far more widely accessible option for legions of backpackers.  Youth and Backpacker Hostels have mushroomed, globally. Youth travel represents 20% of all international arrivals, is one of the tourism industry’s fastest growing sectors. It also observes that today’s young travellers stay longer and spend overall more than mainstream tourists. Since 2002, the average spend per trip has increased by 40% to €1,915 in 2007.

Although growth slacked and fell a little this year flatter the trend seems set to continue . In September the World Youth, Student and Educational Travel Confederation reported that the basic expectation of the youth travel industry is that the recovery will start in early or mid-2010. Demand is expected to decline at about the same rate over the period September-October 2009.

A currently strong Australian dollar means that departures are now further ahead of arrivals than they have ever been, and there is little sign of the Aussie dollar flagging.  Such a strong dollar presents young Australians with attractive options for travel to some of the traditional destinations in Europe.  Anecdotal evidence suggests they are availing themselves of the opportunity. With the HSC finished for another year the expectation is that many will take their Gap Year in Europe during 2010.

Gap Year and learning languages
The majority of world tourism authorities identify youth and student central to the future of their tourism industries. Gap Year Travel and learning languages are a new and significant part of the Youth Travel market.  Japan has enjoyed a strong demand from the market for language related travel with Spain a close second.

Demand has driven the youth accommodation industry to a worldwide upgrade with Developments in social networking and increased global concerns for environmental issues and sustainable tourism has been an element in increasing both competition and professionalism in this sector. 50% of youth accommodation suppliers have recently invested in improving their capacity and facilities.

The Reality on the Ground
When a friend’s daughter embarked on a tour of Spain this month the cultural opportunities inherent in such a trip were taken for granted.  While not a ‘Grand Tour’ of old, the richness and diversity on offer in Spain left us all feeling it was an excellent choice.  Facebook kept us up to date.  Her entire extended family and friends network were able to follow her daily encounters.

Moving into the newly renovated Hostel seemed like a great idea they everything from small rooms with private bathrooms to dormitories with shared bathrooms (from 2 to 14 beds). Our rooms are comfortable, modern and clean.  This was definitely one of the new wave of up market backpackers with stacks of entertainment on site and apparently excellent security with new swipe card security lockers. Sadly we were wrong.

Early Sunday morning my friend was woken by an SMS message.  It was her daughter’s friend who’d been up late on Facebook and encountered a desperate plea from Madrid.  Eight young travelers had just lost their valuable, lifted from the security lockers at the Hostel.  It seems someone simply swiped a key card through the system, opened the lockers and walked off with eight backpacks full of clothes, electronic gear, cameras , cash and seven US passports.  Fortunately my friend’s daughter had her passport, her iPod and €125 with her.

Hostel management were either unable or unwilling to help.  The theft was reported to the police.  Just after my friend’s daughter had left the police station she was punched in the back of the head as she walked along the footpath.  Turning she took another punch in the face and her iPod was taken.

Five hours and much lost sleep later the young woman had received emergency funds from Australia and been booked into a more reputable hotel in another part of Madrid. Naturally we’re all relieved that she’s not serious injured, safely accommodated and ready to jet out to London on Monday.

There’s much more to emerge here, so stay tuned.