I visited the Blist Hill Museum in Ironbridge in Shropshire today. The place is huge. It is an entire village which has been kept as it was during the Victorian era when the area was one of the workhorses of the Industrial Revolution.
The people still wear Victorian dress and work in the old shops where the currency is the old pennies and farthings.
I loved the pub.
No jukebox, no flashing lights, no music, just wooden chairs and cold beer. People sit around and talk. The place smelt of bitter and ale, and the ashes of an old fire.
Outside the pub the Union Jack hangs above the doorway.
As I walked around I thought of the future without oil.
This level of industry was based on coal, and it is to King Coal that we will return again when the oil runs out.
Thatcher unintentionally did the nation a favour when she shut down the mines, as by so doing she preserved our coal reserves.
This means when we need to reopen the mines, the mines will still have enough coal to carry us through the transition period between Peak Oil and the Renewable Enery Economy we need to build.
Take the kids.
It is great to see what Britain looked like before we abandoned our future.
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