‘Northern Planner’ was not a great choice for a name. Not only is it crashingly boring, if you googled it, you got a wierd mix of journey planners and umpteen variations on ‘northern’. Thankfully, enough people have taken pity on me and their links have made the site popular enough to be at the top…

I finally got round to watching ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ last week. While it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, it still had a profound effect. For two reasons: 1. The performance was breathtaking. It was a good feminder that having the right data, a strong argument and some whizzy graphics are okay, but that’s…

I’m working on a coffee project, so maybe all that wittering about proper coffee and slow tea may be worthwhile after all. To help, I’m having as many meetings in coffee shops as I can. Yesterday morning I was in Durham and found myself frantically rummaging for enough copper to pay for my £2.50 skinny…

The ever brilliant Faris makes a good point about objectiveness in planning here. Come to think of it, there’s one or two brands I like and even buy because I admire the thinking, not necessarily the ads. In between lurking in hotel receptions, Rob Campbell’s (another man proud of his shiny head)has developed some great…

Helen’s done a good post about neurotic blogging, the way worrying about what you’re writing, and how little you’re able to do end up in you writing nothing. Blogs for me are an outlet, a way of sharing ideas and meeting a few people on the way. When they take over your like your in…

..and Koln (Cologne). Since it was a stag do, pictures of individuals have been left out for obvious reasons. Lost in translation…. ..no explanation necessary. Koln cathedral. Handmade hat shop. Possibly where JamesB gets his jaunty headgear. Koln cuisine. Roasted ham shank with sauerkraut. Didn’t last long. Christmas market. The smell of Gluewhein and fried…

As I’ve been thinking about the behaviour or the pack recently, it’s no coincidence that I like the new Carling ad tapping into the tribal feeling of going out on the town- or safety in numbers. I remember New years Eve in Hamburg, at the mercy of the sheer number of people in the town…

The swimming quest is going quite well. Apart from getting faster and stronger, I’m rediscovering the joy of doing something really well. Years ago, I got to stay with a girlfriend who was working on a kids’ holiday camp in France. It was free in exchange for food and board.  There was one boy who…

According to The Guardian