Category: stuff

Posted on

Mendip Hills (again)

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

You don’t need a membership though to visit the Mendip Hills. We walked up Crook Peak, before walking back to where we had parked the car.

Only clocked on the trip that it is Crook Peak and not as I have been calling it for years Crooks Peak.

Crook Peak has been important as a landmark and boundary from very early times, and the origins of the name are unclear. The local parish council state that ‘Crook’ comes from the Old English ‘Cruc’ meaning ‘peak’ or ‘pointed hill’.

Mendip Hills

Dramatic gorges and ancient woodland rising above the Somerset Levels.

Current saving £188.85

No admission fee or parking costs

Total saving £0

Cumulative saving £365.15

Membership cost £133.80

Net cumulative saving £231.35 Continue reading “Mendip Hills (again)”

Posted on

Cars on Marine Parade

So let’s be frank about this, I really don’t know that much about classic cars, however I have thought in the past it would be nice to own an old classic motor.

These photographs were taken at a car event in Weston-super-Mare today, I can guess what some of them are, but please add a comment if you are more confident than me in what they are (and correct me if I got it wrong as well).

1. Dodge ?

2. Pontiac?

3. Pontiac Firebird

4. Ford Consul

5. Vauxhall

6. Mini Clubman

7. Mini Pickup

8. Jaguar

9. ?

10. ?

11. ?

12. MG

13. ?

14. Morris Minor Police Car

15. Triumph Herald

16. Volkswagen Beetle

17. ?

18. Ford Torino “Starsky and Hutch”

19. Hot Rod ??

More photographs of classic cars.

Posted on

Stuff: Top Ten Blog Posts 2022

In 2022 I published 429 posts on the blog. In 2021 I published just 46 posts to the blog. I did 423 posts in 2020, in 2019 it was 68, in 2018 I did 89 posts.

Okay so 365 posts were from a photo a day project I did in 2022. So that leaves 64 posts, well I also did a movie advent calendar, so that means 40 “normal” posts.

Most of the top ten in 2022, as they wee in 2021, are nostalgic posts about the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s.

Tenth place was The Café a post on filming The Café at Weston-super-Mare.

The post at number nine was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Three. 

The post at number eight was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part One.

Whilst the seventh most popular post was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Two.

The post at number six was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Six.

Fifth most popular post about Changes at the railway station in Weston-super-Mare.

Fourth post was a post reminiscing about The Longleat Miniature Railway

The third most popular blog post asked the question “the cafe on tv at weston super mare is it real” which was a post about people Google searching that phrase and ending up on my blog. Now those same Google searches send people to this page rather than the original post on Cyril’s Cafe.

The post at number two was “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.” Which was Michael J Fox joining Coldplay on stage in New Jersey in 2016, playing Johnny B Goode from Back to the Future.

The most popular blog post in 2022 as it was in 2021 was a nostalgic post about Remembering the Bristol Temple Way Flyover.

Posted on

Redcliffe Parade

I had been out for drinks at The Ostrich and took some photographs of Redcliffe Parade as I was walking back to my car.

I do like the row of coloured houses on Redcliffe Parade, which overlook the harbourside.

From the Redcliffe Parade car park there are some nice views of the harbourside and in the distance you can see the Lloyds Bank building.

Over on the other side of the harbourside is the Thekla nightclub. Never been to it.

Another view and perspective of the Redcliffe Parade.

A view of the Mud Dock.

The view looking the other way.

Posted on

My top ten tweets of 2021

Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2020 and I did the same in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. It was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular.

So looking back first…

The top tweet back in 2016 was this one for #WednesdayWisdom

Whilst top tweet for 2017 was this one from the 2017 ALT Conference and it was my sketchnote of Bonnie Stewart’s keynote on openness.

The top tweet back in 2018 was this one about the newly revamped WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads complete with storage cage!

The most popular tweet of 2019 was this one about keeping the old Twitter.

Alas the hack didn’t last too long so we have to use the new Twitter.

In 2020, the most popular tweet was this one, with me reminiscing when WHSmith in Bristol went all Dexter.

Okay back to the last twelve months, here are my top ten ten tweets of 2021.

In tenth place was a tweet from my #JuneEdTechChallenge which asked us to tweet about the VLE in my life, I referred back to the VLE is Dead debate which had happened back in 2009.

At number nine was a mention about rebooting a podcast I do on my elearning stuff blog.

At eight was a post to a link about low-bandwith online teaching.

The seventh most popular tweet of mine was a repost of a tweet from a few years ago about the the internet of things and how coffee machines connected to the internet would…. well see below.

In at number six was a post of mine about some blog posts I had written about online teaching and learning. It was pinned to my profile for most of the year which probably helped with its popularity.

Fifth place was this tweet from me about how ill I had been in October with Covid-19.

I didn’t use the Twitter when I was ill, didn’t do very much at all.

The tweet at number four was a shoutout to Lawrie who is a star.

The third most popular tweet of mine was reminding people that they could wear masks and didn’t need to be told to wear masks.

The tweet that came second was this one about the original Jisc Digital Leaders Programme.

My most popular tweet of 2021 was this replying to another post about empty shelves. It happens so often in my Sainsbury’s that they have had special shelf fillers printed so the shelves don’t look empty.

Posted on

Stuff: Top Ten Blog Posts 2021

In 2021 I published 46 posts to the blog. So how did I do in 2020, well I published 423 posts…

Okay so 366 of those were of the photo a day project I did in 2020, so really I published 57 additional blog posts. In 2018 I published 89 posts to the blog, in 2019 it was 68, though 36 of those were in December.

Most of the top ten are nostalgic posts about the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s.

The tenth most popular post on the blog was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Six.

At number nine we have another post on the 1990s Bristol Harbourside, with Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Five.

Eighth post was on the Harry Potter Wizarding World Potions Classroom.

Number seven was my first post on the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s

Sixth post was a post reminiscing about The Longleat Miniature Railway

Five was my second big post on the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s

Fourth was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Three

The post at number three was “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.” Which was Michael J Fox joining Coldplay on stage in New Jersey in 2016, playing Johnny B Goode from Back to the Future.

The Café

The second most popular blog post asked the question “the cafe on tv at weston super mare is it real” which was a post about people Google searching that phrase and ending up on my blog. Now those same Google searches send people to this page rather than the original post on Cyril’s Cafe.

The most popular blog post in 2021 was a nostalgic post about Remembering the Bristol Temple Way Flyover.

 

Posted on

Marine Lake

Went for a walk this morning and we walked past Marine Lake and Knightstone Island.

It has been drained and hopefully will be cleared of mud and silt making it a better swimming experience. The work requires permission from a government agency, and if approved will be finished by the summer of 2022.