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My top ten tweets of 2019
Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2018 and I did the same in 2017 and 2016 which was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular.
The top tweet back in 2016 was this one for #WednesdayWisdom
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. #WednesdayWisdom
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 18, 2016
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.
My sketch note of the @bonstewart keynote here at #altc pic.twitter.com/1ZvARS9R7t
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 5, 2017
The top tweet back in 2018 was this one about the newly revamped WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads complete with storage cage!
Ooh nicely spruced up new WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station. Compete with new flooring (no carpet), new signs, new shelving. Original storage cage in shop floor though. cc @WHS_Carpet pic.twitter.com/fJg0EgO6f8
— James Clay (@jamesclay) June 21, 2018
So in 2019, my tenth most popular tweet was this one about my son appearing on BBC Points West whilst working at Bristol Temple Meads as a GWR Apprentice.
Always nice to see one of those outstanding @GWRHelp @GWRApprentices on the telly. #BBCPointsWest #prouddad @bbcpointswest pic.twitter.com/zUGlzdcvjI
— James Clay (@jamesclay) February 8, 2019
In ninth place was a nostalgic tweet about a steam train visiting Weston-super-Mare ten years ago in July.
On this day ten years ago that @60163_Tornado was in town (as in Weston-super-Mare) pulling the Torbay Express. pic.twitter.com/ZtWXhbOSlA
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 5, 2019
I did tweet a lot about the past this year, and will do less of it next year.
At number eight was a tweet about the phrase “digital detox” which gets bandied about a lot when people feel they need to take a break from services such as Twitter. If you feel you need to take a break, you probably do, but is it necessary to tell everyone about it?
I hate the phrase “digital detox” as it implies that digital is toxic by default. #DigiFest19 pic.twitter.com/XMamfblYLL
— James Clay (@jamesclay) March 13, 2019
Seventh was about about an incident at Oxford Circus. The tweet was picked up by some news outlets and my photo appeared on a news website.
Emergency Services at Oxford Circus Underground Station, including British Transport Police, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service. I counted at least 12 vehicles. #oxfordcircus pic.twitter.com/VpNbGXSQ35
— James Clay (@jamesclay) November 13, 2019
The sixth tweet was about WHSmith in Bristol being covered in plastic last February.
Sealing off parts of WHSmith in Bristol today. This isn't an image for @WHS_Carpet as this is refurbishment not normal day to day operations. Can you tell the difference? pic.twitter.com/elCjCEGXif
— James Clay (@jamesclay) February 23, 2019
I did find this reply amusing….
Is Dexter there?
— Simon Harper (@sixteenhp) February 24, 2019
The reason was less worrying, it was because they were putting the Post Office into WHSmith.
The tweet at number five was one about great women in edtech from March for International Women’s Day.
Here are some great women in edtech that I look up to and follow on the Twitter.
@MarenDeepwell @sheilmcn @DonnaLanclos @LornaMCampbell @sarahjenndavies @bonstewart @audreywatters @KerryPinny @ambrouk @VivienRolfe @chrissinerantzi @suethomas @suebecks #InternationalWomensDay
— James Clay (@jamesclay) March 8, 2019
Fourth was another nostalgic tweet about the #140conf Twitter Conference I attended in 2009 and was on a panel session with some great people.
On this day ten years ago I was at the O2 in Greenwich for the #140conf organised by @jeffpulver I was on a panel session with @shirleyearley @daveowhite @digitalmaverick and @Dr_Black where we talked about education and the Twitter. pic.twitter.com/AkQyyvfgAs
— James Clay (@jamesclay) November 17, 2019
And now the top three, with the third tweet was an early morning tweet celebrating that GWR were now using old HSTs as commuter trains, so we had more seats and faster trains.
With the introduction of the new @GWRHelp IET trains we now have these wonderful HST 125 trains as our local commuter services around Bristol and North Somerset. Ace. pic.twitter.com/R2fjBrVavo
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 15, 2019
At number two was a tweet about the revamped WHSmith in Weston-super-Mare.
Ooh the outside of the WHSmith in Weston-super-Mare looking very nice. Re-opens on Monday, looking inside though, not much has changed they still have the same @WHS_Carpet pic.twitter.com/Gy1UMc2WMx
— James Clay (@jamesclay) June 9, 2019
So the most popular tweet of 2019 was this one about keeping the old Twitter.
…and we're back!
So you want to go back to old Twitter?
Click More
Click Settings and Privacy
Click About Twitter
Click Directory
Click Home pic.twitter.com/PGMF4WeTFB
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 25, 2019
So what does this tell us? Very little.
Small HSTs
In 1976 when they were first introduced I always wanted to ride the new British Rail HSTs. I eventually got the chance in 1979 on a school trip to York.
I guess I must have ridden them a few times in the last few decades, but over the last few years I have been a frequent passenger on the Western main line between Bristol Temple Meads and Paddington. First on my regular commute to Oxford and then on my frequent visits to our London office.
On May 18th 2019 they were withdrawn from the main line, however though many were sent off to Scotland, GWR did shorten some for use on commuter routes in and around Bristol and South Wales.
These trains are being converted so that the original slam doors are replaced with automatic sliding doors and the toilets will now be contained rather than flushing straight onto the track. They are also being painted in new GWR green,
My top ten tweets of 2017
Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2016 which was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular. The top tweet back then was this one for #WednesdayWisdom
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. #WednesdayWisdom
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 18, 2016
So here are my top ten tweets of 2017, ranked by the number of times it was seen on Twitter.
My tenth most popular tweet was about the difference between teaching and learning.
Teaching is not the same as learning. Everything can be taught online, not everything can be learnt online. Experience is part of learning.
— James Clay (@jamesclay) October 11, 2017
Though we knew this all along… the ninth most popular tweet was a link to the Nature article on the myth of the digital native.
The digital native is a myth. We all use technology in the same way regardless of age. Finally! HT @m1ke_ellis https://t.co/tdMqZ3RsX7
— James Clay (@jamesclay) July 31, 2017
In eighth was a tweet about my favourite child book, The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.
#MyFavourite book as a child was The Enchanted Wood https://t.co/XblkMC4wkz anyone for pop biscuits or a google bun? #WorldBookDay @tes pic.twitter.com/2m2bnyzBK9
— James Clay (@jamesclay) March 2, 2017
The seventh most popular tweet was the photographs I took when the first passenger service GWR Inter-City Express Train arrived at Weston-super-Mare.
Arrival of the first GWR Inter City Express train at Weston super Mare. I am such an anorak. cc @GWRHelp pic.twitter.com/r272HXfAAd
— James Clay (@jamesclay) November 13, 2017
I attended ALT’s annual conference and made some sketch notes, the sixth most popular tweet was my sketch of the keynote by Peter Goodyear.
Here is my sketch note from the #altc keynote by @petergoodyear on Shaping Spaces pic.twitter.com/F2NEnO1LR6
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 7, 2017
Another tweet from that conference was the fifth most popular of the year and was a photograph of Josie Fraser receiving her Honorary Life Membership of ALT.
Huge congratulations to @josiefraser for being awarded Honorary Life Membership of ALT. #altc pic.twitter.com/3wZr47hiFf
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 6, 2017
Fourth position was one towards the end of the year and the only @ reply in the top ten. Amy Pearlman had asked for some best follows for women in IT, HE and Tech. Looking at her profile and seeing she was from Philadelphia in the US, and knowing lots of fantastic women in this space from the UK I added some in a reply.
I would follow @MarenDeepwell @sheilmcn @DonnaLanclos @LornaMCampbell @sarahjenndavies @bonstewart @audreywatters @KerryPinny @ambrouk @VivienRolfe @chrissinerantzi @suethomas @suebecks @Dr_Black @actualham @WarwickLanguage @jsecker @suewatling @dresdeb @nicwhitton @liz_isabella
— James Clay (@jamesclay) December 13, 2017
This response then went somewhat viral and lots of other people added their top follows, it got retweeted and liked a lot, so of course more people saw it and added more people to the list. It’s a fantastic list of some great women to follow on Twitter.
Third place goes to a temperate graph of the tube lines in London.
TfL has revealed the hottest Tube line in London during summer | London Evening Standard https://t.co/kYpV9EAb7c pic.twitter.com/yeXrG3AEhs
— James Clay (@jamesclay) June 21, 2017
Last year a fair few photographs of WHSmith made the top ten, this year my second most popular tweet was about a cat in Boots
That WHSmith may have their carpets @WHS_Carpet but our local branch of Boots have a cat guarding their entrance. pic.twitter.com/RgWKO3R3Zs
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 20, 2017
I did like this response to it.
— David Bonney 🇺🇦 (@isetta_windsor) May 20, 2017
So what was my top tweet for 2017, well it was another one from the ALT Conference and it was my sketchnote of Bonnie Stewart’s keynote on openness.
My sketch note of the @bonstewart keynote here at #altc pic.twitter.com/1ZvARS9R7t
— James Clay (@jamesclay) September 5, 2017
My longer thought piece on this keynote can be found on my e-learning blog.
Overall an interesting and delightful year on the Twitter for me.
Stuff: Top Ten Blog Posts 2016
Across this blog I wrote fifteen posts in 2016. As might not be expected most of the top ten posts that year were from 2016, and I was pleased to see how popular my 1990s photographs of the Bristol Harbourside were.
I visited Legoland in 2013 and felt that it was A bit tired and this was the tenth most popular post, dropping one place from last year.
Also about Legoland Miniland was the ninth post.
The eighth post was about Time travelling by train which was a post on the newly painted GWR High Speed Train in the classic 1970s blue and yellow.
The seventh popular post was inspired by a newspaper article and talked about the many Changes at the railway station in Weston-super-Mare.
The sixth placed post was from my 2012 series of Cinematic Advent Calendar posts, this one was #07 – The Eagle has Landed. There were quite a few films in the advent calendar that have significant memories over and above the film itself. Queuing for Star Wars was significant for example. With The Eagle has Landed I went to see it at the Aldeburgh cinema with my grandparents.
When I used film, I didn’t take than many photographs, but I did take a fair few of the Bristol Harbourside, so the fifth post was of the Bryan Brothers’ Garage Demolition, Bristol, circa 1999.
Three of the next four posts were similar and all contain photographs from the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s.
Fourth was this post Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s and third was this one: Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s (second part).
The second most popular post was a comparison of Trenchard Street, Bristol, circa 1970s and the view today.
The most popular post of the year on the Stuff blog was a series of photographs of Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s.
So quite a few posts from 2016 in the 2016 top ten.
Time travelling by train
At Bristol Temple Meads I did wonder if I had travelled back in time to 1976, as there was a British Rail blue and yellow engine on the platform. My train yesterday morning included a very different engine, this was a GWR High Speed Train painted in the original colours when the train entered service forty years ago in 2016.
This was painted up specially for an event in May to celebrate forty years of the HST. I thought it was nice that only was it painted up in the original colours, but is currently being used to pull trains. It’s a pity that they couldn’t paint a whole train in the original colours.