It's a funny thing, but every Thursday I go into some sort of blogging meltdown and think I'll never post again. Every Thursday. Then by Friday it's fine. Saturday I'm full of vim and vigour. Sunday is the most productive day of the week. Then Monday the decline starts again until it reaches its nadir on Thursdays. The readerships runs opposite to this, peaking towards the end of the week. Down at weekends. Oh, the pressure. So I just thought I'd mention it for once, instead of sitting at home fretting and also to squeeze some kind of post out on Thursdays. Just so you know, it's hard work sometimes. Not just dripping off the tongue. Blood, sweat and tears, it is.

Posted on July 10, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (9)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Glasgow School of Art 2nd year study day. I was surprised and delighted to be asked to do it last year, and even more surprised to be invited back. In some ways the Art School is the last place I expect to feel welcome as so many of the things I hold dear are well outside the traditional boundaries of "proper" art and design. But that's why I got the gig. The theme for the day was "Dynamic Glasgow" so I tried to focus on what you can learn from wandering around Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.

This is more or less what I was saying, with links to more information. The photos are all on Flickr.

• I like started 5 years ago as a practice space when I was working as a librarian and learning about web design. It's a scrapbook for whatever I'm interested in, be it sweet wrappers, John Hinde postcards, great illustrators, matchbox labels, Soviet bus stops and much more. Anything goes.
• It's interesting how there's an accepted canon of things that it's okay to like, like antiques and opera, but other things, like pop music or postcards are less acceptable. Gradually these lines are blurring, which is a good thing. Everything is interesting (to me anyway).
• You can find beauty in unexpected places like power stations, signs, and derelict buildings.
• In all areas of design there a lot of stuff that flies under the radar. Some aspects of typography are well-documented (Penguin book covers, the Helvetica movie) but others aren't mentioned. You can find beautiful type anywhere - in museums, on trains, in old iron work.
• Traditionally, "good" design is slick and understated and but there's a time and a place for being brash and imperfect.
• As advertising becomes more abstract and conceptual (Sony Bravia, Cadbury's Trucks) the simplicity of a hand-painted sign is refreshing. It tells you all you need to know.
• Living fragments of the past like seaside shelters or classic cafes are like walk-in history lessons. The Val D'Oro at Glasgow Cross is like walking into the 1920s, The Ritz Cafe in Millport is the 1950s and Boni's in Clarkston the 1970s.
• Tunnock's do branding brilliantly
• Sometimes you can stumble across somewhere that has a fantastic sense of place like Footdee in Aberdeen. There are towns and cities wondering how to regenerate themselves who would kill for something as atmospheric as this.
• A visit to East Kilbride will tell you a lot about modernism and inventive town planning.
• Folk art is a rich and fascinating thing. Storybook Glen in Aberdeen, the Ukranian POW Chapel in Hallmuir and The Knitted Village in Lancaster are remarkable, unique places.
• The world is full of inspiring things so it's easy to get out and find something that interests you.

It's tricky to organise all these random thoughts into a vaguely linear sequence and make some salient points but hopefully there was something useful in there. It was a great day out for me as I got to hear some of the other speakers and there was a lot to think about. Thanks to everyone who came to listen, and to Bruce and Patsy for looking after me so well.

Posted on May 09, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just a quick note to say:

• Thanks to all of you who suggested places to go in the south-west. They sounds brilliant and I'm really excited about going away. The chip debate was also very entertaining so thanks again for all the comments. That's what makes doing this really good fun.
• Sorry to anyone who has sent me an email recently and not got a response. All my email got eaten a couple of months ago (wiping a few things I was about to mention or reply to, so do resend if you're waiting for an answer). Since then I've been surviving on crappy webmail and just not keeping on top of it. I really appreciate it when people send me email, and it's not like I'm inundated so I just want to apologise and say I'll get round to replying, honestly.
• Goodbye. Off on holiday now. No internet. Back in a week or so.

Posted on April 11, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (2)

I got an enquiry from a reader a while ago (hello Geoff) asking if there was a feed for the Quick ones on the right there. These links were separated out in the new design so aren't included in the main rss feed. I replied that indeed there was but failed to notice that the reply was caught in my spam filter. Ouch. Sorry Geoff. So for anyone who's interested in this linky goodness I've added buttons for the whole lot, or the rss feed or to add me to your del.icio.us network. Do add me if you feel that way inclined.

Secondly, I finally joined twitter. For a long time I couldn't find a need for it. Still can't in fact, but I enjoy reading the twittering of friends. If anyone would like to join me for a bit of web 2.0 please do.

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (6)

Charlie tagged me with the 4x4 meme so here goes.

4 jobs I've had

Waitress - I worked in cafe for a year in between doing a degree and a postgrad. The family that owned it were quite eccentric and ran it more as a hobby than a business so everyday was an adventure. There was definitely a novel in there somewhere. It was never too busy and there were lots of regulars so I spent most of the day cooking and chatting to people. Probably my favourite job ever. It was completely stress-free. Even now in a coffee shop I want to jump behind the counter and froth the milk.

Dole clerk - And my least favourite, working in the DHSS for 3 weeks. I was signing on during the summer as a student (when you could still do that) and they said "we've got a job here" so I could hardly say no. It was really miserable, not because of the jobseekers who were fine, but because of the little Hitlers running the place. I was glad to get out after 3 weeks.

Librarian - This covers about 10 years of work, which I really enjoyed for the most part. As a bookish, indie-loving teenager I felt that I'd found my calling. I started as a library assistant (moving around different libraries over the summer) and decided that was what I wanted to do with my life. Studied librarianship, got a job as a cataloguer and spent the next few years classifying and indexing books in a university library. I loved looking at books all day and enjoyed helping people to find things. It started to go a bit pear-shaped when there was a crisis of confidence and library became a dirty word. It was all learning centres and information centres. That drove me mad so I became a...

Web manager - Which is what I do now. It's the sort of non-exciting relative of web developers and web designers. I have to manage the editors, figure out where the website should be going, make sure it's maintained and meets various standards, teach people how to write for the web and generally just make sure the customers are getting what they need. Try as I might I can't make it sound exciting but still it's the right job for me at the moment except when I find myself wishing I was back in the cafe.

4 shows I never miss

It's quite hard to find 4 but at the moment - Harry Hill's TV Burp, Skins, Hotel Babylon, That Mitchell and Webb Experience.

4 places I've been

I've been to lots of places but these are the 4 I'd most like to go back to:

Malta - We had our first family holiday here when Tommy was a baby. I love islands and Malta is tiny so it's easy to see all of it. It's nice and quiet and full of beautiful buildings. Whenever we can afford a foreign holiday we're going back.

Dunedin, New Zealand - I had a sort of epiphany in Dunedin. I'd travelled half-way round the world because I liked Flying Nun and got there near the end of a long trip backpacking down from Auckland. I was on my own, a not-very-brave 26 year old and I felt proud and relieved to be there. As it's modelled on Edinburgh and has lots of Scottish connections I felt at home.

New York, New York - New York had a big effect on me when I went last year. At the time I felt a bit sad, as I'd missed it at its best but it's been a slow burner. So many times I wish I was back there, just wandering around Manhattan. Next time I'll go to Coney Island too.

The East Neuk of Fife - Quite possibly my favourite place ever and the only one of the four I've got much chance of getting back to anytime soon. The East Neuk is so close to home and yet so foreign. The architecture is totally distinctive - more Scandinavian than Scottish, and there's nothing much to do but you can spend hours wandering around harbours and eating chips. I'd like to retire there and have a little house by the sea with a boat in the window.

4 music artists I'm listening to

I'm really rubbish at listening to new bands, relying on the radio to tell me what to pay attention to. So nothing new I'm afraid but I listen to these a lot:

• Belle & Sebastian - I never tire of them.
• The Smiths - the band that means most to me. I listened to them every day at school, then not for years after Morrissey went solo. I'm now enjoying their later albums (Strangeways era) which I didn't rate much at the time.
• The Association - 60s sunshine pop from California. I really, really love harmonies. Their career travelled the same sort of trajectory as The Byrds going through folk, pop, psychedelia and country rock so there's a lot to enjoy.
• LCD Soundsystem - the one new album I have bought recently (and that was a while ago). I love listening to Sound of Silver when I'm out and about. It's uplifting and quite tender at the same time.

4 people to pass it on to

Wil, Craig, Ally, Richard (sorry if any of you hate these things but I'd like to hear more about you).

Posted on March 02, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (9)

Just a little note, particularly for anyone reading this via RSS. When I redesigned the home page I added a little column for "Quick ones"- interesting sites that I add to my del.icio.us. I thought these would be posted to the RSS feed once a day but they aren't. I was going to try and fix that but then decided I like it that way. It means if you take the effort to look at the (now 20% lovelier) site you get a little extra. There are more links, more photos and more comments. So I'm just saying that if you're reading the feed and think it's gone a bit quiet, it hasn't. C'mon over!

Posted on February 01, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (3)

How tickled I am to be guest editor on Coudal Partner's excellent Fresh Signals. I'm a long-time admirer of their work so it's a real honour to get the keys to the door. I've been trawling through the I like archives looking for forgotten gems. The first is Aerolot, a fansite for LOT Polish Airlines which is full of beautifully designed vintage airline ephemera. More to come at Coudal throughout the month.

Posted on January 09, 2008 | Filed under: About Travel | Permalink | Comments (3)

After rounding up 2006 in photos here's 2007. This time of year always makes me a bit mopey, getting bogged down in whatever hasn't gone well, but looking through the pictures makes me realise what a good year it's been.

January was pretty quiet. We spent a lot of the year in museums - somewhere warm, entertaining and free to keep the whole family amused. Glasgow's Transport Museum is always a pleasure. I hope the new Zaha Hadid-designed Riverside Museum has the atmosphere of this place.

February - Bangkok for work, which was magnificent. Everything about it was really exciting.

March - Random visits to Carfin Grotto (a sort of mini Scottish Lourdes), Stirling for a Lindsay Anderson exhibition, Galloway for a family visit and London for work.

April - first holiday of the year to the Lake District. Staying away from the touristy bits and wandering round the edges, going to Ulverston, Barrow-in-Furness and up the coast to Whitehaven and beyond. I also went to South Africa for work which almost killed my love of international travel.

May - The Ukrainian Chapel at Hallmuir near Lockerbie. Lovely.

June - A wee trip to Cumbernauld. Good to see the big clock from Gregory's Girl is still in action. Then a big trip to London to speak at Interesting2007 which was scary but fun.

July - A trip on the Leadhills & Wanlockhead District Railway, and a vist to the National Railway Exhibition in Bo'ness. Then our big holiday in Norfolk via Harrogate. Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester. We got there in between two bouts of serious flooding but managed lots of sun, sea and sand in between downpours.

August - Some great trips to Perthshire and Stirling. This lovely little art deco garage near Denny was a great find.

September - Time for one last fling to Aberdeen as I finished work at DFID. During the year I took pictures of all the beaches we went to. Aberdeen definitely has the best sand. So soft it's like velvet.

October - No photos, which is weird. I started work at Learning and Teaching Scotland so was probably too preoccupied getting into a new routine.

November - Stayed in Glasgow. Went to the Radiance Festival. Found this great sign up a back street. So simple but so effective.

December - Went to Edinburgh to see the Sir Basil Spence exhibition which was magnificent. Then followed that up with a trip to East Kilbride to see Duncanrig High School which he designed as the first school there in 1958. It's going to be demolished in the new year so catch it while you can.

So all in all it's been another interesting year, full of surprises in one way and another. Thanks to everyone for reading, writing, and commenting. I hope 2008 is just as inspirational.

Posted on December 30, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (11)

I've been working on a new design for a while now, and am at the stage where I need a second opinion. So, in the manner of the BBC here's the new I like beta home page. It's been redesigned for a few reasons:

• I wanted somewhere to put the del.icio.us links that wasn't in the main part of the page.
• A third column would come in handy.
• I've lost the copy of the old font I used for the headings so have gone for my new favourite, Clarendon.
• It was generally looking a bit tired after all these years.

Although I work with websites all day I don't usually design them. Poking about with CSS is fun for a while but ultimately not my forte. So I'd be really glad of comments, particularly from those of you with non-1024 screen resolutions*. It only goes as far as the home page at the moment but I'll do the rest once it's been road-tested for a wee while. All comments gratefully received - if you can't be kind be constructive.

*Technical details: It's a fluid 3-column layout. Not sure if this is the right way to go. Let the audience decide.

Posted on December 26, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (14)

Here's a curious thing. Look at this picture (via Coudal) and see which way the dancer is rotating. Clockwise means you're right brain dominated (feeling, "big picture", imagination), anti-clockwise is left brain (logic, detail, facts). I clearly see the dancer spinning clockwise so I'm more right-brained, which probably figures as I'm left-handed. I'd be very interested to know if I like's readership is particularly right-brained or left-brained. What do you see?

Update [Saturday morning]: It's split about 50:50 between clockwise and anti-clockwise with lots of people seeing her change direction. Even though people have explained how to do that I still can't see her going anything but clockwise. Lots of right-handed see her clockwise although no lefties owned up to seeing her anti-clockwise. ManxStef pointed it out on Boing Boing where there are other explanations, and suggestions that it's a straight optical illusion. Maybe so. I never could get those Magic Eye pictures either.

Posted on October 11, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (40)

I like is 5 years old this week. It's been a big year - the year I came out in some ways, speaking at Glasgow School of Art and interesting2007, getting interviewed for The Herald, making postcards. I guess everyone has different reasons for blogging (and not blogging). I still feel like I stumbled into it, looking for a place to think out loud and never expecting to find so many interesting people doing likewise. To see the lines between the online and offline worlds blurring is an unexpected pleasure.

Since that flurry of activity in the summer various technical problems have dampened my ardour so I feel a bit detached. I think the direction of I like has changed a bit this year as I'm not interested in much beyond family life, offbeat travel and a small circle of other websites. I'm spending more time outside and less time online. I consume less, mostly because I've been really skint so there are fewer links about things that cost money. Apart from that it's still the same site as it was 5 years ago. With every year I lose some readers and gain others but I try to fill a space on the internet with things that don't get the attention they deserve. Luckily there seems to be no end of them.

A big, big thanks to all of you who read, comment, email and generally support I like. That's what keeps it going. Someone said a lovely thing, that it's "like a butterfly in other people's gardens". If that's how all this comes across it's a great reason to keep going. Here's to another year.

Posted on September 19, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (32)

It's one of those weeks where nothing is working. There seem to be more and more weeks like that. All the electrical appliances in the house are staging a mutiny, particularly the computers so I'm giving this up until it's sorted out.

I've got lots of email to reply to. Sorry. I'll get round to it when things are back to normal.

Posted on August 13, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday's Herald article is now up on Flickr (my scanner hasn't worked in ages so photos have to do - bit blurry but still legible). Turned out well, I think. It's a bit about I like and Nothing To See Here and a bit about me. For the curious, it does actually say what I do for a living. Sadly Occupation: Blogger isn't totally true.

The photo was taken in the window of the Val D'Oro which is one of Glasgow's oldest cafes. The signage is partcularly fine. More photos here. Thanks to Teddy Jamieson at The Herald for asking me in the first place, and to Simon Murphy for taking such nice pictures.

Posted on July 15, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (11)

If everything goes to plan there will be a short interview with me in this Saturday's (Glasgow) Herald, in the Lifelines section of the magazine. It's all a bit scary, but exciting too. The Herald doesn't put everything online but I'll post it up somehow. I'm always a bit loathe to talk about I like here - blogging about blogging isn't a great spectator sport, but it's been good to think about what I do and why I do it for this interview which happened around the same time as interesting2007 and the talk at Glasgow School of Art. Everything has felt oddly quiet since.

Posted on July 12, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (3)

On holiday now. Back soon.

Posted on July 01, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink

OK, they're here. A set of 8 I like postcards all ready for interesting 2007. These wouldn't have happened without the help of davidthedesigner who offered to set out the artwork. And a sterling job he did too, as well as taking this nice photo of them. Thanks also to Gair and Marceline for suggesting local printers. James from Folksy is going to be selling them on Saturday and I'll work out next week how to distribute them to non-interesting people. Does anyone want a set?

Posted on June 14, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (27)

A big thanks to everyone at Glasgow School of Art for making my talk yesterday such a pleasure, especially Dr. Bruce Peter and the others in the Dept of Historical & Critical Studies for inviting me in the first place. It went okay, I think. It was hard to talk for so long to people who are just sitting still, particularly when the Mackintosh lecture theatre (charming as it was) was so spectacularly uncomfortable. It was lovely to meet some of the students, albeit briefly, and I was really glad some found it interesting. I liked seeing what actually happens inside an art school. It's good to know that a lot of people, lecturers included, want to get a break from Baudrillard and Foucault and just appreciate stuff now and then.

So, if anyone is visiting for the first time because of it - I've put the photos I used in my presentation into a photo set on Flickr. There are some extras in there as I took quite a few out, but as they're in the same vein I left them in. They all have tags if you're wondering where anything is. That was the main theme of the talk - to get out and look around because small and/or commonplaces things can be beautifully designed and interesting too.

Other links & references: I also talked about This is M. Sasek (the children's travel books) and Nothing To See Here (alternative travel guide), John Hinde postcards and sweet wrappers. I showed some bits of other people's stuff namely some vintage matchbox covers, and Soviet bus stops. The little photo cards that went down a storm are made by Moo. If anyone wanted a badge and didn't get one let me know.

The last slide I had, of conclusions I came to at about 3am the night before the talk was that this is what I've learnt doing I like:

• Everything is interesting
• Everyone has a place
• Do something YOU like
• Find your own voice
• Make something that you're happy with
• Share it

That probably sounds a bit trite but it's worked for me and I'm constantly surprised how many people don't follow those rules. I really enjoyed talking about it so if anyone has questions or anything please get in touch.

Posted on June 08, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (7)

I've got a big couple of weeks coming up as I've been asked to speak at two events within a few days of each other. Nervewracking. On Thursday I'm going to be speaking at Glasgow School of Art's study day for second year students. It's a real honour to be asked as I wouldn't have put myself top of the list of people who could tell art students a thing or two, but I'll do my best.

If there's anyone reading this who's coming along is there anything you'd like to know? I feel a bit disadvantaged not knowing much about art but I suspect in this case my ignorance is my strength. I'm planning on talking about what I do, why I do it and what I've learnt along the way. That doesn't seem very earth-shattering but it's all I know. So, any questions shout them out. This will be an extended version of whatever I'm going to say at interesting2007 so requests from interesting delegates/anyone else also welcome. What do you think I can bring to the table?

Posted on June 01, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (8)

It seems like all the electrical equipment in the I like household is staging a rebellion. First the Sky box, then the telly, now the computer. The part of this that may concern you is that I've lost my email. If you've sent me anything last week or before and haven't had a reply could you send it again? I can get new email now so we're on the road to recovery. There is something liberating about losing a large backlog of mail that I meant to reply to but deep down I know it's not right to feel that way. I also have no photos or Photoshop so am struggling to pretty up these pages. Normal service resumed as soon as possible.

Posted on April 29, 2007 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (4)

One good thing about a blog and a Flickr account is having a record of what's happened all year. It doesn't feel like much but looking through everything makes me realise I've seen and done a lot of interesting things. I've picked a photo from each month and together they pretty much sum up what I like is all about. Thank you to all readers who accompanied me on these virtual journeys (and those who accompanied me on the real ones). Here's to more of the same in 2007.

January - High rises, architecture, disappearing stuff.

Two of these tower blocks in the Gorbals were demolished this year.

February - Old signs and lettering

Ladies toilet sign in East Kilbride which tickles me for some reason.

March - patterns, shop windows

I like patterns and have a thing for net curtains that I can't quite explain.

April - Kids, family

I may not mention him much but new baby Danny was the most exciting thing to happen to me this year. Motherhood second time around has been a real pleasure. He's a lovely little fella. Seen here at 2 1/2 months old having a good stare out of the window in his grampa's chair.

May - local things for local people, islands, ice cream

The main theme this year was travelling about in your own country and finding the things that make it remarkable like strange customs and local delicacies. This is a Top Hat, only found on Rothesay, a lovely seaside town on the Isle of Bute.

June - holiday camps, symmetry

June saw our first Great British holiday of the year to Pontins in Prestatyn.

July - shopfronts, lettering, little towns

More summer days out, researching for Nothing To See Here which launched in May. This is a sign from Kirriemuir, a lovely wee town in Angus - home to J. M. Barrie author of Peter Pan and site of one of the 3 working camera obscuras in Scotland.

August - the crap but great

Hard to describe this. The thin line between rubbish and brilliant which makes me smile. This photo from Wanlockhead just about sums it up.

September - new towns, modernism

A developing obsession with new towns, particularly East Kilbride.

October - dodgy British comedy, old toys, shambolic museums, ephemera

I spent the first 6 months of the year on maternity leave watching a lot of British comedy films from the 60s and 70s. So this was a sight that won my heart, from the fantastic Childhood Memories Toy Museum in Tynemouth.

November - the seaside

Probably my biggest obsession this year was the seaside and all that goes with it, particularly seaside architecture. These little shelters in Trusthorpe were my favourite thing of 2006. Found on our second Great British holiday in Lincolnshire.

December - World's Fair relics

The Unisphere and NY State Pavilion in Queens, NY - site of two world's fairs. Lots of amazing things in one small area. More about this later.

That's 2006 in a nutshell. Happy New Year everyone!

Posted on December 31, 2006 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (2)

After reading 5 things you don't know about Russell Davies I thought I'd join in. It's often more difficult choosing what to write than writing it and these kind of things make the decision easier. I've kept myself to myself here most of the time so there's probably quite a lot you don't know. Here are a few things to get started:

1. Not surprising but I don't think I've said it before - my favourite book by miles is The Catcher in The Rye. My favourite film by miles is Gregory's Girl. I don't have a favourite song.
2. I'm left-handed and am really proud of it as it's the only thing that's ever been different about me. I am secretly pleased when people I like turn out to be left-handed and quietly believe that left-handers are cooler. I feel a bit short-changed at not being artistic, musical or talented though. The only quality it has brought me is a special clumsiness but in this case I am proud to be gauche.
3. My strangest job was a placement student at the National Sound Archive in London. I spent two weeks indexing the NME and Smash Hits and then as penance, 2 weeks transferring tapes of steam train noises from cassette to reel-to-reel in the Sound Effects Department. It's harder than you think as setting the sound levels is a bit of a challenge as there's 44 mins of quiet chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff and then an unexpected CHOO CHOO which sends the needles off the scale.
4. I was brought up Catholic and my confirmation name is Barbara. Saint Barbara was a child martyr which rather appealed to me as I leafed through the Ladybird Book of Saints. I must have been a melodramatic child. I swapped Catholicism for The Smiths when I was about 14 and steer clear of religion now.
5. My biggest fear is potholing (as in caving). Enclosed spaces like lifts don't really bother me but anything tiny and underground gives me the fear. I sometimes forget this and go somewhere that terrifies me - most recently a Scottish lead mine; most memorably cave tubing in New Zealand.

I hope that was suitably revealing. Anyone reading please consider yourself tagged.

Posted on December 26, 2006 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (12)

When I started I like I made a policy decision not to write about things I don't like (which I've mostly stuck to). It's too easy to fall into the Mr(s) Angry trap and there's so much negative stuff around I didn't want to add to that. However, as it's I like's birthday month I thought I'd take a bit of time off and get all the things I don't like out of my system. Then we shall never speak of them again. There are things I'm sure that no one really likes (Jeremy Beadle sprang to mind) so I haven't included them but what really interests me are things that sit on the periphery of being liked, periodically knocking on the door trying to get in. Everyone must have their own - something that someone raves about that you feel you should like but just can't get into. The rest just get on my wick. As follows:

olives, aniseed, people who walk and read books at the same time, Nicolas Cage, Frank Skinner, The Libertines, conservatories, decking, personalised number plates, personification of fruit, potholing, Dairylea lunchables, embossed toilet roll, hydrangeas, pastel colours, The Impressionists, Belle de Jour, slugs, frogs, Jack Kerouac, Richard Brautigan, Sgt Pepper, paperback books that are just that bit too big, pierrots, Charlie Chaplin, cowboy boots, high heels, waiting, not knowing, hot weather, fig rolls, fly cemeteries, changing the duvet cover, going to bed early, stupid fancy sandwiches, things that aren't what they say they are, whingeing, Prada, Louise Vuitton, spin, legwarmers, ra-ra skirts, shirts tucked into trousers, trousers tucked into socks, novelty socks, novelty ties, socialising, rugby, rudeness, reggae, The Godfather, professional parents, working, running, vanilla, marzipan, Bulgaria, anything oversize, 4-wheel drives, 3 wheeled-prams, foldaway bicycles, Westerns, Radio 1, Radio 4, anything with aliens, anything with elves, Lord of the Rings, walnuts, biros, pointless cover versions, peacocks.

I came round to fig rolls during the plain biscuit renaissance in March. I wrote this about a year ago so would now add:

Malcolm Gladwell, Sarah Beeny, The Pipettes, Lost, most modern art, Is it Just Me Or Is Everything Shit? (and the general crapness agenda), this modern obsession with en suite bathrooms, what's happening to post offices, interactive museums, Leonard Cohen, yummy mummies, meanness, and hexagonal Smarties tubes.

I thought I would feel cleansed by this but don't really. I feel like Jimmy out of Reggie Perrin doing his Forces of Anarchy (wmv) speech.

Posted on September 27, 2006 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (16)

I like is 4 this month. Don't know which date exactly, but it was September 2002 that I pushed the button and this website was born into the world. I remember the early days - a great feeling of terror, like I was exposing myself. Violent attacks of cringing which I still get today. You know how hard it is to hear yourself on tape, or watch yourself on film? That kind of feeling. But every year I feel a bit more comfortable with it.

In 4 years I've changed job, moved house, and had another baby but it doesn't feel like much has changed. Well, it has and it hasn't. I like was never supposed to be a blog. I didn't know what a blog was when it started. It was supposed to be like a sort of online junk shop. Something catches your eye, you stumble in and find this world of disconnected stuff. I guess that still stands. I meant to do more specials, but they take time. I'm ashamed that there are at least two that were reasons for doing the site in the first place (the UN Building and paperback covers) that 4 years later I still haven't finished. But that's one thing I like about doing this, it's more or less impossible to plan.

This year I've worked behind the scenes to make it easier to write - because you've got to have a system. Going bloggy in May was good. Then the del.icio.us links, which might not be very polished but they help me keep things going when otherwise there would be nothing for days. This year I've written some things that were hard to do. It might sound strange when there wasn't anything controversial or revealing but basically anything here that isn't a list of links is hard for me to write. I'm not a natural orator. When I thought about The Great British Holiday I argued with myself for days thinking no one would want to read it, but in the end writing it was really good fun, and it went down okay. So that's my one piece of advice to anyone starting a blog - write what you want to write. I should do that more often.

The main thing to say, as I blow out the candles on another cake, is thanks. Thanks to everyone who has visited, linked, commented, and emailed over the years. It makes this a really enjoyable thing to do and as long as I like writing it, I like will still be here.

Posted on September 18, 2006 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (15)