Dear Diary, The first full week of 2024 has come to an end and I can safely say I have abided by one of my New Year’s Resolutions – to be more active. I did set numerous others which I have broken, including getting to bed earlier, he writes at 1.40am, but increasing my activity […]
Wooah. That took a while. I have spent some time on the very last day of 2023, and in truth a few days after, reflecting on the year gone by. The main way this was done was by looking at all of the photos I have taken from the year. There were a lot of […]
What makes me me? I am very nostalgic. I often look back with fondness of times by gone. I could predict this growing sentimentality of the past even when I was young. Moments had to be marked. Photos were collected of early secondary school years for our Leavers’ assembly. I was the one who organised […]
This weekend just gone I was cycling everyday. It worked out that two cycling events fell on the Friday and Saturday and I arranged for the Sunday. Opps. Lots of pedalling! I was a bit tired towards the end of it, but each event is all about enabling and encouraging people to cycle so it […]
Today I ran my first ever Parkrun! I had heard about Parkruns for a few years and recently was inspired by my friend Simon, who said he partakes in his local one and does others in areas which he visits. Simon was actually planning on cycling here to do this one and I were to […]
The Sunday before last was the fourth Kidical Mass Nottingham ride. At the beginning of this year, the ride was only a concept in my mind but through planning, organisation and promotion, I rolled it out and brought together such a successful and growing group ride. This 4th ride was slightly different as the we […]
On the Sunday 18th June it was the second Kidical Mass Nottingham! The first ride was well attended despite a rainy morning so this time, with word getting out and the weather being on our side, 55 people attended! It was so heartwarming to see so many families being able to cycle around our city. […]
Yesterday was the very first Kidical Mass cycle ride! I wanted to launch Kidical Mass here in Nottingham after deciding towards the end of last year that we needed a family oriented ride on a weekend day. In collaboration with the North South Active Travelway (NSAT), I pushed the idea of a family ride and […]
If only I could understand how my mind works. I posted an incredibly late review of my 2021 on the very last day of 2022 and thought to myself that with this new “do it” attitude it would mean that within a few days I would then upload the more recent photos from the year […]
Did I intend to publish this just about 365 days ago? Yes, I did. “Oh I’ll write this tomorrow,” I thought to myself. Tomorrow became next week and then it never came about. There’s always something else to do. Ahhhh. I just managed before the end of 2021 to make a monumental move into my […]
If you are searching for something to watch to get you into the Christmas spirit, or perhaps not, I recommend ‘Christmas In A Day’. I say not only because the film shows how it is individuals mark it in such a magnitude of ways from the full on traditional day to more modern iterations. The […]
New powers to improve safety on Nottingham’s roads? I have long called for further enforcement of both moving and parking offences. I read about the idea of moving moving traffic offences from the hands of the police to councils a couple of years ago. Legislation has finally passed meaning it is now a possibility. With […]
A few weekends ago was Nottinghamshire Pride. I had such a brilliant and action packed weekend and I wanted to write about it here. It was my first one as a resident of Nottingham. The fact I could go back to my home comforts for a bit of a rest, to recharge myself and my […]
I’m back! Finally I have posted here on my website after months and months of absence. Lots has happened and lots will happen. The biggest news is that I have moved to Nottingham! I’m so pleased. I’m certain I will backfill this blog but I needed to post right now otherwise more and more months […]
We now have a new council – the North Northants Unitary and May 6th presents an opportunity to vote in a better solution in Wellingborough and North Northamptonshire. With services all controlled by one authority, our overall travel and transport strategy can be unified and can be so much better if it becomes Labour controlled. […]
Hello! I can now officially call myself a Labour candidate in the upcoming Local Elections for the new unitary authority! I was a prospective candidate but now my paperwork is all handed in and the proper campaigning shall begin, as candidate Samuel Shoesmith! I am standing to become a councillor for the Wellingborough’s Croyland and […]
Hello March! Let’s March on with the blog! It is the first of March in case you hadn’t noticed and as is common for me to ask, how did that happen? Where does the time go – but I shall not ruminate on this as time passing quickly means we are closer to near normality. […]
I have blinked and the month of January has past me by. I remember as we rolled into 2021 I had an expectation that this month was going to last an age. The miserable weather, the short days and the ongoing lockdown all combined to mean a long month in my mind. As what happened […]