The all new, new look, new Wibsite

It has been a long time coming, but the Wibsite (community site of my friend Dave Walkers) has been redesigned and brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

http://wibsite.com/



Well done to Chris, the technical brain behind it, for such a good job. Do take a look around, many of my friends have blogs on there, and my old blog is still lurking there with intent to spring into life one day. (http://neil.wibsite.com/)

5 Things on 2 days off

I am on the second of 2 days off work today, I had built up a fair bit of lieu time so booked 2 random days in August off mistakenly thinking the weather would be lovely...

So instead of laying around drinking cider in the sun here are five unrelated things I have been doing and thinking about in the last week.



1. I am getting rather excited about the Olympics, generally I am indifferent about most sport, but this seems an exceptionally large and important event, with all the added side news stories of human rights, smog and drugs. From tomorrow I will be glued to BBC1 and FiveLive.

2. Been watching a few films, Anchorman last night (never seen it before, and although it's very silly it made me laugh lots), some fairly poor Woody Allen efforts, Stardust, and on Sunday night re watched There will be Blood, which is just as good, if not better the second time.



3. Amazon sent me an email this morning telling me about a new book. “As someone who has purchased or rated books by Sophocles, you might like to know his new book will be released on 14 August...” amazing, after 2500 years he is still churning them out!

4. The SPCK bookshops saga rumbles on, I feel that some of the bloggers on this issue are getting a bit obsessed and occasionally silly about the whole matter, but it has been interesting to see that Private Eye magazine have picked up the story (http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/better-than-a-cartoon-private-eye/) and my sense of vanity notes that I got a mention on Phil Grooms blog (http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/sunday-sermon/).

5. Not totally unconnected from the previous point is the fact I have finally booked to go to Greenbelt this year. I was in two minds about going (saving money for the Rome trip being the main concern), but have decided to book it anyway. The year I missed going to Greenbelt felt odd, like I had not had a proper summer, or space to relax with like-minded people. I have also not seen some people for ages, such as Dave and Maddie, Ship of Fools people, Steve and all the other people I bump into year after year. The Wibsite (http://www.wibsite.com) gathering is also always an event to remember.

Former SPCK Bookshops and Blogging

It seems that the saga deepens, my friend Dave has been told by Mark Brewer (current owner of the SPCK bookshops chain, and my former employer) to take down all the posts relating to the former SPCK bookshops on his blog (http://cartoonchurch.com/blog/) or legal action will ensue. The SSG/SPCK blog that I referred to a few weeks ago has also been put into "Red Alert" mode by its caretaker owner. (http://spckssg.wordpress.com/).

This is a sorry state of affairs for all involved, and I feel for Dave who has done a great journalistic job keeping people up to date with the fate of the bookshops (both good and bad developments) to have this added pressure on him at an already busy time at the Lambeth conference (see http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/blog).

It also makes me fearful for the freedom of bloggers who are powerless against the bullying of large companies, or as in this case just someone with more money than them.

For further discussion and opinion see these links:-

The Wardman Wire http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/07/23/my-name-is-dave-walker-people-posting-about-mark-brewers-cease-and-desist-notice/

MadPriest http://revjph.blogspot.com/2008/07/dave-walker-cartoonist-and-martyr.html

Ship of Fools discussion http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=010601;p=5

Welcome to exeblog

Welcome to my new blog, exeblog. The lack of capital letter on the exe bothers me slightly, but that's how it is, and I will just have to live with that, or change it – that would be an option too, and it is always good to keep your options open.

Anyway, quibbling over a capital letter that may or may not be there is not why this blog has been set up (although there are whole blogs on the subject, see http://spandg.blogspot.com/ or http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/) No this blog has been set up by me to document the things I see and do around my home town of Exeter. Exciting huh?

In a blog elsewhere I tend to ramble on about random things, and indeed this is reflected in the name of that blog (see http://www.wibsite.com/wiblog/neil/), but I felt the need for somewhere more focused to put my experiences and musings of Exeter. So if I see a badger crossing Cowley Bridge Road, or a man naked in ASK, or hear about a disgraced teacher in Pinhoe, or a bomb in town then this is the place I will ramble about it. How focused is that?

I am hoping that comments from people with connections with Exeter will liven things up too, and if it all ends up being really dull and pretentious then I see Blogger includes a hand “Delete Blog” button, and I won't be shy to use it.

So let the blog begin... (probably tomorrow though, as I have a nice bottle of Rosé open, and it is begging to be consumed).