For Jules Verne the magic number was 20,000 (Leagues Under The Sea). For cockneys, Londoners born within the sound of Bow Bells, it could be 40,000 – after all, there are “forty fousand fevvers on a frush.” (translation: 40,000 feathers on a thrush.) But for this blog the magic number is 50,000: the number of page views registered since the first post in 2010. So big thanks to everyone who reads it - as these page view figures show, you are a pretty international lot: United States: 30142/United Kingdom: 12385/Canada: 668/Australia: 514/Italy: 445/Germany: 422/France: 418/Russia: 370/Norway: 212/Belgium: 168.
You are also fairly reticent, as in not given to making comments. Perhaps you are in violent agreement with the content? Either way, it would be nice to hear more from you. As for the popularity of the posts, top rankings go to posts on economics and behavioural economics, followed by a short story about the oil running out (A Week to Ten Days), then Banksy, Nick Cave, Dave Gilmour….and Hove greengrocer the late Tony Magdi.
It would be very nice to hear more from you, so please feel free to comment on anything that you see here. And of course, send a link to your friends and anyone who you think might be interested. Onwards and upwards…on foot, by bike, by bus and by train, naturally.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI’ve been reading Life Outside The Box for about 5 months now (love that title, by the way!)
I live in Lincoln and have been car free for about 14 years. I can honestly say I’ve never looked back – although it’s not always easy. Sadly, Lincolnshire County Council is not very forward thinking: last year they cut bus funding by 20% because the “desperately needed” to save the paltry £1m – yet just a fortnight later, announced they were going to spend £50m on a new bypass! I guess they must have found the cash down the back of the sofa...
It must be nice living in a relatively forward thinking place like Brighton. But Lincoln does have its pluses – the city is very compact so you can walk pretty much everywhere, and a proportionally large amount of the city centre is pedestrianised. Just a shame that Lincoln, like most cities in the UK, is seeing an increasing number of edge of town “business parks” and big shed retail parks built – regardless of how many cycle tracks and shuttle buses they tack onto these developments, they simply lock-in car use. There’s just no substitute for “proper” streets.
Anyway, keep up the good work – I’ll certainly be reading!
Jonny
Good to hear from you Jonny, and thanks for the kind words. Sad to hear about Lincoln Council - another example of double standards when it comes to public transport vs private cars. Brighton & Hove not bad by UK standards, but lags compared to comparable European cities, which should be our benchmark for liveable places. All the best.
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