50,000 Page Views: Passing A Milestone (But Not In A Car)

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.

Mapping Bunny Munro: Nick Cave and Fictional (?) Brighton and Hove

Bunny Munro owns a car. He needs it for his job – sort of. It is a yellow Fiat Punto. He drives it around Brighton and Hove, where he is a travelling salesman. Bunny might not sell much, but he gets plenty of sex and drugs, a bit of rock and roll…and a lot more besides. Bunny’s author Nick Cave should know his locations – he lives here. I nearly crashed into him (on foot) on the pavement not far from his place on Hove seafront, just round the corner from Dave Gilmour’s gaff. Nick used Brighton and Hove, and points east and west, for his book “The Death of Bunny Munro”. Now MockDuck has done a public service by Googlemapping the book’s locations. One possible addition to her map: the Dudman depot on the coast road between Hove and Shoreham: it’s home to those big concrete mixer trucks seen on the roads around here, and which loom large in the book. Enough said.

Nick Cave (again)

You only get a blue plaque when you’re dead. Fortunately, when Nick Cave’s car encountered a speed camera on Hove seafront, it was the camera that came off worst.   Now it sports the informal equivalent of a blue plaque for the living: graffiti which confirms “NICK CAVE WAZ ERE XMAS 2010”

Nick Cave Leaves His Mark on Hove Seafront

Nick Cave is one of Hove’s many adornments. When he is not touring the world in front of The Bad Seeds or parlaying the Gothic grunge of Grinderman, Nick can often be seen around Hove, sometimes ensconced at the family beach hut on the promenade, clad in a suit.  Now Mr Cave has made more of a mark on Hove, by nearly demolishing a speed camera. The picture shows what happened in the recent icy spell, when Nick’s car skidded and pranged a Gatso. Fortunately, no-one in the car was harmed, which is more than can be said for the camera.