I can’t quite believe that this little blog site has hit 300,000 hits!
It seems, according to the wonderful people at WordPress, that I have written 1,482 posts since September 2009. That month there were just 41 hits! I do know that the actual stats are higher since 296 of you subscribe – so get the blog in your mailbox when I publish. I also know that my 169 friends on Facebook also read the blog through fb – so that doesn’t count here either. And then there’s the 1,492 twitter followers!
The stats are flattering.
As you know, latterly I have been trying to get a business plan written for Nottingham – and I think we are making some progress, but the next stage needs to be in a different forum. I haven’t quite decided where that is – or whether it is for me to do!
I still believe Nottingham is a great place and I remain passionate that Nottingham can be so much better.
If I’m honest I’m not sure the blog will continue – you might have noticed that the posts have become slightly less frequent of late. I’m a bit busy at work – and that is not going to get better. I’m also heavily involved in Nottingham Squash Club – particularly in the run up to the European Championships in September. The blog might need to take a back seat.
I’m also thinking about doing a more visual blog – we have some really interesting shops and buildings appearing in Nottingham. I have in a mind a more ‘Monocle‘ approach!
Then again, I might just keep on bloggin…..
In the meantime – thanks for dropping by – it was really nice to see you here!
Welcome back!
So, that’s 2013 put to bed. Off we go again – hurtling headlong into to 2014.
I think we finished 2013 on a bit go a higher note than recent years – so let’s hope that wave of confidence carries on. As the saying goes, there is much to do!
So where are heading?
In terms of my professional life – I think this will be a good year – challenging but good. As the feel good factor continues we should see a ripple out from London into the regions. In fact one of the messages you might see is that London is over-heating – why not come somewhere cooler! More on that theme later – particularly around MIPIM in March.
My role at the Squash Club is set to be a little more challenging as we continue to try to attract people to this brilliant sport. The Clubs premiership team won’t win – but if we carry on the way we have played over the last few matches we might make the play-offs. Then the big event of the the year will be that we are hosting the European Club Championships in September. Up to 30 teams from across Europe will come to the Park to compete. I seem to have acquired the title “Tournament Director”.
I said I would think carefully about the blog. I have considered giving it a bit of a longer rest – but still think it has a place in my life. When I look back at the last year and what I have covered there is still a lot about Nottingham – not always complimentary. But always from a perspective that we can do better. So that is going to continue- but I am going to try and push Nottingham into a business plan as envisaged by Bill Grimsey. Even if I have to start writing it here! And thats where you come in – this is not my Business Plan – I think the people who tend to drop by here and stay / comment are all on the scale of interested / passionate about the City. More on that tomorrow …
Oh and finally, there will be those little things I come across that amuse or irritate me!
Our shopping habits!
I saw an interesting blog from Nick Riley in the week – Nick is a good friend and a talented Architect. You should read it here.
I actually saw the programme he referred to – looking behind the scenes of Britain’s supermarkets with Greg Wallace. It was a fascinating insight to how this whole industry operates. I have made my feelings now here in the past that I have a reticence about some of these major supermarkets and what the do to small retailers – but it is clear that I’m not going to stop their inexorable rise!
In fact I was in Leicester in the week – and on the site of the old ‘lightbulb factory’ just north of the city centre a new Sainsbury’s is being fitted out. It is 87,000 sq ft. This is difficult to comprehend for most people. If you look at an Olympic swimming pool (50m x 25) that is pretty big – well the new supermarket could house 6 ½ pools!
Outside of London most of the big four supermarkets are moving away from these monstrous boxes and into ‘convenience’ footprints – those ones that do destroy the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker for sure! But this is what we want, apparently.
I was also interested in the actually foodstuff and spent some time last week with a farmer client. The way in which our food is produced is quite fascinating. He was telling me about the premium paid for ‘organic’ foodstuff – on average it can be 250% of the bulk farmed produce. So why doesn’t everyone do this? The method of farming is different – it doesn’t allow weed-killer or artificial feed – and so the comparable yield of the crop is around 30%. And, it is much harder work rotating crops!
In our 100mph lives it is interesting sometimes to stop and think about what we are doing – especially when it comes to that most important of functions – eating.
And all is not what it seems!
Situation Vacant – for a bright surveyor
The Nottingham evening Post used to be the place to go to for jobs – and I guess it still is. But not for what I am after!
This is a bit of an experiment. My assistant has decided that she needs a change after 6 years and is off to pastures new. She goes with my best wishes as I think it is a great career move.
But I need someone to replace her. The Evening Post is not really the place to go. Advertising in the national press is really expensive and last time I used it yielded little or no responses.
So I wonder if my blog might help?
If you know someone who is (ideally) qualified in the last 12/24 months to MRICS level, wants to work on some interesting projects, isn’t afraid of hard work (!) and can start very soon, I’d love to hear from them. There’s quite a bit of property management, valuations, Landlord & Tenant work and lots of other varied jobs!
It’s not hard to find me if you know someone who might fit the bill. I really just need a CV at this stage. And I’ll let you know via this blog how successful this approach has been!
Finally – an easy test. If you are the sort of person who admires those candidates (or aspires to be at their standard) on The Apprentice – save yourself the digital stamp…
Merry Christmas & a prosperous New Year!
It’s that time of year when I need to go and do a bit of shopping!
And my blog needs a bit of a break. It’s been a roller coaster year with the hit rate going through 200,000 and the average page views at around 375 each weekday. That ignores the email list – which adds another thousand or so…
I’ll be back in the New Year – with more blogs about what I think is going on in this neck of the woods. And I hope I’ll still be saying what you’re thinking. Or causing trouble generally. Apparently it’s what I do best.
I’m upbeat about 2013 – hope you are too.
In the meantime – I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. But do remember:
* 1,000 people are injured in Christmas Tree ‘incidents’ each year
* 350 people are hurt by Christmas Tree lights
* On average 59 people are treated for ‘acute intoxication’ on New Years Day (2007 was a record at 258 idiots)
* 25 people died from slipping on the ice or snow last Christmas.
It’s a dangerous time of year!!
Post script: this temporary holiday has nothing to do with the end of the world by the way. That’s happening at 11am UK time today, so this may well be the last ever blog. If we don’t get obliterated by Nibiru (a planet hiding behind the sun)- I’ll be back in January.
Tim Garratt
Nottingham
200,000 lovely people
I can’t quite believe that 200,000 people have dropped by this little corner of the blogosphere… but they have. So thanks to all who have dropped by – it’s been good to see you!
Of course the unique hits are only a part of the story as just over 1,000 people get a little email / tweet every time a blog post gets published, so the real number of readers is much higher.
I’m not sure where the blog is going next – it’s likely it will have a bit of a rest over the Xmas period…
In the meantime – thanks again…
1,000 posts done….
So, this is it. This my 1,000th blog post! This little blog started back in September 2009 – and seems to have developed a life of it’s own since then. Sometimes it is easy to do, other times I have to dig deep.
In the early days getting 12 hits in a day was regarded as a major result. Last month there were 12,600 unique hits – at an average of just over 400 per day. Understandably the weekends are quieter – when the days hits drop to around 250. The count has grown consistently for the last six months.
However, that doesn’t tell the whole story as I know that quite a lot of people (around 1,500) get the blog via email / twitter each day – and if they don’t actually click on the web page, they don’t get counted! So, the true daily count is higher than my daily average shown.
It’s odd sometimes when people approach me about my blog – and I have no idea who they are!
I’m often asked if I will carry on – and whether it is very time consuming. The answer to the latter is that it probably takes me a couple of hours a week to maintain it. Whether I carry on, the answer is yes for the time being – it can be quite cathartic!
I also think we live in a society where we should be able to have a view about things. If you disagree I actively encourage debate. I once offered a local MP an opportunity o comment on a blog which she took exception too. She wanted the blog post removing – which I wouldn’t do on a point of principle. But I did promise to print her comments without editing them, she declined… So much for debate!
So, onwards and upwards? Thanks for dropping by!
I must have stopped counting….
There was a time when I marked blog hits with a little picture… But I wondered way the milestones ought to be when I passed 100,000 hits. Well today I went through 120,000 – which is pretty amazing – so thanks for dropping by.
I guess 150,000 hits is worth celebrating?
In the meantime, I’ll try to keep up the posts. I think there may be a Mayoral flavour over the next few weeks. I would be really interested in learning what peoples views are on the Mayor argument. I think it would be a good thing, but the No campaign clearly have a view that it is a waste of money…
In the meantime, I’ll try to also bring you more news on Nottingham and anything else that catches my eye!
100,000 hits – wow
I am not sure when I started this little blog thing that I ever imagined that the hits would reach the magical and dizzy heights of 100,000! I was getting 10 or 15 hits a day and thought this was pretty good. At that rate 100,000 was a long way off…Today there around 250 hits a day.
But you have hit this site 100,000 times – a few minutes ago.
I am not sure who had the magical hit – but thanks. In fact thanks to all of you who drop by to this corner of the blogosphere! It is appreciated…
2011 in review – Tim Garratt’s blog…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.