Local authorities are increasingly consulting residents on implementing policy that significantly affects their lives. Oxfordshire County Council alone has 31 open traffic consultations at the time of writing. Even a single consultation takes effort to read, understand and reply to, so each needs to be easy to understand for residents. With 31 consultations in progress... Continue Reading →
I should have realised that attempting to use a train to travel anywhere more complicated than London was a mistake. We booked tickets to go to Cornwall this weekend. All peachy - only a small second mortgage required. Now we discover (because we checked - not because anyone thought to tell us) that the train... Continue Reading →
As well as the day job and a bit of scribbling about watches, I work with the splendid Speakers for Schools organisation. In February '17, John Marston, the headteacher at St. Birinus school in Didcot invited me to speak to some of his students. I talked to them about how important it is to fail... Continue Reading →
Oh, look - MMC's posting pictures of watches again. Yes, it's a rather nice GW-5000, the one with the proper screwdown back and metal inner case (G-Shock nerds only need apply). But it's the time on the screen that's significant, not the watch. Why? On 10 December last year, just before 10am, I was away... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/OAIro_A1CYw At this time of year, for me, as the temperature goes down and the decorations go up, there’s always a ‘Carols for Choirs’ shaped gap. As a six year old boy treble and then as a young counter tenor and bass, the weeks from September onwards meant only one thing - Christmas. The... Continue Reading →
Electric cars need to be plugged in every now and then. But what do you do if you haven't got a driveway? As the countryside around Bampton fills with huge new housing estates and commuters, even the lanes that lead to major routes are rammed in rush hour. Traffic on the A40 is moving so... Continue Reading →
I've not worked as an advertising copywriter since June 2013. I'm rather relieved about this. A recent Twitter post about difficult clients reminded me why, so I dredged this out of my 'drafts' folder. It's a piece I wrote in March 2008 to try and illustrate why the traditional client/agency relationship in advertising was (and... Continue Reading →
241 years ago today, John Harrison, one of Britain's finest clockmakers died. He left behind designs for a clock that makes the accuracy of that quartz watch on your wrist look pretty average. Chances are, your quartz will be be reasonably sharp. Probably just +/- 15 seconds a month. Not shabby, given the low price of a... Continue Reading →
There weren't many better places to enjoy clear, blue sky and things with engines than Brooklands last Saturday. It must have been a study for the English country idyll in 1906 when Hugh Locke King (the chap who owned most of Weybridge) decided to build the world's first motor racing track on his fields and woods. All the... Continue Reading →
December 18th. Nick Whitelock sat at his desk by the window and looked out as the cold, winter rain tracked its way down the pane. “Sleet, more like.” he thought to himself. He was, as usual, the last one in the office. The rest of them would be in the Arms by now, backs to... Continue Reading →
MMC Musings 