Latest Posts

Cloned Beer Reviews: Black Sheep Ale

Published on 29 February 2020 in Homebrew, beer, Cloned Beer Reviews

The first in an occasional series, comparing a homebrew clone of a beer you can buy in the shops.

The variation of bus fares in Greater Manchester

Published on 28 January 2020 in Uncategorized

A Stagecoach Manchester bus on the 358 route, stood at New Mills bus station

Recently I had to decide what the best single ticket was to buy in order to use four buses. But if I had paid for each of those four buses individually, what would that have cost me? And what was the cost per mile?

Navigating the craziness of day tickets in Manchester’s public transport network

Published on 15 January 2020 in Transport, bus deregulation, buses, Greater Manchester

A common complaint about rail fares is how complex they are. That trying to work out the cheapest fare often requires a great deal of research and knowledge. Given how many times friends and family have asked me what the best ticket to buy for whatever scenario, there has to be some truth in this. But it's not a problem isolated to trains. It's true of buses as well. And other modes of travel like trams too.

Greater Manchester’s ten brand names for council leisure centres

Published on 8 January 2020 in Life, brand names, branding

Greater Manchester consists of ten different councils. Each has their own different operator used for their council owned leisure centres. Let's look at how they brand them. Because the world has been waiting for this level of analysis.

All the swimming pools I’ve been in since April 2015 – the rest of the UK

Published on 7 January 2020 in Life, All The Swimming Pools, Lake District, leisure centres, Scotland, swimming, Wales

Keswick Pool - a great day out whatever the weather

Wales! England! Scotland! Swimming pools!

2010-2019: a decade that was

Published on 31 December 2019 in Life

Ten years have happened. This means we need to do a 'thing'.

Would YouTube not be a better place if every video had funky title sequence?

Published on 1 November 2019 in Entertainment, Life, Television, Travel and Holidays, TV Programmes, Walking, Rambling Man, Video editing, YouTube

For a long time I made YouTube videos. I enjoyed making YouTube videos. But then I stopped making YouTube videos. For many reasons. But mostly due to them not having a title sequence.