Dom Pannell's Blog

The Ridgeway 27/08/2006

My good chum Sven and I spent most of Sunday tramping along the Ridgeway - from East of Wantage to Ashbury, if I am precise. We stayed the night in the splendid Rose & Crown in the idyllic Ashbury (behind Sven in this photo).

We had a chat to the owners who explained that they took over the business 6 months ago and to date they've only renovated the pub area. They are now moving onto the breakfast room before tackling the hotel rooms - here's a view from the room we stayed in.

If the part they've completed is anything to go by, it'll be spectacular in a year or so - of course that means the prices will probably go up from what we paid (£82 for a twin room including a substantial supper and a huge full English breakfast for the pair of us!). Good pint of Arkell's 3B on draught, too!

Barely a stone's throw from Swindon... I really should get out of London more often!

Full set of photos from Sunday here.

Web 2.0

This is what I look like after I've been 2.0-ified:

thanks to Logo Creatr by Alex P (hat-tip to Stowe Boyd).

I've been talking to a few people about Web 2.0 (and all the other 2.0s) recently - I even gave a talk about it at Warwick University earlier in the year - and I'm glad to report that it's not just me that thinks it's a load of bunkum!

The way I see it, 2.0 is mainly about finding a way for venture capitalists to justify investing in the Web again... judging by the number of start-ups that I know have found funding over recent months, it's working!

EDIT It seems I'm not the only one to be cynical about Web 2.0; none other than Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the web "has dismissed Web 2.0 as useless jargon nobody can explain and a set of technology that tries to achieve exactly the same thing as "Web 1.0."" /EDIT

Posh feet

Several people have told me that I should rub my feet with surgical spirits, AKA rubbing alcohol, to toughen them up for walking.

After several vain attempts to find the stuff in chemists near to where I live, I gave up.

I was having a Swedish supper this evening (herrings, prawns, etc.) with a little nip of vodka when it struck me that there's precious little difference between rubbing alcohol and what I was drinking... minutes later and my tootsies have just had a bath of Absolut (the plain flavour... they don't smell of blackcurrants or anything!).

Kul, eller hur?

Anyway, I'm off tomorrow to conquer the Ridgeway with my buddy Sven. Details to follow...

Crisis people

So here I am wondering whether or not I should try and use my attempt to conquer the 3 peaks to raise a few quid for charity... then I receive an email from one of the Crisis volunteers I've got to know over the past 5 years.

Suzie is a Crisis Open Christmas stalwart, having been volunteering for the past 11 years. Unable to take part in the Great North Run earlier this year, she has decided to raise funds by shaving her head instead.

Blimey.

I guess most of it'll have grown back by Christmas...

On walking.

So anyway, I signed up to attempt the "Three Peaks Challenge" on the second weekend of September.

Shouldn't be too hard, eh? I mean, I have hiked a fair bit in the past and I've got a cracking pair of walking boots that I picked up in Sweden (I left Sweden in 1998 so they're arguably a bit old).

Well, six of us went for a warm up on the Epsom Downs on Sunday. The more observant among you will notice that the name Epsom Downs does not bear any relation to 'mountain' or even 'large hill' and you'd be right. For the most part, the Downs are very flat.

Notwithstanding that, after a mere six hours or so of walking, my feet are a mess: I'm two toenails short of what I had on Saturday and I'm also sporting a magnificent blister on each heel. I've even managed a bruise on one insole.

At least my muscles aren't aching!

I've got three weeks to get my feet in decent enough shape to tackle Britain's three highest peaks.

I wonder if I should do this with charity sponsorship?

EDIT: I have posted some photos from Sunday here. I decided to spare you pics of my feet!

Epsom Downs 130806

Aug 13, 2006 - 19 Photos

I found my links

thanks to Google's cache, I've now got a Word document containing the following links:

Language Links
Citylangues online
EuroTalk Interactive
Language Army
Michel Thomas

Networks
ConnectViaBooks
EuroCircle
MR GREENS
Soflow

Blogroll
Dom's Chums
The Artfinder Blog
Cogitation Station
Corporate Venturing
Christophe Langlois
The Dude Blog
Envigour - Dave Jennings
Epiphany - Jen Clowes
Freddie Daniells
Mind the Gap
Meals on Blogs
Music Bites
Musings of a Mobile Marketer
Musings From A Small Village
noodlepie
Park & Park
Paul Makepeace
Sensei G
Workjoy - Nick Gendler

Corporate Communications
173 Drury Lane
Analyst Insight
Bazaarz
Charlene Li's Blog
Constantin Basturea’s weblog
Dangerous Thinking
Delusions of Adequacy
Guardian Unlimited: Technology
Johnnie Moore
Max Blumberg Positioning Game
Micro Persuasion
Open (finds, minds, conversations)...
PR Insights
PR Squared
RussellBeattie.com
Spin Bunny is no more, RIP
Technology PR
The New View From Object Towers

Communications & Technology
TEDBlog

General Interest
David Allen
Extreme Ironing Bureau :: Ironing under the sky
Political Gastronomica


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NOW I'VE GOT TO WORK OUT HOW TO RECREATE THE RIGHT-HAND COLUMN SO I CAN PUT THEM BACK.

Crivens! No links!

All the links have disappeared from the right-hand side of this blog... I don't actually know where they've gone - I wonder if this is a quirk of MovableType...

Now where's that spanner?

Simon D Superstar - the dawn of a new era?

I'm off to Islington Town Hall this morning for the wedding of Simon and Giselle.

I've known Simon Darvill since we were fifteen (so that's more than twenty years now). The first time we met was when our respective schools played rugby against each other; just before kick-off, Simon ran up to all of the forwards on our team (I was a prop) and half-roared/half-screamed into our faces.

The next time we met was also in a rugby match; Simon broke my arm in a tackle and went on to score - if I remember correctly, my team still won ('tho I was already in hospital by the time the final whistle was blown).

I'll be the witness at the ceremony, if I'm not late.

I've published a few photos of Simon's stag weekend in Manchester in Manchester from two weeks ago... nothing outrageous, but Simon sang the Smiths brilliantly. If you don't believe me, you can judge for yourself here!

I expect I'll post an account of today's events at some point.