please empty your brain below

If diamond geezer started writing about the really important things in life, like kittens, I'm sure his mood would improve, and so would that of his readers.
Your blog is still the first thing I open in my browser each morning after what, more than ten years since I first found It.This is because there is always new content and it is always worth reading.

You have my attention.

Now please write something about trains.
Not for me I'm train-phobic.
Haha! - excellent followup piece DG!
Oh, you beat me to it. We chose different sample months though - I suppose that would have been too much of a coincidence.

Same results though.
And yes, let's hear more about how it's great. COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE:

https://twitter.com/Superfast72/status/647716886101270528
Same as comment one....I read this firsf (unless up before 7am!)

How did I miss the piece abouf plastic bags.....most have been an "all enclosing" piece.
The fact that most people won't investigate, and speak out against, important issues where things are working less well than they might, is why things are in the state they are currently.

Many people are blaming 'politicians', but I blame 'public apathy' and 'the media' - now the world's paymaster, and the fact that 'politicians' are advised by non-political civil servants who really aren't of the calibre they once were.

Outside of 'politics', many people see the issues, but care more about keeping their jobs than about standing up for what's right (in the public but also in private sectors).

The world's thinking is dumbed down. Please don't stop pointing out inadequacies and daft decisions.

I don't think it's 'negative', but rather common sense which is much less common these days.
i prefer the moaning that all that stuff about Bow
Usually when people say "you can prove anything with statistics", it rather annoys me.

However:

You can prove anything with statistics.
We haven't moaned about the "Dangleway" for a while.
the transition to shorter days after the autumn equinox obviously brings a sense of doom which encourages morbid introspection
The writer's refusal to update the design of his website indicates a regrettable reluctance to move with the times; likewise the lack of selfies. However, this omission is more than compensated for by the high standard of the accompanying photographs which range from the breathtakingly beautiful to the amusingly quirky.
We all enjoy a good old moan, especially if it's a justified rant about big organisations that ought to serve their public better (e.g. post office closures and pillar boxes left in the wrong place, 25 buses in bunches, desparate dangleway promotions, cycleways taking precedence over bus users and pedestrians, loss of late mail collections, etc. etc,)

Stories of fluffy kittens might be appealing, but the readership would soon drift away.

My other regular morning read is Public Transport Experience, which is nearly always a good old rant about bus operators (outside London) failing, in one way or another.
http://publictransportexperience.blogspot.co.uk/

Really sets you up for the day !
You're not a Grumpy Geezer, - rather it's a sign of the times that you have more to moan about.
Particulalry since 7th May 2015.
Unremitting moaning and criticism is tedious: constructive criticism is what many organisations need even if they don't want it, so DG, I think you have got the balance spot on. I can remember only one blog in the last few months that I thought was a moan and I cannot even remember the topic! Keep writing in the same vein please.
Absolutely classic ! Your blog is interesting because it's so refreshingly unpredictable, yet it often strikes a chord and the old favourites are still worthwhile.

Wanting to make things better often means that shortcomings have first to be identified; only by eliminating the negatives can you achieve the positives.

Creative people often have introspective moments. Just don't cut your ear off !
Marathon runners always 'hit the wall' - maybe there is a blogging wall too.
Now that you have tried out all your technical blogging skills - how about an occasional return to the lurid colour-ways, quizzes, tests and other interactive stuff you used to surprise us with?
I do miss the 'conversations' that used to occur in the comments - stand alone comments are interesting here but there used to be an extra fizz, long gone I'm afraid.
If DG is actually getting negative, maybe he should get out more, particularly in this early Autumn sunshine!
It was a bold experiment by DG when he decided to let a junior member of his editorial team write a guest post. I suspect the staffer in question may not be allowed such licence again for a while!
Dear DG! Please go on moaning and writing about anything you wish! Actually I quite liked the piece about Slough. I admit I usually skip the bits about the cycle highway though.
Tomorrow is another day...and yesterday is gone. Trouble is many people spend too much time worried about money, their future health, the state of the country, crime, debt, family, the weather, the traffic/transport system(s), climate change, war, inflation, interest rates, etc than actually "living" and being happy. That from someone who (it seems) is grumpy. Have a good day all! ;)
I enjoyed this post.
'In a city of over eight million people, why should one voice be more important?'
Because they have something to say that is fresh and interesting, as DG has, whether the observation is positive or negative.
Perhaps DG should invite selected commentors to accompany him on his next photo walk. Picnic, anyone? Crowd surfing?

Of course, DG could wear a full burka to protect his privacy :-)

The resulting photo gallery would certainly be interesting. I wonder whether we'd all be totally homogenous or utterly disparate?

Just as long as DG doesn't merrily lead us all into the river, Pied Piper style...
I love the irony of this - a post (arguably) complaining about too much complaining!

Seriously though, I do enjoy your nice mix of positive and negative posts - variety is most important. I can't stand the constant praising of everything you get on some sites - it's so grating.
As a resident of Bow this blog is a daily go to, as short of going outside to see what is happening, Diamond Geezer has his blog on the pulse of what is happening locally. A journalist blogger with connections others don't have. Keep up the good work. And yes, its OK to blog about transport, London or elsewhere. And on another topic your review of Open House, Millenium Mills Newham is a classic.
I wish I could write like you
The one statistic I'm sure of is:
September 2014 - my favourite blog to read was diamondgeezer
September 2015 - my favourite blog to read is diamondgeezer.
Hey, more local moaning tomorrow.
Well, since you asked...
I'd be lying to say I haven't noticed a bit of a shift in the tone (probably, like you say, over the last year or so), and also something more of a political slant which I could best describe as anti-capitalist (which is most apparent in posts about investment property and real estate).
This does seem to have struck a chord with a strong chunk of your readers as many of the comments now follow similar sympathies.
There's not much wrong with having an occasional rant. I had a bit of one on Monday :)


"some of them short piddly things that smacked of no effort whatsoever. Commentary on capital-wide projects came a clear second, although these were generally lazy armchair rants based on limited understanding of the topic in hand."

Yes, but no other blogger puts in as much shoe leather as the Diamond Geezer - and no other blogger quite captures that same reasoned bitter tone to match the humor of Sam Beckett.

As I recall from reading my Beckett, the characters there also put in many miles of trudging through flat muddy landscapes.

And most likely no other blogger gets by with as many discounted museum tickets or freebies as the Diamond Geezer. So I'll keep reading despite the encroaching bitterness.
Love y o u
Not sure why spaces were added
No complaints here.
I just like reading the thoughts of an intelligent man, and appreciate that he shares them with others. Rants are human.
Don't leave us.
While I hadn't noticed the opening of the Thames Estuary Path at the time, thanks to your blogposts I ended up walking the whole thing - and it showed me another side of a part of the world that I thought I knew well already.

I know that wasn't the point of *this* post but I thought you might like to know anyway. I'd probably still be in blissful ignorance were it not for your blog. So thank you.










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