A blog by Ross of Penge (formerly of Balham)

I blogged pretty extensively during 2014 and early 2015, but got out of the habit. In the time since there has been a huge amount I've sort of wanted to write about (politics, terror etc) but I haven't. I tried several times, but anger and frustration about what was happening prevented me from getting things down in a coherent form. Given I couldn't express what I felt, and it didn't seem like it would make a difference anyway, I let it lie fallow.

It's now early 2017, and I'm back, blogging about my attempt to do the first month of the year without social media. After that, who knows?

And why gateway2thesouth? Named after a famous sketch popularised by Peter Sellers:

"Broad-bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign,
Lies Balham, four-square on the Northern Line."

I lived in Balham for 23 years - longer than I have been anywhere else, and it still feels like one of the places in the world I most belong.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

One day to go

So, per the header, my year of blogging starts in earnest tomorrow.

In a bit of panic, however, I thought I'd better dust off the old blogging format and get ready / remove the excuses for getting started come January 1st.

I'm still not really sure what I shall be writing about. Music seems certain to be a major part of it (I sing - quite a bit), together with my tendency to get mildly cross about pseudo-science, quackery and other such tripe. And I am sure that examples of poor, if not downright evil, government will be highlighted if there happen to be any *sets four-hourly alarm*.

In my work life I am involved in the legal system and I have very strong views about (the lack of) access to justice and where we have gone badly wrong over the last few years. I'm going to try and steer away from that because it gets pretty heavy, and because for me this isn't about work. But you can be sure something during the year will wind me up enough to get onto the page.

Throw in some diet / health stuff and perhaps something about whatever books I'm reading right now and that's probably a fair starting point.

What there won't be much of: films (don't do much of them), reality TV - in fact, TV generally (others do it well enough and to comment on it I probably have to watch it) and sport - which I do love but can be a bit alienating.

So, here's to it - let's see how far we get!