SimonCox

Tech SEO, and other things, other things Michaeleen. Available at https://www.simoncox.com and https://seocommunity.social/@simoncox Also does board games (euro not family) and narrow gauge railway modelling and bakes bread.

1755 followers577 following349 stories

Longform Stories

Publishing an OKF bundle with 11ty

How to publish a Google OKF knowledge bundle using 11ty and Nunjucks templates, with full content, discovery signposting and bot tracking via Cloudflare and Google Sheets.

Jun 17·9 min read·1667 words

RSS Feeds – Follow simoncox.com by Topic or in Full

Subscribe to simoncox.com via RSS — choose a single feed for everything, or pick by topic – SEO, Eleventy, modelling layouts, trips, music and more.

Feb 18·1 min read·130 words

Measuring the effectiveness of your redirects

Do people actually follow old URLs to your site? Set up UTM tracking on your 301 redirects to find out. Here's how I did it with Fathom and GA4.

Feb 13·6 min read·1119 words

Sort ordering for your Fathom Analytics accounts

How to sort out the order of shortcut keystrokes in Fathom Analytics to suit haow you want them to work

Feb 10·2 min read·243 words

Alternate main heading and title in 11ty templates

I wanted a way to display a h1 tag that was different from my title tag

Jan 17·4 min read·665 words

Scotney Castle visit on a cold day

We had a fabulous trip to see the fairytale Scotney Castle and found the lake had frozen over making it a magical sight!

Jan 7·3 min read·451 words

Gluten free veggie sausage roll recipe

A gluten-free vegetarian sausage roll recipe with mature Cheddar, sage, and Jus-Rol puff pastry — including the chilling trick that keeps the filling in place.

Dec 24·4 min read·662 words

Creating a modular approach to json schema in an eleventy website

I wanted a modular and automated way to add json schema to my personal website so built a set of templates and some simple logic to populate the schema.

Oct 28·4 min read·695 words

Creating Cloudflare redirects

How to manage redirects on a Cloudflare Pages site using a _redirects file — notes from migrating directory structure in an 11ty build.

Oct 8·4 min read·701 words

Apple OSX Messages full stops emoticon bug

When macOS Messages throws a wobbly—what broke, how to spot it, and the quick fixes that calm the chaos, with a wink for sufferers of Apple’s little quirks.

Jun 15·2 min read·316 words

What is Simon Cox listening to now?

Tracks from Spotify that Simon Cox is litening to at the moment and recently.

Jun 9·2 min read·379 words

Simon‘s Schema Analyser Chrome Extension

A chrome extension to analyse a web page's use of Schema with some handy details of any schema used and suggestions for schema that might be missing.

Jun 3·4 min read·800 words

What to do with keywords that have dropped out of the rankings

Losing keyword rankings? Maybe it's not a penalty. Learn why tracking irrelevant terms is a trap—and what to do when your rankings drop.

May 1·4 min read·736 words

Recovery from a Bing de-indexing

My personal site vanished from Bings index and it took quite a while to get it back in - here is what I found and did.

Apr 7·12 min read·2360 words

Creating a blogroll page from Mastodon bookmarks

How I used the Mastodon API to turn my bookmarked toots into a living blogroll page on my website — despite JavaScript being a bit of a dark art.

Apr 4·4 min read·755 words

A Winters Day Trip To Rye

An exciting winters day out in beautiful sunshine visiting Winchelsea Beach, Rye Harbour and Rye Town.

Mar 11·4 min read·704 words

Marketing URLs - when and how to use them

Discover why URL shorteners like Bitly may not be ideal for SEO and how to implement your own memorable, branded redirects for better marketing results.

Feb 7·3 min read·564 words

The 2025 blog question challenge answers

I reflect on my blogging journey, platforms like 11ty, my writing process, favorite posts, and Ava’s Bear Blog Challenge.

Jan 20·5 min read·969 words

11ty Git Commit Messages

Stealing Angie's Commit messages for my 11ty needs ensuring that I have a more robust method of tagging my commits so that they can be easily differentiated.

Dec 14·2 min read·251 words

Goods Shed and Ticket Office

Simon Cox builds and revises a model goods shed and ticket office, combining historical references, laser-cut parts, and detailed weathering for realism.

Nov 25·5 min read·927 words

11ty upgrading node in netlify

Simon Cox fixes a failed 11ty build on Netlify by identifying a mismatch in Node versions, updating config settings and documenting the troubleshooting process.

Oct 15·2 min read·304 words

Newspaper style layout for my content

Simon Cox experiments with a newspaper-style layout using CSS columns, grayscale filters, and a custom design to replicate the feel of vintage newsprint.

Sep 14·4 min read·685 words

Home network set up changes

Simon Cox details his home network upgrade, replacing powerline adapters with Devolo Magic 2 for better coverage and performance throughout the house.

Aug 4·4 min read·645 words

The cobbles of Mousehole

Simon Cox shares a scenic view of the charming mythical cobbles of Mousehole, capturing the essence of this picturesque Cornish village in a brief snapshot.

Jul 13·2 min read·316 words

Resin printed figures for Whitesands Quay

Resin printed figures for Whitesands Quay, 3D printed and painted with intricate details, using Modelu files and Elegoo Mars 3 Pro printer.

Jul 8·4 min read·614 words

Whitesands Quay Customs House rocks

Simon Cox uses real fir bark to model rock faces behind the Customs House, applying layers of paint, weathering, and scenic walls to enhance visual depth.

Jun 16·4 min read·609 words

Then I built a new bin store!

Simon Cox discusses designing and building a bin store, highlighting the challenges and solutions in creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing structure.

Jun 3·3 min read·474 words

What ideas does Simon Cox have?

Simon Cox explores creative and technical ideas including Spotify data visualization, Mastodon bookmark integration, 11ty CMS options, and SEO automation tools.

Jun 3·3 min read·560 words

How I Built a Log Store (Plans, Materials List & Costs)

Simon Cox built a new log store for my firewood to replace the pallet crates the logs come in and this includes a plan and materials list.

May 28·15 min read·2984 words

Withywindle Mill - a 009 model railway

A closer look at Withywindle Mill, a 009 scale model railway showcasing a weathered fulling mill, working waterwheel, and carefully crafted scenic details.

Mar 18·3 min read·525 words

11ty collections tag links

Adding tag links to Eleventy posts for better topic navigation and solving an issue with multiple tags by iterating through them to create proper links.

Mar 17·2 min read·277 words

Tracking 404 broken links with Fathom Analytics

How I set up Fathom Analytics to track 404 broken URLs so that I could redirect those links to the correct page.

Feb 11·4 min read·615 words

Do invisible characters in your code cause issues with search?

Can hidden HTML characters can impact SEO. I explore how they affect rankings and share ways to identify and remove them.

Nov 8·3 min read·590 words

Cleaning up the 11ty config

Learn how to organize your 11ty config file by creating separate plugin files. Improve maintainability and readability of your Eleventy project structure.

Oct 29·2 min read·256 words

11ty draft posts

Setting a post to draft in 11ty while writing

Sep 1·1 min read·197 words

Build your own 11ty starter

If you want to build a website quickly then 11ty is a great tool. Here is how I set up my starter pack to get me up and running in a few minutes.

Aug 5·4 min read·608 words

Solving a date display issue in 11ty templates

Fixed a date display issue in 11ty templates by applying the toDateString to format update dates properly to comply with Google’s sitemap requirements.

Jul 7·1 min read·127 words

How I set up lastmod date in my 11ty xml sitemap

Google now want an accurate lastmod date in the xml sitemap. Here is how I set it up in my 11ty site.

Jul 6·3 min read·474 words

11ty image shortcode best practice

Simon Cox outlines how to properly set up and use the 11ty image shortcode, fixing issues with high-res sources, spacing in markdown, and rendering bugs.

Jun 6·2 min read·212 words

Netlify prerender cache

Crawling a newly changed website on Netlify can bring you incorrect cached results!

Jun 4·1 min read·169 words

What is Simon Cox up to now?

Things that Simon Cox is focused on right now - could be anything and everything, including out of date and a misrepresentation of what is really going on.

Jun 4·4 min read·702 words

Stanton Coach chassis progress

Designing a chassis for an OO9 Stanton Coach — weighing up kraft board, etched brass, and 3D printing before settling on the obvious answer.

May 23·1 min read·117 words

Cloudflare Pages error with 11ty build

Troubleshoot Cloudflare Pages errors with 11ty. Set Node version in Environment Variables to resolve build failures and deploy successfully now today.

May 15·2 min read·294 words

Interaction to Next Paint, the new Core Web Vital

INP, Interaction to Next Paint is no longer experimental and is due to be included as part of the Core Web Vitals by March 2024.

May 10·1 min read·119 words

Alternative to Google Analytics

Why I switched from Google Analytics to Fathom Analytics — GA4's 16-month data limit was the tipping point, and this indie Canadian tool fills the gap.

May 10·2 min read·333 words

The HTML Neck Tag — Where Should Broken Head Scripts Go?

Poking fun at the mythical HTML <neck> tag—where semantics meet silliness, standards collide with satire, and web nerds nod knowingly at a cheeky non-element.

May 9·2 min read·216 words

Railway Modellers Club site

Simon Cox introduces myrm.club, a site to showcase model railway layouts with dedicated pages, focusing on discovery and simplified project browsing.

Apr 26·1 min read·93 words

Lightning Strikes

Lightning strikes not far from us knocked out a lot of the villages comms.

Apr 17·2 min read·239 words

Whitesands Quay replacement row of cottages

Simon Cox upgrades a back row of cottages on his Whitesands Quay model using a new SMS kit, focusing on Cornish design, fine details, and historical research.

Apr 3·5 min read·860 words

AI making some astonishing leaps

A look at AI's rapid progress in early 2023 — ChatGPT-4, Google Bard's live URL access, and Midjourney v5's photorealistic image generation.

Mar 23·2 min read·201 words

Whitesands Quay Chapel

Simon Cox replaces cottages with a model chapel inspired by a real Cornish Methodist chapel, detailing design, wrap creation, and laser-cut construction steps.

Mar 4·4 min read·729 words

GSC Page with redirect issue

Are you getting a GSC alert 'Page with redirect' where you added a redirect?

Feb 22·1 min read·96 words

11ty conditional canonical

How I created a conditional canonical tag in my 11ty nunjucks base template.

Feb 13·1 min read·149 words

Making my Stadia controller work on bluetooth

Google Stadia shut down in January 2023, but you can still use the controller — here's how to unlock the Bluetooth for use with any device.

Feb 9·1 min read·117 words

Remove 404 file from sitemap.xml in 11ty

How to remove your 404 file from you mxl sitemap.

Feb 6·1 min read·99 words

Webmentions

I have added webmentions to this 11ty build.

Feb 5·1 min read·52 words

Netlify CMS

Somehow I have managed to add the Netlify CMS to the site.

Feb 4·1 min read·107 words

DandD Character Generator

Simon Cox built a D&D character generator in Basic, gradually improving it over the years to enhance gameplay and support his evolving tabletop adventures.

Feb 4·1 min read·138 words

Website re-platform and a light redesign for 2023

Website rebuild using Eleventy for a faster, flat-file setup. Improved SEO, performance, and design while optimizing hosting with Netlify and Cloudflare Pages.

Feb 3·10 min read·1830 words

11ty inline minified css

Minifying css for 11ty sites.

Feb 3·1 min read·46 words

11ty starter video

The video tutorial I started with.

Feb 3·1 min read·47 words

Shorts are back

I have decided to bring back my small blog posts that I previously called Shorts.

Feb 2·1 min read·76 words

How to get your Wix website verified on Mastodon

Simon Cox explains how to verify a Wix website on Mastodon by embedding a proper link rel=me tag in the site's header for successful identity confirmation.

Nov 8·4 min read·627 words

Creating buildings from laser-cut 2mm MDF and card

Simons railway modelling has been invigorated with a laser-cutter and he explains how he has detailed models of cottages and a Customs house.

Aug 8·5 min read·966 words

Whitesands Quay - a 009 model railway

Simon Cox models a 009 Cornish railway layout inspired by Reinier Hendricksen’s plan, blending handcrafted buildings, analog tech, and personal design tweaks.

Jan 1·2 min read·235 words

Using 11ty to build websites

How I build websites with 11ty — articles and notes from someone who came via Craft and Kirby, and never looked back despite not being a JavaScript fan.

Jan 1·1 min read·182 words

Creating a Cloudflare Worker to lazy load images

Workers are available from Cloudflare and Google Chrome has native lazy loading, so I tested both together.

Aug 28·5 min read·863 words

Pludgebanging words into Google

I was testing out different made up words to see what Google returned because we should all be testing all of the time to ensuer we understand what is going on.

Jul 28·10 min read·1893 words

Using Google Data Studio to review your http to https migration

Migrating from HTTP to HTTPS? I used Google Data Studio to track issues and gain insights for a smooth transition.

Jan 2·8 min read·1424 words

A scratch-built rail-bus for the Ding Dong Moor Railway

I was inspired to scratch build a copy of one of Reinier Hendriksen's rail-buses from his original article of April 1999.

Dec 26·7 min read·1210 words

A first look at Safecont content quality analysis SEO tool

Review of a new tool from Data elasticity S.L in Spain that analyses the quality of your websites content.

Aug 2·8 min read·1481 words

How to find insecure pages in your site before Google start penalising

From July 2018, Google flagged non-secure sites. Learn how to use Screaming Frog’s Insecure Content Report to fix your site.

Feb 10·3 min read·527 words

How I add canonicals into Perch CMS sites

Canonical links tell search engines where the original page is. Google favors the oldest version and flags others as duplicates.

Nov 29·5 min read·904 words

Fix Apple Mail ’Unable to Verify Account Name or Password’ Error

Struggling with Apple Mail login issues? I found a fix for keychain-related errors affecting LinkedIn, Google, Flickr, and more.

Oct 5·5 min read·924 words

Using a CDN to help migrate your sites hosting

Moving a site to new hosting can be fraught with issues. Here is one technique that I find useful when moving to a website to a new hosting server.

Sep 18·3 min read·536 words

Halle Marchandise en bois

A love letter to a timber freight hall in France—history, structure and craft intersect, revealing warm wood, handsome spans, and quietly brilliant engineering.

Oct 3·3 min read·430 words

Small Run Batch Deutz OO9 kit - part 2

Completion of the SRB001 Freelance DEUTZ Style 0-4-0DM chassis including the running gear and motor with the bodywork following.

Sep 26·4 min read·681 words

Whitesands Quay first outing

Simon Cox shares how a private model railway show at Chailey pushed him to complete key parts of his layout and reflect on progress and future detailing ideas.

Sep 14·2 min read·274 words

Small Run Batch Deutz OO9 kit

Stuart Brewer is a fellow GDNGRS member and is one of the most accomplished model makers I know - this is his first kit and my attempts at building it.

Sep 14·5 min read·874 words

Whitesands Quay - Row of cottages - chimney pots

Replaced styrene chimney pots with Langley white metal ones on Whitesands Quay cottages. Added weathering and bird mess, with seagulls to be placed later.

Jul 14·2 min read·205 words

Whitesands Quay trackwork

Building the trackwork for Whitesands Quay in OO9 — code 65 rail on copper clad sleepers, first attempts at hand-laid points and the lessons learned.

Jul 13·3 min read·469 words

La Meuse - construction

Brass, nickel silver and white-metal kit of the Belgian La Meuse 2-6-0 narrow gauge locomotive used on the French sugar-beet lines

Jul 12·3 min read·521 words

Whitesands Quay - row of cottages

Explore Whitesands Quay's row of cottages built with Scalescenes kits. Learn about customization and model railway building techniques now easily today.

Jul 11·3 min read·582 words

Plots and scheming - digging out a raised bed for fresh food and herbs

We’ve always wanted to grow our own vegetables—not to an extreme, but as a nod to the post-war "make do and mend" lifestyle.

Nov 14·6 min read·1126 words

EU cookie consent law largely ignored

The UK had until May 28, 2012, to comply with the EU cookie law. How many organizations met the ICO's deadline?

May 28·6 min read·1101 words

Uploading images outside of Perch CMS default resource directory

Moving images outside of Perch default folder - how I did it…

May 11·2 min read·263 words

Aperture tidy up

I spent some of the weekend tidying up my photos in Aperture.

Jan 2·2 min read·311 words

HTML Test Page for CSS Style Guide

A comprehensive HTML test page covering all elements for CSS style guide development — headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, forms and more.

Dec 7·5 min read·829 words

A steam trip on the Swanage Belle

I recently booked a trip on the Swanage Belle, a steam hauled special train service from London down to Swanage on the Dorset Coast.

Oct 16·10 min read·1958 words

ExpressionEngine custom log-in page

How I customised the ExpressionEngine log-in page for a more on-brand experience.

Oct 12·1 min read·179 words

I never met Steve Jobs

My thoughts and reflections on the influence of Steve Jobs on me.

Oct 6·4 min read·721 words

EEUK11 report from the 2011 ExpressionEngine conference in Manchester

The UK's first ExpressionEngine conference took place in Manchester in 2011—I share a report on the event and surrounding activities.

Aug 27·14 min read·2749 words

Assets for ExpressionEngine

Assets for ExpressionEngine improves file management. I installed it and built a simple image gallery to test its capabilities.

Jul 3·3 min read·488 words

Vintage Tractors at the 2011 Shakey Super Pull, Warwickshire

On the 11th June 2011 we attended the Shakey Super Pull run by the Midlands Tractor Pulling Club at the Shakespeare Country Raceway.

Jun 19·2 min read·306 words

Responsive web design

Inspired by Simon Collison, I implemented Responsive Web Design on my site as the approach gained momentum over two years.

May 31·6 min read·1043 words

Loxley Barton Falls - part 1 - inspiration

My first visit to Expo Narrow Gauge in 2004 rekindled an old hobby I thought I'd never return to—model railways.

Feb 25·3 min read·480 words

Preventing deep linking

Why preventing deep linking is both technically misguided and bad for the web — exploring the W3C's position and the real reasons IT teams panic about it.

Nov 9·2 min read·215 words

Web Fonts, CSS Typography and Making My Own Typeface

With HTML5 evolving, I explore modern web fonts, current techniques, and the latest in digital typography.

Jul 28·4 min read·782 words

Star Wars Day is on the 4th May every year

Luuuuuke, Luuuuuke, wake up it's the 4th of May - Star Wars Day... The 4th day of May is traditionally Star Wars day where all Star Wars fans celebrate.

May 3·2 min read·265 words

Nibbler by Silktide — Testing Your Website Score and Standards

Online testing suites are a very useful way of checking your website to see if it's up to scratch. I take you through Nibbler from Silktide.

Feb 9·4 min read·710 words

What Is the Best Angle to Staple Paper?

The best angle to staple paper is 67.5 degrees. This guide explains why, compares four common stapling angles, and covers technique for both right- and left-handed users.

Feb 4·5 min read·940 words

A Sunday Walk Around Medmenham and Along the Thames

We completed a short country walk around Medmenham in Buckinghamshire including a stretch along the banks of the Thames river.

Jan 31·2 min read·390 words

New Look for simoncox.com in 2010 Moving to ExpressionEngine

A fresh design for simoncox.com in 2010 following a move from Movable Type to ExpressionEngine 2 — new look, same test-bed spirit, content incoming.

Jan 26·2 min read·309 words

Whitesands Quay progress

Progress update on Whitesands Quay, an OO9 layout set in Cornwall based on a Reinier Hendrickson plan, built for fast exhibition setup and take down.

Dec 9·2 min read·300 words

Bachmann re-motoring kit

Fitting Nigel Lawton's Bachmann re-motoring kit — straightforward instructions, fiddly soldering, and the worm removal that broke two jewellers' screwdrivers.

Jan 26·2 min read·308 words

Brighton Model world

Loxley Barton Falls narrow gauge layout heads to Brighton Model World, 15–17 February at the Brighton Centre — four 009 layouts on show.

Jan 26·1 min read·180 words

Withywindle mill in Narrow Gauge Modeller December 2007

Withywindle mill in Narrow Gauge Modeller December 2007.

Nov 17·1 min read·57 words

Withywindle mill wins ExpoNG Pizza challenge

Withywindle mill won the ExpoNG Pizza challenge.

Nov 17·1 min read·157 words

Loxley Barton Falls at The Norwood Club show

The 009 model railway Loxley Barton Falls made an appearance at the 2007 Norbury & South London Transport Club's exhibition on the 10th and 11th November.

Nov 11·2 min read·217 words

Loxley Barton in Narrow Gauge World!

Loxley Barton made an appearance in Narrow Gauge World!.

Sep 17·1 min read·101 words

Amberley 2007

Loxley Barton made an appearance at Amberley 2007.

Sep 17·1 min read·78 words

Withywindle Mill progress

Early progress on the Withywindle Mill narrow gauge layout — landscape built using the FRocks foam and filler technique, with rubberised horsehair hedging.

Jun 27·1 min read·129 words

Withywindle Mill - the pizza layout

A new layout - Withywindle Mill is a pizza layout, small and round..

Apr 26·2 min read·317 words

Japanese L Type industrial locomotive

Recent purchase of a tiny loco from Japan.

Dec 5·1 min read·140 words

Warley 2006 - Pagham Harbour

Exhibiting Pagham Harbour at Warley 2006 at the NEC — an enormous hall, great operating sequences, and very good company from the Dutch narrow gauge contingent.

Dec 4·2 min read·238 words

ExpoNG 2006 narrow gauge modelling nirvana

Probably the best narrow gauge modelling show in the world.

Oct 29·3 min read·454 words

Expo Narrow Gauge 2006 tommorow

Tomorrow is probably the best narrow gauge modelling show in the world.

Oct 27·2 min read·277 words

Croydon MRS 2006 show

Relive the Croydon MRS 2006 show—layouts, loco lore and modelling craft; the bustle, the banter, and that warm whiff of ozone from well-behaved controllers.

Oct 9·2 min read·251 words

Croydon MRS 2006 show 7th and 8th October

Loxley Barton booked for the Croydon MRS 2006 show.

Oct 3·1 min read·133 words

Ruston Hornsby painted photo

Completion of the Ruston Hornsby project.

Oct 2·1 min read·73 words

Ruston Hornsby painted

On the way to completion of the Ruston Hornsby project.

Oct 1·1 min read·198 words

Ruston Hornsby narrow gauge kit

Completion of the build of the of the Ruston Hornsby project.

Aug 27·2 min read·234 words

Amberley Museum Railway Steam Gala 2006 — Exhibition Report

Exhibiting at the 2006 Amberley Museum Railway Gala — new display stand, switching to Greenwich couplings, and winning the GDNGRS Cubic Challenge.

Jul 10·3 min read·573 words

Muse Shepherds Bush Empire 28 June 2006

I won a pair of tickets to go see Muse at a special fan club only gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire

Jun 23·3 min read·560 words

You can lead a horse to water...

Last night on the very quite train home (during England’s match) my train was passed by the Brighton Express.

Jun 16·1 min read·150 words

Content stealing

TIs someone stealing your content? You probably don't know. I just read a piece over on Learning Movable Type that sparked this post off.

Jun 14·2 min read·219 words

Dashes vs Underscores

An ongoing debate about whether it is better to use a dash, or hyphen, in a file name or to use an underscore instead. I used the underscore for many years.

Jun 1·3 min read·536 words

2 ton iron coal wagon

Soldering together the 2 ton iron coal wagon kit by A Knights Work.

Apr 18·1 min read·138 words

009 Society leaflet from 1990

Just dug up an old 009 Society leaflet I picked up from Imrex 90 - 16 years ago!

Apr 16·1 min read·177 words

ExpoNG site now live

Expo Narrow Gauge site now live.

Mar 20·1 min read·81 words

Building a Narrow Gauge Water Tower Using Scaloox Blocks

Building a narrow gauge water tower using the Scaloox modular stonework system — a first test of this brittle but flexible kit-building method.

Feb 19·2 min read·239 words

Javascript SymWinOpen function pain

This one really bugged me. I was trying to validate some code I had uploaded to a staging area on a site and it would not validate back on my PC running CSE HTML Validate.

Dec 23·2 min read·215 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Picture in Railway Modeller

Loxley Barton Falls featured in Railway Modeller, Narrow Gauge World January–February issue, and the 009 Society's 009 News magazine.

Dec 20·1 min read·133 words

Itsu bean and hijiki lunch roll

This year I have been eating a lot more Japanese food - mainly because I really like it but also because its good quality food.

Nov 8·2 min read·257 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Finished model photos

Simon Cox shares final photos of the Loxley Barton Falls layout before ExpoNG 2005, capturing the moody, industrial Victorian tone he envisioned for the model.

Oct 29·1 min read·106 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Winner Cubic Challenge Expo Narrow Gauge 2005

Exhibiting Loxley Barton Falls at ExpoNG 2005 Cubic Challenge.

Oct 29·1 min read·175 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Showing at ExpoNG today

Exhibiting Loxley Barton Falls at ExpoNG 2005.

Oct 29·1 min read·200 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 07

Locomotive No. 07 for Loxley Barton Falls — a freelance Hunslet 2-6-2 based on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway loco rescued from Sierra Leone.

Oct 11·1 min read·86 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Waterfall and stream detailing added

Building out the waterfall and stream on loxley Barton Falls.

Oct 9·1 min read·147 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Lock Gate in place

This weekend I have finished painting the lock gates.

Oct 2·1 min read·154 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 06

The sixth narrow gauge kit I built.

Oct 2·1 min read·125 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 04

The forth narrow gauge kit I started.

Sep 29·1 min read·100 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 05

The fifth narrow gauge kit I obtained.

Sep 29·1 min read·69 words

Loxley Barton Falls progress photo gallery

A photogallery of progress of my 009 layout.

Sep 27·1 min read·93 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 03

The third narrow gauge kit I built.

Aug 22·1 min read·91 words

Loxley Barton Falls - A new 009 layout

Follow my progress modelling a 009 narrow gauge railway exhibition layout built for the 2005 ExpoNG Cubic Challenge.

Aug 20·2 min read·244 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 02

The second narrow gauge kit I built.

Aug 20·1 min read·77 words

Loxley Barton Falls - Locomotive No. 01

The first narrow gauge kit I built many years ago.

Aug 20·1 min read·70 words

rel nofollow suits commerce users of Google

Commercial users of Google have finally been given a way to reduce the amount of Blogs clogging up their search results.

Jan 21·3 min read·563 words

Earthquake Tsunami donations

When Paula and I were in New Zealand in November there was an earthquake of 7.2 offshore to the SW in the Tasman sea. The Boxing Day tsunami that followed was devastating.

Dec 31·6 min read·1178 words

Radford Wallis pedicure

I just received a tube through the post at work from a company called Radford Wallis. Thing is I don't recall having ever dealt with them so my suspicions were aroused.

Dec 23·1 min read·181 words

Muse Earls Court 20th December 2004

We are off with our good friends Liz and Chris to see Muse at Earls Court tonight - they are supported by SoulWax and the Zutons!

Dec 20·2 min read·285 words

The gym towel saga

Very recently I decided that I should start going to the gym again as I was getting a little tubby here and there - and promptly got embroiled in a towel saga.

Dec 9·6 min read·1072 words

Parking Mad

I'm hardly back for a few minutes and I discover that in my absence the Croydon Parking issue has raised its ugly head again.

Dec 5·2 min read·259 words

Around the world in 18 days - images

I have finally got all of our Around the World in 18 days trip photographs online. They are split into four albums - Los Angeles, Fiji, New Zealand and Singapore.

Dec 4·1 min read·79 words

Home

We're home! Just been round the world in 18 days. Shattered but happy and very very chilled. Paula and I will be doing a full write up of our travels through LA, Fiji, New Zealand and Singapore.

Dec 2·1 min read·124 words

Vote Oscar on Rock School

Those outside of London may not have heard of my favourite radio station XFM. The breakfast show's Christian O'Connell has organised a competition for under 18s to send in covers of songs.

Nov 12·1 min read·181 words

Veterans of a fucked-up world

The Dead Milkmen are rehearsing for the forthcoming Dave Schulthise tribute concerts in Philadelphia. Dean sent me links to a citypaper.net article about their rehearsals.

Nov 11·1 min read·162 words

New comment spam technique

I had recently been getting some odd comments to this site and it's not just me - Ben and Dave have as well. I checked out the domains and there are no websites and no clues from the registrations.

Nov 9·2 min read·331 words

UI9 + 2

Getting nice and silly now!

Nov 7·1 min read·14 words

Texas Holdem Poker casino betting spam

I got comment spammed a lot today by someone trying to promote their Texas Holdem Poker casino site. I spent 10 minutes dealing with the spam that was trying to boost their search rankings.

Nov 6·2 min read·217 words

The 2004 USA elections

There is loads of web coverage this year of the US election so I will pick out a few British feeds in the hope that those in the USA will read some balanced reporting.

Nov 3·1 min read·171 words

Silktide Sitescore website test

I reported the link to Sitescore at Silktide yesterday and wanted to do a fuller report today having been through the service a little more.

Oct 29·3 min read·488 words

Google world word domination plans

Just had an email from Google telling me that they are adding a new service into the search engine - you will now be able to search inside printed books.

Oct 27·1 min read·141 words

Around the world in 18 days

I surprised Paula last night with a little present for her birthday in November. We are off to LA, Fiji, New Zealand and Singapore for a holiday.

Oct 26·2 min read·203 words

Feedburner

I have just added my RSS feed to Feedburner because of the amazing variety of options it allows for feeds.

Oct 24·1 min read·70 words

Shaun of the Dead

I purchased Simon Pegg's Shaun of the Dead on Monday night and Paula and I watched it last night. I really wanted to go and see this at the cinema.

Oct 13·2 min read·280 words

Train times blog

I have decided to add a second side blog to the site. This one is about my daily train journeys to Canary Wharf and back.

Oct 12·1 min read·134 words

Google bares one at me!

I use Google Alerts quite a bit, a most excellent tool, but today I had reason to change one of them from 'as it happens' to 'daily report' - I was getting too many alerts on one particular subject.

Oct 6·1 min read·126 words

All iPod owners are thieves

Barmy Steve Ballmer from Microsoft has decided to shorten his stay on planet sensible by claiming that all iPod owners are thieves.

Oct 5·1 min read·190 words

Vodaphone trying to put a mast in South Croydon

So why do Vodaphone need to put a mobile telephone mast at South Croydon Railway Station? Everyone I know gets a good signal from Vodaphone in the area.

Sep 15·2 min read·294 words

Brandchannel interbred

Recently brandchannel.com reviewed a commercial web site that I have spent the past five years dramatically improving. The site now conforms to WAI AA standards and is fully CSS driven.

Sep 9·2 min read·238 words

2004 Annual Garden Party

It is 1pm and in two hours our annual Garden party starts. We have nearly everything ready and Paula has just gone to get the food.

Aug 29·1 min read·166 words

Branson abseils down Canary Wharf tower

I have just spotted Richard Branson abseiling down the North East corner of Number 1 Canada Square - the Tower with the pointy roof at Canary Wharf.

Aug 24·2 min read·341 words

CSS Cookbook

CSS Cookbook by Christopher Schmitt arrived yesterday and I plowed through it last night. This is a good book that will appeal to both new CSS dabblers and hardened cynics alike.

Aug 24·1 min read·184 words

Commenting fixed on this site

Earlier on today I realised that I had not got around to finishing off the commenting on this site properly. I had fallen asleep at the keyboard one night and forgotten to finish what I was doing.

Aug 18·1 min read·136 words

Secret Ying Yang club

I noticed something interesting when I was using Bloglines this morning - both Eric Meyer's site and Mark Pilgrim's use the same favicon. Is it like a secret mark of the web standards in-crowd?

Aug 17·1 min read·99 words

Lost in translation

In the last build of my Blog I had a side panel that allowed users to translate the entire site into a number of languages. The idea was that I could reach out to more people.

Aug 16·3 min read·421 words

Web Developer Firefox extension

If you design and build websites, one of the best reasons for changing your browser to Firefox is the Web Developer extension developed and provided free by Chris Pederick.

Aug 16·1 min read·180 words

burningcar.net spamming my site

Someone has tried to post a comment on my site that was a full html advert for some kids micro scooters - essentially a site map of burningcar(dot)net sitting inside my comments.

Aug 13·2 min read·350 words

Everest gets 6 inches higher, on average

It looks like researchers have discovered that the lack of oxygen suffered by climbers at altitude can be counteracted by Viagra - hence the cheeky headline.

Aug 4·1 min read·156 words

Meme too! or Count meme in!

There's an interesting experiment going on to test how ideas (memes) zip around the internet. The idea is to post a blog entry and get others to post the same entry.

Aug 4·3 min read·583 words

Meme 2 - get your blog up those charts

Nova Spivack has produced a second version of his Meme project already. If you are reading this and have a blog please do join in.

Aug 4·6 min read·1013 words

The Bug - digital radio

I bought a Bug digital radio last night and it's fab! Excellent sound quality, great reception and a brilliant little design.

Jul 29·2 min read·219 words

Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi on DVD

I pre ordered Zatoichi a while back and we watched it last night. Paula was not sure she wanted to see this film but ended up thoroughly enjoying it. It's about a legendary blind sword master.

Jul 29·2 min read·208 words

USA cheat strips team of Olympic gold

Those naughty athletes are up to their tricks again! Any little thing to give them that edge so that they are winners at any cost.

Jul 19·2 min read·318 words

Southern Electric - Broadband from your socket

Broadband through your electrical socket! Brilliant! I have been waiting for this for years. But what a terrible user experience I have just had.

Jul 14·6 min read·1137 words

Shitaji-Mado

I have finally got around to finishing off the machiai by installing the missing wall complete with a shitaji-mado - a built-in bamboo window lattice.

Jul 10·4 min read·612 words

How to self spot attention deficiency

Just did a Google on how to self spot attention deficiency because I am worried that I never concentrate on anything for very long normally.

Jul 8·9 min read·1763 words

Site templates

I have actually spent a little time tonight looking at the site templates and have removed the home page templates temporary table layout having fixed on a CSS layout scheme.

Jun 29·1 min read·137 words

RMT on strike again

I see that Bob Crow of the RMT has resigned from the Transport for London Board. What a childish move. How is that going to help his members and the travelling public?

Jun 29·2 min read·222 words

Urs Meier destroys England's hopes

Those that read this column regularly will know that I'm more of a rugby fan than football but I do support England when they play big football matches - and last night we was robbed.

Jun 25·1 min read·200 words

Cracking the Da Vinci Code

I purchased my copy of the Da Vinci Code and then came across Cracking the Da Vinci Code by another Simon Cox - the editor of Paranormal magazine.

Jun 21·2 min read·284 words

A cliche gone up in smoke

England's dramatic defeat to France in the European Cup has put paid to the old and well worn football phrase 'it's a game of two halves'.

Jun 13·1 min read·118 words

Hunger Artists - Cruisin' in Zargon

The Hunger Artists have released their near legendary album Cruisin' in Zargon online.

Jun 2·1 min read·74 words

Zurich Premiership Final 2004

I went to English rugby's Zurich Premiership Final with my chums. Excellent day out at Twickenham where there were also three supporting matches.

May 30·1 min read·181 words

Lower Garden Area Re-vamp

There's not been much going on in this area, but since we put out a new raised platform this whole area has come alive for us.

May 30·1 min read·185 words

Albunuelas Spain May 2004

We have just returned from 8 days in Spain. We were based in the little mountain village of Albunuelas, South of Granada, with mules, lemons, tapas, sun, snow and relaxation.

May 26·1 min read·153 words

Dynamic CSS (DCSS)

Dynamically altered CSS is something I have had going around in my head for about three years. Ever since I built the original Simon and Paula Garden website I always wanted to change the CSS dependin…

May 7·2 min read·232 words

Bopspam right on the head

It's not that often a really good online service catches my attention. However last night I signed up to the Bopspam service and so far it's been brilliant at filtering spam.

Apr 30·2 min read·284 words

Google cries for Harry and Saint George!

At last! Google.co.uk have recognised that us English have a patron Saint as well - a special St George's Day logo has appeared.

Apr 23·1 min read·141 words

New Horizon - Kick's third album

Chris Jones the guitarist of Kick gave us a digipack of the band's latest offering, New Horizon. And what a great album it is.

Apr 19·1 min read·121 words

Elo Elo Elo! Whats all this then?

I left home early on Monday morning to go to an offsite meeting and lo and behold what do I find on my way to the railway station? A car transporter full of police cars.

Mar 30·2 min read·231 words

Nannerth Fach 2004

We spent a relaxing week in Nannerth Fach in the Wye valley in mid Wales at the end of February 2004. It snowed quite heavily during the week.

Mar 23·1 min read·80 words

Dave Blood - gone but never forgotten

Dave Schulthise, aka Dave Blood, bass player of the Dead Milkmen, my friend Dean's band from Philly, has been found dead having taken his own life.

Mar 13·1 min read·123 words

Rip off designer water and sex letters advertising cars

Two marketing mess-ups this week - Coca Cola using public tap water to produce its expensive designer label Dasani, and a car advert featuring subliminal content.

Mar 3·2 min read·365 words

Small and Delightful 2004

We went to the Small and Delightful Narrow Gauge West show in Shepton Mallet for me to indulge in a bit of narrow gauge modelling at its finest.

Feb 21·1 min read·82 words

The Brits 2004

As I write this I am watching the Brits which seems to have grown huge over the past few years but this year has brought in a massive amount of American stars.

Feb 17·2 min read·364 words

The Darkness Lees Cliffe Hall 8th Feb 2004

At long last we got to see The Darkness, live at Lees Cliffe Hall Folkestone after the gig was postponed from last year. Vic Reeves turned up plus entourage.

Feb 10·1 min read·149 words

Cheap CDs? Not likely!

CDWOW have settled two weeks before the court case that the BPI brought against them for selling parallel imported music CDs - which means higher prices for consumers.

Jan 22·3 min read·565 words

millionVALVE

I have had three tracks by millionVALVE on my iPod since November 2003 and every now and again they just pop up when I am playing a full shuffle. Excellent band.

Jan 13·2 min read·246 words

Tim Berners-Lee gets a knighthood

Tim Berners-Lee, the English chap who literally invented the web while working at CERN, has been honoured for his work in the Queen's new year Honours list with a knighthood.

Dec 31·1 min read·81 words

Merry Christmas 2003!

Merry Christmas to all our visitors from Simon and Paula! We hope you are having as good a time as we are today.

Dec 26·1 min read·66 words

England's World Cup Parade images

Images from the Rugby World Cup Parade through London.

Dec 8·1 min read·75 words

Office Cleaners

Every other day when I get to work the cleaners have cleaned my desk. This is great except that they move everything on my desk to do the cleaning and don't put it back where they found it.

Dec 2·2 min read·235 words

Train Drivers strike actions

So here we go again the Tube drivers are about to go on strike again because of fears of safety - which means more people travelling by road which has a higher death rate than the railways.

Dec 1·3 min read·476 words

Rock Opera of the year - Muse live at Wembley

Last night Paula, Chris, Liz and I went to see what I consider to be the rock opera of the year - Muse live at Wembley. What a fantastic night!

Nov 28·2 min read·382 words

England win the World Cup!

What can I say! The greatest sporting event of my life - yes better than that soccer event in 1966. England have beaten Australia to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Nov 21·2 min read·222 words

Istanbul gets bombed

There have been several massive explosions in Istanbul this morning in the most crowded districts. The British Embassy has been targeted.

Nov 20·1 min read·118 words

Nice Titles!

The more observant and regular visitors will have noticed over the past few days that interesting floating boxes pop up if you hold your mouse over a link - using an advanced DOM technique.

Nov 14·1 min read·105 words

The Kilt is a women's skirt cry the EU Bureaucrats

EU Bureaucrats classified the kilt as a women's skirt and then had to back down as a ferocious Scottish nation turned on them.

Nov 11·1 min read·171 words

Is Bush about to launch a Middle East Strike?

Large numbers of military aircraft have been heard flying over Scotland. The last time this happened was in the build up to the Iraq war earlier this year.

Nov 10·1 min read·110 words

BlueJacking Mob

In the small hours of this morning I had a great idea for a BlueJack event that would be useful as a commercial competition or for a product, record or book launch.

Nov 7·1 min read·76 words

Bluejacking

Have you been BlueJacked yet? BlueJacking is the latest craze for those with Bluetooth enabled mobiles and consists of sending an anonymous message to someone within range.

Nov 5·3 min read·439 words

Rocket gang send Gerbil into space

A shopkeeper was horrified when a group of teenagers sent a gerbil to its death by tying it to a firework.

Oct 28·1 min read·195 words

Concorde's final supersonic day

24th October 2003 - a sad day for aviation as it is Concorde's last commercially operational day. Three flights will be landing in succession at 16:00 at Heathrow today.

Oct 24·2 min read·219 words

Sports and Drugs THG

Suddenly sport is about to change, big time - all sports. Why? Because someone has invented a way to detect a drug used for enhancing ability.

Oct 24·2 min read·284 words

Review of The Darkness gig Folkestone 20th Oct 2003

I was hoping to be writing a report on a fantastic nights gig at the Lees Cliffe Hall in Folkestone with The Darkness headlining.

Oct 20·2 min read·214 words

New baby and it's platinum

Well I treated myself and purchased a new PC for all sorts of reasons. I decided this time I wanted a machine that could run graphic intensive games properly.

Oct 14·2 min read·369 words

Knickers to the Darkness

Reports are coming in that the Darkness played a superb sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom

Sep 23·1 min read·98 words

Philadelphia In Love

Today I am doing a review of Philadelphia In Love, the new video compilation from The Dead Milkmen. It's a great DVD with a neat history of the band on video.

Sep 21·2 min read·228 words

So thats how R2D2 did it!

Two separate innovations are about to take the humble monitor to a new dimension - the Fog Screen and the Heliodisplay both use projection onto mist or dry fog.

Sep 18·1 min read·113 words

David Blaine is inane

When David Blaine hit our small screens I was fascinated and intrigued. Now he is trying to emulate Harry Houdini by living in a box above the Thames for 44 days.

Sep 13·2 min read·342 words

Rock is officially back!

Sales of Rock music have beaten the pop market for the first time ever. Rock has 31% of the market and pop only 30%.

Sep 13·2 min read·203 words

The Webb Brothers release Mrs Moriarty

Having seen the Webb Brothers do a superb set on Wednesday I hiked over to their website to check them out and discovered that they have a single out tomorrow - Mrs Moriarty.

Sep 7·1 min read·197 words

Multibabel

Just come across a great site - Lost in Translation. It takes a word or phrase and uses Babelfish to translate from English into Japanese then back to English then Chinese then English and so on.

Sep 6·1 min read·149 words

OKGO - so we did…

Paula and I went to the OKGO gig at the Electric Ballroom in Camden tonight courtesy of Xfm - I won the tickets on the Adam and Joe show last Saturday.

Sep 4·2 min read·376 words

Toyota produce worlds first self parking car!

Toyota have put on sale the world's first self parking car. You drive alongside a parking space, stop and press a button - the car then manoeuvres itself into the space!

Sep 2·1 min read·117 words

Adam and Joe to star in The Return of the King

British comedy sensations Adam and Joe are thought to have been secretly filming for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Sep 2·1 min read·126 words

Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman

If, like me, you design web sites this is possibly one of the most important books I have ever read about the subject - Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman.

Aug 30·3 min read·407 words

Best show on the radio today

Adam and Joe are sitting in for Ricky on XFM today and are doing a very good show so far.

Aug 30·1 min read·74 words

Garden Party images

We have had images from Dad as well as our own so there is a good mix. They can be found in the Gallery.

Aug 28·1 min read·51 words

Our Annual Garden party!

Today is our third annual Garden Party. We had the first one to celebrate rebuilding the garden and had so much fun that we decided to do one every year.

Aug 24·1 min read·110 words

The Dead Milkmen release Now we are 20 in September

I received a pre release copy of The Dead Milkmen's new album Now We Are 20 from Dean today. I'm quite excited as there is a quote from me reproduced in the sleeve notes.

Aug 19·1 min read·134 words

Spam Scams

I have read a lot about the 419 Nigerian email scams and have received three in the past two years but this morning I received two new scam emails in my inbox.

Aug 14·6 min read·1147 words

London Flash Mob

I was there at the first London Flash Mob! What great fun that was! I have written an article for Flashmob.co.uk about the event.

Aug 7·1 min read·95 words

Don't make me think

Steve Krug is bringing his usability workshop Don't Make Me Think to London on the 5th September! If you have not heard of Steve he's the thinking man's usability expert.

Aug 6·1 min read·117 words

Man killed in tiny train crash

Bitter news that a train driver was killed on one of the best run railways in Britain - the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in Wales.

Aug 3·1 min read·55 words

Right time

Just been to the Red Bull Flugtag in Hyde Park - over 200,000 people according to the policeman on one of the many closed gates.

Aug 3·2 min read·225 words

Flashmob.co.uk

I have put together a new Flashmob site dedicated to events in the UK - Flashmob.co.uk.

Jul 28·1 min read·112 words

Flashmob London

I read about Flashmobs and thought what a crazy but brilliant idea. A Flashmob is where an apparently inexplicable mob of people gather for a few minutes, something occurs and then they disperse.

Jul 27·2 min read·278 words

FavIcon installed

I finally got round to adding the favicon back into the site. I used to have one a long time ago but it was pants.

Jul 24·2 min read·223 words

Hollywood propaganda and shoes

Hollywood are bringing out a set of trailers to be shown in cinemas to combat file sharing of movies - showing the human plight and suffering of the carpenters and stagehands.

Jul 23·2 min read·322 words

Permission to Land

Over the past few months I kept hearing a bizarre but brilliant song on XFM and it grew on me. So much so that I just went out and bought the album - Permission to Land by The Darkness.

Jul 21·1 min read·191 words

Iraqgate

It looks like a scandal to rival that of Watergate is now brewing over the US intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq.

Jul 17·2 min read·206 words

Absolute rubbish!

Every Monday morning, early, I am woken by our two cats diving for cover under the bed. It's half past six in the morning and the dustbin men, or Domestic Waste Operatives, are outside.

Jul 15·2 min read·399 words

Pittock.net

Pittock.net is now live and the forum is in place. I encourage Pittock family members who visit this site occasionally to go and register on the forum.

Jul 8·1 min read·101 words

Pittock reunion 2003 Friday

Pittock reunion day 3 - Castle Coombe and Stourhead.

Jun 27·1 min read·199 words

Pittock reunion 2003 Thursday

Pittock reunion 2003 day two - Bristol and Wells.

Jun 26·2 min read·288 words

Pittock reunion 2003 Wednesday

Day one at the Pittock reunion - Bath.

Jun 25·1 min read·146 words

Pittock reunion 2003 Bath

The Pittock Reunion happens every two years and always in a different location - this year it was Bath.

Jun 24·1 min read·133 words

Phone and PDA convergence arrives at Cox hall

Just purchased a new Palm Tungsten W - that's the one with the phone built in! I am writing this entry on the Palm right now and will be able to update the website from nearly anywhere.

Jun 23·1 min read·111 words

The hat fish newspaper alarm clock game

Elaborate head wear and an aquatic animal with a periodical and a timepiece thrown in for good measure - whatever will they think of next on this media management course?

Jun 19·2 min read·270 words

Microsoft drops Explorer for Mac

Microsoft have announced that they will no longer develop new versions of their web browser Internet Explorer for the Apple Mac - what are the implications?

Jun 18·2 min read·225 words

Yobs set ferret alight

Local headlines sometimes just unintentionally make you laugh! Spotted on the Croydon Advertiser web site - Yobs set ferret alight.

Jun 16·1 min read·56 words

U turn as Head of parking gets towed out

Roger Woodward takes an early bath but is he just being thrown to the lions?

Jun 16·2 min read·300 words

The Ying and Yang of commuting

I had a very bizarre trip into work today. I got a seat on the train and the heating was off. Nobody walked past me in a bad mood. It was simply a perfect commute.

Jun 11·2 min read·210 words

Radiohead TV goes live

Radiohead TV has gone live at last with what may prove to be a very interesting web experiment.

Jun 9·1 min read·71 words

Moveable Type 2.64

Just upgraded the content management system to Movable Type 2.64. This entry is more of a check to ensure all is ok than a real blog entry.

Jun 8·1 min read·58 words

Commuting

The last couple of weeks have been almost enjoyable on the trains. I have been able to step onto the train and get a seat and there has not been anyone standing in the carriage.

Jun 3·2 min read·315 words

Text Pipe

It is not often that I get very excited about a piece of software but this week I unearthed an amazing bit of code - Text Pipe Web solved a huge problem for me and saved me hours of work.

May 31·4 min read·692 words

New garden water feature

I have installed a new water feature in the garden at the back in the raised bed. Paula and I visited the Ideal Home Exhibition in March where they had several fantastic stainless steel water features…

May 26·3 min read·464 words

Grub it out!

Fed up with Google? Grub.org was launched earlier this year and it is a network distributed web crawler - an alternative search engine.

May 24·1 min read·131 words

All my own work

Planted these allium christophii last year as bulbs and just look at them now! Lots of other bulbs on their way too.

May 24·1 min read·88 words

Kathleen Godfrey 1911-2003

Paula and I attended my gran's funeral yesterday. A sombre affair but a good turn out and some hearty singing followed by some hearty reminiscing and drinking back at Barnfield.

May 23·1 min read·133 words

Radiohead new minisite

I have been a big fan of Radiohead for years and they have just set up a new mini site RADIOHEAD.tv which should be interesting when it launches.

May 22·1 min read·64 words

New York day 5

Well I hit the Internet Cafe on 5th Ave today as I was getting digital withdrawal. Last night we all went to a very nice little Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village.

May 19·1 min read·177 words

MA Course relevant links

Relevant links for my MA course (put here for my convenience!)

May 13·1 min read·46 words

Gary Kurtz talks

Our lecture got diverted tonight as we went along to a talk by Gary Kurtz, producer of American Graffiti, Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, The Dark Crystal and many other films and projects.

May 8·2 min read·208 words

Peter Cochrane's Uncommon Sense - Web Realities

This is a description of my new short.

May 8·6 min read·1161 words

Microsoft plans toilets with Web access

This is a description of my new short.

May 7·1 min read·174 words

wma189

I was getting a lot of traffic due to some spammers

May 6·1 min read·181 words

Not well :(

I have had a really really sore throat since tuesday.

May 3·1 min read·72 words

What kind of thinker are you?

This is a description of my new short.

May 2·2 min read·227 words

Peyps online diary mentions Deal today

The diary of Pepys mentions a trip to Deal for the ale today

May 1·1 min read·43 words

Induction day

Thoughts on Media Management MA induction day

Apr 30·1 min read·84 words

Apple iTunes 4

Thoughts on iTunes 4’s streaming features and Apple’s Music Store, praising home Wi-Fi playback but frustrated that music purchases weren’t available in the UK.

Apr 29·2 min read·261 words

I've got to Zingo home

There's no need to search in the cold and rain for a taxi! Zingo finds the nearest available cab.

Apr 29·1 min read·93 words

Digital blunders - Fraudster's mobile bungling gives him away

I find some solace in these stories about criminals who are stupid.

Apr 28·2 min read·315 words

Topic Icons

I have just added John Addis's excellent MT addon that allows me to add little images to each item's category.

Apr 28·1 min read·68 words

Altered Carbon – Richard K. Morgan

This is a description of my new short.

Apr 28·2 min read·241 words

Simon Cox meet Simon Cox

I did a search around the web looking for any references to other people names Simon Cox.

Apr 27·2 min read·291 words

Private Ryan beats the retreat

Ryan has had to do a major U Turn on the parking policy as Croydon’s retailers are losing money

Apr 25·1 min read·162 words

SARS - how will London cope?

Bioterror plans could be used to fight SARS.

Apr 24·1 min read·92 words

Boogle

Very disappointed today to open Google UK to find no St George's Day banner.

Apr 23·2 min read·205 words

No frontiers!

This is a description of my new short.

Apr 21·1 min read·43 words

Weblogs.com

Weblogs.Com - Recently Changed Weblogs.

Apr 21·1 min read·111 words

Dinner next door

We have been invited next door for a sumptuous dinner.

Apr 21·1 min read·51 words

Spring has sprung

Despite the lack of entries here we have been doing a lot to the garden over the winter.

Apr 20·1 min read·97 words

Web site undergoing more changes

I am moving the cms over to Moveable Type.

Apr 20·1 min read·101 words

New Forest break

We have been away, walking for a couple of days in the New Forest staying overnight.

Apr 20·1 min read·152 words

Masters

Finaly got my start date through for my part time Master of Arts Degree in Media Management.

Apr 17·1 min read·63 words

Pittock Reunion Schedule of Events

The schedule of events for the Pittock Reunion 2003

Apr 17·3 min read·426 words

Pittock Reunion events info

There is so much to see in and around Bath and we hope we have found something to suit everyone.

Apr 17·4 min read·649 words

Movable Type moves to Simoncox.com!

I have installed MoveableType personal Publishing System onto the site

Apr 16·1 min read·58 words

Croydon Council Tax and Revenue Budget 2003-04

Heard a report on the radio today that Croydon is raising Council Tax by 27.5% - the second highest in the country.

Feb 22·1 min read·171 words

Sarah Cox

It is with deep regret that I have to announce the sudden death of my cousin Sarah.

Feb 17·1 min read·54 words

Bay Watch

The council have promised residents that there will be lots more parking bays put into the streets.

Jan 30·1 min read·148 words

Pittock Reunion

For those of the family looking for news on this years Pittock Reunion, I will be putting a new section up on the site shortly especially for this years event in June.

Jan 29·1 min read·94 words

Problems getting worse

The Central Zone restrictions are now in force and we immediately noticed a rise in the number of cars - most without permits - parking in our street.

Jan 3·1 min read·116 words

Winter is upon us

We have not had any snow or ice yet and only a very little frost. The garden is getting ready for a cold Jan and Feb.

Jan 3·1 min read·108 words

Happy New Year to everyone

Hopefully this year will bring lots of happiness to everyone. We started off in good style by attending Mike and Nancy’s 1950’s News Years Eve cocktail party

Jan 3·1 min read·97 words

Saving Ryans Privates

At tonights council meeting there was an emergency debate to pass a motion to individually consult with every central zone resident whether they were for or against the changes to the CPZ.

Oct 15·1 min read·200 words

XFM hoarding going up over the pond

Just got a mention on the radio… XFM hoarding going up over the pond

Sep 24·1 min read·103 words

Next Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Full Council is on Monday 14th October 2002 in the early evening…

Sep 23·1 min read·37 words

Superb victory for residents spoilt by one amendment…

A huge number of residents turned out for the Croydon Council Traffic Management Cabinet Meeting tonight. Our lobbying has had a major impact on the Council's plans.

Sep 3·3 min read·438 words

New page on parking

We have now built a page for the action against the parking plans.

Aug 11·1 min read·55 words

Proposed changes to parking controls in Croydon

After the residents and businesses of Croydon successfully fought the first proposals to change the parking restrictions, Croydon Council are now trying to push through dramatic changes to the existin…

Aug 11·3 min read·408 words

Croydon parking - Council are barking

Croydon council have decided to put up the cost of residents permits and, rather more importantly to extend the parking restriction times from 9am-5pm to 7am-7pm inclusive of Sundays.

Aug 7·1 min read·113 words

New look new server

I have got my act together at last and started shifting content to a dedicated web space.

Jul 9·1 min read·91 words

Bit of an exciting weekend

Had a bit of an exciting weekend.

Jun 24·1 min read·73 words

New Bamboo!

ur visit to Coolings Garden Centre found us a stunning coloured-cane bamboo. The garden's blooming beautifully with saxifrage still flowering since April.

Jun 22·2 min read·305 words

Simon Boden and Minako Hommas wedding

Simon and Minnie's wedding at Oaks Farm, Croydon — traditional Japanese kimono, a Registrar moved to tears, and a tranquil valley hidden in the city.

Jun 10·1 min read·126 words

Clematis go in

I made a small trellis, from bamboo that I had pruned out of the garden last month, which I have dug in with the first clematis up against the fence.

Jun 4·2 min read·202 words

Black fence

We have painted the eastern boundary fence black. We tried to get some more of the black fence paint that we had already used.

Jun 2·1 min read·195 words

Upgrade to The Gallery

I upgraded my photo gallery with new slideshow features to match the site's design, but sadly had to remove it in 2010. My images are now available on Flickr

May 17·1 min read·106 words

Accessibility links with css

Lots of sites use short catchy 'action' terms to entice people into further sections of thier sites. Here is an alternative method. Accessibility links with css

May 14·2 min read·212 words

Mac Classic OS windows with css!

A couple of Mac sites have complicated tables forming Mac like windows for showing stories. I tried this in css alone and reduce the number of graphics as well.

May 13·1 min read·153 words

It's a start with CSS

Over the past few years I have become more and more engrossed with Cascading Style Sheets and the benefits they offer to the web.

May 11·1 min read·183 words

CSS rollovers - no javascript!

I wanted stylish CSS rollover buttons—not just color blocks—so I explored techniques beyond basic JavaScript effects.

May 11·2 min read·330 words

A Misty Morning Walk to Leith Hill Tower Near Dorking

A misty morning hike at Leith Hill near Dorking made for dramatic scenery, especially heading into Coldharbour.

May 7·1 min read·192 words

New look site!

The up side of being unwell is that I have spent this week delving into CSS.

May 3·1 min read·163 words

Microsoft - Hotmail pain...

Just checked my hotmail account - which I only have so that I can use MSN Messenger because certain friends use it rather than ICQ.

May 3·2 min read·226 words

Japan 2002 A Birthday Trip Full of the Unexpected

Paula surprised me with a birthday trip to Japan — navigating Kanji, finding unexpected cultural echoes of England, and travelling the country by train.

Apr 22·2 min read·280 words

Family visit

Mum, dad, Conor, Lou and Steve are up for the day visiting.

Mar 30·1 min read·63 words

Flying Visit to Deal for Phils 40th

Down in Deal for a little drink with Phil and Vicky

Mar 16·1 min read·45 words

Simon Cox – Technical SEO consultant and web explorer

Simon Cox is a UK-based freelance Technical SEO consultant and webmaster with over 30 years of experience in website management, planning, building and SEO.

Aug 13·2 min read·204 words

The latest webcam images

OK Big changes to this page in July 2007! We now have a timelapse webcam picture for you.

Jul 9·1 min read·113 words

Living in Croydon — The Good, the Bad and the Council

People make out Croydon is a terrible place to live but there are loads of good reasons to live there. Of course it can be an uphill battle at times!

Jan 1·1 min read·139 words

Miscellaneous nonsense from Simon Cox

All sorts of nonsense Simon has come accross or things that don't fall naturally into proper categories and topics

Jan 1·1 min read·45 words

Narrow Gauge Model Railways

Narrow Gauge: Simon Cox recounts his childhood fascination with model railways, sparked by a family trip to the Ffestiniog Railway and a white metal kit.

Jan 1·2 min read·264 words

Opinion

Simon Cox sounds off — thoughts, rants and opinions on whatever has caught his attention, from spam scams to strikes.

Jan 1·1 min read·49 words

Trips we have been on

Days out, steam train trips and travel adventures — from frozen lakes at Scotney Castle to the Swanage Belle steam special and beyond.

Jan 1·1 min read·81 words

Technical SEO Tips, Articles and Advice — Simon Cox

Technical SEO articles from freelance consultant Simon Cox — covering redirects, schema markup, Core Web Vitals, keyword strategy and more.

Jan 1·1 min read·67 words

Humour

The lighter side of simoncox.com — silly, daft and funny things I've stumbled across.

Jan 1·1 min read·37 words

The web, the internet and all that

All sorts of interesting things found on our journeys on the web

Jan 1·1 min read·109 words

Technology

Gadgets, gizmos and the tech that catches my eye — from self-parking cars to bluejacking and everything in between.

Jan 1·1 min read·62 words

Simon's home and garden

Posts about my home and my garden

Jan 1·1 min read·55 words

Loxley Barton Falls - a 009 model railway

Award-winning 009 layout designed to fit a 500mm cube. Simon built it for EXPO Narrow Gauge and shares his methods and techniques so you can try it too.

Jan 1·2 min read·254 words