In Search of Space - a new blog by dakotaboo

I have been wrestling with the idea of creating a new blog for some months now. I already have 3 reasonably active blogs which cover my interests in music, vintage postcards and vintage books and magazines, but none of these really seem to serve the purpose of my more random/spontaneous/mundane/ordinary (delete as appropriate) musings. So, what you can expect to see in this blog are thoughts and observations based on the other aspects of my life such as mountain biking, travelling, exploring, walking, and general day-to-day life. I've decided to start the blog in a fairly 'raw' state, and add the bells and whistles in later, otherwise I wouldn't be able to lauch it on the first day of the New Year.

I've called it 'In Search of Space' as it fits nicely into my current state of mind. That's not to say I want to get away from everything, I'm treating 'space' here as anywhere new, whether it be a genuine space out in the countryside, or a new part of London that I've only just discovered. Also, it's the name of a pretty darned fine record by Hawkwind.

The New Year has started well with friends over last night to see in the New Year with us. I did catch a few people drinking tea prior to midnight but am finding myself inclining towards that as well these days ... in fact I think that with the various bottles people brought with them we possibly ended up with more alcohol than we started the evening with. We had Jools Holland on the TV to make sure we didn't miss the countdown and I was really pleased to have caught Toot singing 'Monkey Man'. I'd only ever heard the version that the Specials did in the late 1970's so this was a real treat and has now made it on to my ever lengthening wants list.

I managed my first mountain bike ride of the New Year today with an 18 miler over to Kingsclere and back, mainly on the roads as opposed to deeply muddy tracks, but I did manage to cover some new territory, which fits in with my unofficial New Year's resolution - to do something different every day, whether that be as exciting as visiting a new place, or something more sedate like hearing a new song or reading. Also it was really good to see plenty of people out and about ... quite often when I'm out on my bike I'm amazed at how few people I see. I also managed to spot some wildlife ... Red Kites, Buzzards, a lone Kestrel, and various smaller birds too far away to identify.

So that's it for my first blog entry, in this blog anyway. I'm off to watch a couple of episodes of the Goodies that we recorded over the last week or so. I have very fond memories of it as a kid so am hoping it still hits the spot. I wonder what the kids will make of it though, they only know Bill Oddie from Springwatch and the Jeremy Clarkson's Bill Odie speed camera mask on Top Gear.