This blog started in August 2008. I haven’t posted here regularly since 2019 when life got in the way, and shortly after that Covid got in the way for all of us. Like so many bloggers before me, a lack of time and energy to upkeep a blog got the better of me. No shame in that. We are all busy. I have lost count of the motorsport blogs that have gone away – it’s almost all of them from the community we enjoyed back in the day.
Add to that, the simplicity of dumping your thoughts in 280 characters on social media and that addictive dopamine hit of likes and comments that you found yourself chasing, meant all my output was directed to Twitter.
Twitter became X and X became a racist right wing cesspit, so I’m not there any more.
Bluesky is doing a decent job of replacing it. Even if it is a lot quieter, there are really good discussions and interactions there, that remind me of the old days of Twitter some 10-15 years ago. You just have to work hard to find the right people, the right community, it takes an effort. And quite honestly a lot of the right people who used to be on Twitter are there now.
And yes, I am disappointed that what I thought were the right people, have stayed in the swamp rather than move over.
Anyway we were talking on Bluesky and it came up that having your own space away from the socials is kind of handy. If we all have to move again you need somewhere that grounds you. And I miss writing here. Something of a longer format in which to ponder. So it seems a good time to have a bash at this again.
I often have the old imposter syndrome. The thought that, since I’ve no connections, I’m in no paddock, I only watch things on TV therefore I’m no different to any other pleb like me. Why should people read me? I have nothing useful to say or add to the discourse. But that’s probably not quite true.
Certainly if you listen to broadcasters and insiders, a lot of them have no clue what fans think. So I do think it is important for fans to have a voice. And I have been watching for a long time now and that has to count for something, even if I am shouting at cloud, even though my memory is Swiss cheese and I can’t remember races I’ve watched last month never mind years ago. In modern parlance I’m very much going by vibes.
The thing I’ve been pondering is what to put here. Nobody reads race reviews, they never have, but I do enjoy journaling what I’ve been watching. I used to do that here and inspired by Matt White’s race count I brought back a series of mini reviews on socials last year and this.
I also had the idea many, many years ago, to have a weekly or monthly column. Pick a day and make sure to write something for it even if it is short.
So my goal is to do those things. It’ll be a bit shaky as I get into the swing of things. And no promises. It might flake out. Real life has been throwing a lot of things at our family. But it also reminds us to do things we enjoy. And I enjoy this.
Let’s see what happens.
I Watch Too Much Racing 