Building the world’s best bike directions at cycle.travelhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mk67awcdds2qXcode predictive autocomplete has decided my test data should be a house in Thamesmead for… reasons?23 Apr 2026 14:17 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk67awcdds2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mk5xjspm5s2jSheesh, I really hope New Order don’t turn up for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It’s the least Factory thing imaginable. Rob Gretton would describe it as “going to Ohio to talk to c***s”. If Peter Hook wants to hawk his tribute act on stage then let him. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/peter-hook-new-order-truce-reunion-rock-hall-1235551291/23 Apr 2026 11:58 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5xjspm5s2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mk5tmik3622eCrazily hard for any of these guys to succeed. But I hope they do. The world needs more small platforms and fewer Metas [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Apr 2026 10:48 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5tmik3622ehttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mjp44mh5522kAndy Kershaw popped in to chat with me at Waterways World some years ago – he was thinking of buying a narrowboat and wanted some advice. (Plus one of his all-time favourite record shops, Henry's Records, was just up the road.) An absolute delight in person. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/apr/17/bbc-radio-dj-andy-kershaw-dies-aged-6617 Apr 2026 14:11 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjp44mh5522khttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mjmcmtgqnk2fJust waved off Emrhys Barrell, founding editor of Canal Boat magazine, my old boss and someone from whom I learned a lot. (Fittingly, the route from the station to the crematorium was along the Kennet & Avon towpath.) Rest in peace, EGB.16 Apr 2026 11:29 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjmcmtgqnk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mjeduwrxxk22Your regular reminder that if GDS were any use, they would have fixed this rather than futzing around putting everything under one domain, removing hierarchical nav and standardising on Transport typeface while pretending they’re pioneering [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Apr 2026 07:30 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjeduwrxxk22https://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mjecftafik22I just knew that something good was gonna happen [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Apr 2026 07:04 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjecftafik22https://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3misuwrsl522mThis is good on Bluesky user growth but really wrong on Bluesky viability. “Bluesky costs a lot of money to run” and “its user base is just too small to monetise” are both mistaken. Bluesky is run for tuppence ha’penny and its userbase is basically your ideal demographic for subscriptions. 🧵 [contains quote post or other embedded content]06 Apr 2026 08:48 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3misuwrsl522mhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mib7i7imqs2bwhat3words is an abomination. [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Mar 2026 08:08 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mib7i7imqs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mi4lhjhja22oAmazing that Press Gazette keep running headlines like this and they don’t mean Newsquest, Reach or whatever the other one is called this week https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/the-seo-parasites-buying-exploiting-and-ultimately-killing-online-newsbrands/28 Mar 2026 11:59 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mi4lhjhja22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mftryhjigs2hAnd here’s Manchester’s finest with Everything’s Gone Green. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ggZTMi0Bs27 Feb 2026 13:12 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mftryhjigs2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mf2p32pbu223From Penzance to Thurso (and Marazion to Hoy)… it’s finished. After 25 years, I’m delighted to report that the New Adlestrop Railway Atlas now covers the whole of England, Scotland and Wales in one big PDF. Every* passenger line and station. Download it here: www.systemed.net/atlas/17 Feb 2026 13:43 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mf2p32pbu223https://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mewotcacoc22And anyway, this is why cycle.travel doesn’t unthinkingly route over highway=track https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9e32yv9g5o15 Feb 2026 23:28 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mewotcacoc22https://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mern6vqrss2fThe Green Party candidate has the right answer here (although ‘Columbia’ would have been acceptable as Oasis’s one surviving baggy song before they embarked on the Beatles>dadrock trajectory) [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Feb 2026 23:15 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mern6vqrss2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3menwsxsbwc22News! streetmap.co.uk is back up, blaming Storm Goretti for a month-long outage, and is plastered with “Donate here” ads. They have launched a crowdfunder for £16,000 annual running costs. I am not entirely convinced this is a sustainable model. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/streetmapcouk [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Feb 2026 11:57 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3menwsxsbwc22https://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3menw3a4cy22nJim Ratcliffe, owner of Ineos: “The UK has been colonised by immigrants” Number of British riders in Team Sky, 2018, before it was bought by Ratcliffe and rebranded: 10 Number of British riders in Ineos Grenadiers, 2026: 612 Feb 2026 11:44 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3menw3a4cy22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mee3w7spb22uwhat’s the point of that08 Feb 2026 14:02 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mee3w7spb22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3me4tlzubyc2fThis is the correct way of dividing Oxfordshire up into three councils and I shall not be taking questions [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 Feb 2026 16:44 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3me4tlzubyc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mdl2a625a22cThis week in “maybe we should have supported proportional representation after all” news29 Jan 2026 14:55 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdl2a625a22chttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3md3db5tbk22xAnd I still have my Multimap mug! (with typo on the bottom) [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Jan 2026 08:54 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3md3db5tbk22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mcwhtravvc2cstreetmap.co.uk appears to have finally keeled over and died. In the early 00s it was one of the two big online map sites in the UK, but whereas Multimap smartly sold out to Microsoft, Streetmap ploughed on with its frankly antiquated tech, at one point suing Google for market abuse (and losing).21 Jan 2026 10:33 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcwhtravvc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/richardfairhurst.bsky.social/post/3mcumncakys2iKeir Starmer’s chief secretary made a blame-the-civil-servants speech, praising “doers not talkers” and calling for “complete digital transformation”, at what3words HQ today. what3words has lost £150m in ten years and is showing no signs of ever making a profit. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/20/darren-jones-sack-civil-servants-rewire-whitehall20 Jan 2026 16:53 +0000at://did:plc:mr4sbayxuk666txhbfcsml7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcumncakys2i