Tuesday 29 May 2012

Welcome On The Journey

Hello, and welcome!

Firstly, I ought to explain the title of the blog: A Web Travelogue. If you've come expecting beautifully worded descriptions of exotic places and photos of the ethereal, transient beauty of our shared planet, then forget it - I ain't going anywhere! I can offer descriptions of Dudley and some photos of my cats but that's as far as it goes!

No - this blog is simply going to be a description of the trials and tribulations that I face while learning HTML5 and CSS3.

I will, however, try to find somewhere to upload what I'm working on so, if you're interested, you can go there and see the work in progress, read the code and offer sensible (and sensitive!) criticism.

So, without further ado, let's get the description of Dudley and the photos of the cats out of the way...

Dudley

Dudley is great. I love the place. I've recently moved here from Aston, in Birmingham, and the place couldn't be more different. We live in Upper Gornal, on the outskirts of Dudley but still, as far as I know, in the Dudley borough.

This is part of the county that really bore the nomenclature of 'The Black Country' due to the prolific mining, iron working and steel making. The industrial activity in this region substantially changed the landscape but as you walk around the place these days, hardly any evidence exists that this was the case. In fact it all looks as if were never anything other than a recently swallowed village on the outskirts of a small city.

Literally around the corner from me, the countryside begins - which, to a city boy from Birmingham, is weird. Wonderful - but weird. You see, we're not used to countryside in Birmingham. Oh, there are a few very nice suburbs, and places like Solihull border on the countryside - but I've never lived in them. I've always been in the densely populated, multi-cultural areas of the cities I've lived in.

I've got to say that I'm loving it here. I've always loved Black Country people, their accent - and their beer. Which reminds me... I've found a Real Ale pub out here called The Jolly Crispin. It looks ancient and small but it's very welcoming and the beer slips down like expensive silk and kicks your head right in! Fantastic! I understand that Real Ale is not to everyone's liking (why not???) but it's worth a try if only to experience obliteration on a budget.

The Cats

My wife and I used to have, let's see... five cats - in a small two-up, two-down house in Aston. It should have been crowded but the cats spent most of the time out of the house. Three of them were brothers, all from the same litter. One was the son of one of the brothers and his mother was also the mother of the three boys. Confused? Yeah, well you wouldn't be if you were a cat.

Now that we've moved here, we have only two cats. Aston, it seems is not a kind place for cats, and a few of them either died or went out one day and never came back. Your guess is as good as mine...

So, when we came here, we had three cats left. One of them took one look at the new house and simply took to his heels and was never heard from again. He's probably gone feral now, being this close to the country. These are the two we have left...

This is Hoodie - so called because when he was a kitten, he would often crawl into the hood of a Nike top I have and crash out for hours. Hoodie is a real cutie and is the son of...

Edge - who gained his name because he has white edges to his ears, like a wolf. He suits his name, though because he's a very skittish cat and jumps at the least thing. I'm sure that, while we lived in Aston, some bastard has had a go at him, leaving him in a very nervous state.

We love them both very much (as we have loved all our animals) and treat them very much as part of the family.


Right - that's yer lot! Next time, I won't be wittering on the subject of my family, it'll be pure HTML5 or CSS3 all the way - Promise!

Patrick

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a Comment and remember that everyone can read them, so keep it clean - and be kind! Your Comments will be moderated before publication.