About this site
After 31 32 33 34 35 36 years and the passage through infancy, school, university and work I’d decided to cash in my chips and retire, if only for a few months. This website is personal yet public. It was mainly for family to keep up to date whilst I’m away, which allowed me to ramble as they’ll like the detail. But it was for friends too, who could skip through and look at the pictures. I’ve been back home for a while now, but still post occasional thoughts if there’s something I think’s worth sharing.
The concept grew from a diary I kept when I went to New Zealand in January 2004, Down, Down Under. I was originally going to call this blog Down and Around but Mat suggested Down and Out instead. Acknowledging the parallels with George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, it seemed like a good idea. Thanks Mat. Nagging from Chris the Swiss and Geordie Paul forced it into reality.
There are lots of similar naval-gazing travel websites around, and a handful of good ones. Debt due to the impressive Vagabonding for some ideas of concept and layout. Many hours of geekery were spent learning Movable Type and CSS. Elise’s Learning MT helped me a great deal, although in March 2007 I finally and thankfully moved on to the spam-free world of WordPress. Being a lapsed usability practitioner I’ve tried to make the site easy to get around, but know it’s not accessible. Sorry.
