Welcome to the Coffee Stop

Right... I've been considering doing this for a while now, writing a weblog (who decided to drop the 'we'?) about nothing really in particular.  I have friends who have written great blogs about their travels and also have friends who write ongoing blogs about their hobbies, passions, careers and family... but I think my blog will simply be a series of ramblings about whatever comes to mind; somewhere to sound off or share what I've been doing and thinking.

I just had a thought... if you're here because you saw the link on my Facebook page or I alerted you to this soon-to-be masterpiece via email, then you'll know who I am.  If you happened upon these posts after searching something like "prize winning blogs" or "crazed musings" then I better do a quick introduction.

I'm Ben.  I'm a civil engineer 'by trade', but I don't get bogged down in all that - it pays (for now - that's another post) for my hobbies and I work to live; not the other way round.  Among those hobbies is cycling, in fact it's more of a passion so one or two posts will inevitably be centred on that whether it's a recap on a ride I have done or my view on recent events in the world of professional cycling.  If you're not interested, then you're more than welcome to ignore those or even comment with "BOOOOOORRRRRINNNGGGGG."

That leads onto the name of this blog - The Coffee Stop - I couldn't think of a name so tried to think what I would be doing when writing the posts.  Musing?  A bit poncey.  Thinking out loud?  Nah.  Blogging?  I hate web/tech terminology.  I will have probably stopped for a moment and will be pondering what has annoyed/amazed/aroused me of late.  And I'll be drinking coffee (or lager), but a coffee (or café) stop is something with which us cyclists are familiar.

A coffee (or café) stop is when a club run - after winding through 40 miles of country lanes at 25mph - might have a well earned recharge of a cyclist's favourite fuel: coffee and flapjacks.  It's also an opportunity for poseurs to put on the full Radioshack team kit and trundle 2 miles to the nearest café to show off their clean £5K worth of carbon bike.  Clean because it's hardly used.

I like to travel as well so there'll be posts about my latest adventures no matter how big or small: from day trips to multi-week soujourns at the other side of the world with a bit of luck.  And then there's music, books, me deciding what to do when/if I lose my job... I might talk about the occasional movie that I've seen, but don't come here for reviews of the latest ones: my taste's a bit out there and the last time I went to cinema was to see Dark Knight in 2008.

Anyway I'm rambling and you better get used to it, but I'll leave it there... like I said I don't really mind if hardly anyone reads this, I just feel better for having written things down and where applicable; got them off my chest.

Speak soon.