This weblog isn't a diary or a diatribe. Rather, it is a scrolling collection of notes on offbeat places, real and imagined, and the events and people that shaped them. The content wanders but has a London & South Eastern bias. My gaff, my rules. It is formatted for reading on a phone, so I try to keep the word count in the 2000-3000 range.
To see if there is anything that interests you, check the 'Contents' index above; all the posts are linked from there.
A note on methodology. I read a lot; books, articles and (thanks to the British Library) academic papers. If there are conflicting theories, I usually go with the most popular or credible one, as the word count does not allow me to explore alternatives. (AI is helpful for quick checks on dates, etc. You can tell that I don't use it for much else by the typos!).
Why Oil Drum Lane? The boomers among you might recall the TV comedy 'Steptoe & Son'. They were Rag & Bone men who lived and worked in a scrapyard in 'Oil Drum Lane', an imagined back street near Shepherd's Bush in West London. Just the place to go looking for gems in the dust!
The most recent post is a much better version of my earlier post on Hillforts, on what they were and what they were not.
If you are looking
for my bike routes with their detailed notes on places to go & see, go to (link) Pootler
If you are looking for the reliquary of my former professional involvement in planning and development, focusing on the economics of making things happen, but also some moaning about it, go to (link) urbanspaceman
If you want to get in touch, use mail(at)mickbeaman.co.uk
