It’s that inevitable end-of-the-year post which every blog must publish. Here we go…
A Year on the Blog 🖊️
I’d set myself the goal at the start of the year to publish a post every fortnight. As you’re currently reading the 26th post of 2023, I’ve managed to average a post every two weeks, which I’m quite pleased with.
But posting wasn’t consistent, as by the end of June I’d only reached 9 posts, although thankfully I was hit by more inspiration in the second half of the year.
The backlog of ideas for this website and its blog is as long as it is intimidating. In efforts to become more consistent in 2024 I have a number of series planned, some of which should result in shorter posts which are easier to get out the door.
I also want to broaden the scope back to retro computing and miscellanea since this year it’s been focussed more on transit and life in Montreal. I know the retro gaming posts tend to be especially popular.
So next year, I’m aiming for more consistency, and also to have some shorter posts which I can have ready in my back pocket if I’m struggling to finish off a longer one.
To that end, I’m not going to post anything at all in January. Instead I want to focus on building up that backlog so I can post consistently for the rest of the year.
(I’d also take a moment to remind everyone this site has an RSS feed, if that’s your preferred way get new posts the moment they’re published)
Montreal as a Transit City 🚊
A lot of posts this year have focussed on transit, so it makes sense to briefly comment on the topic here. If I’m perfectly honest, North America is about the worst continent to live on if you care about active transport and being able to move around car-free. But, on the local level, we’re very slowly moving in the right direction and showing other cities on the continental plane how things can be done.
When I arrived in Montreal the transit situation was stagnant. Roll forward a decade and whilst we remain just too far behind our European and Asian counterparts, some impressive things have taken shape: A new light rail network, bus rapid transit, an ever-improving all year round cycling network, integrated ticketing, and even a boat network.
Here on the blog, I tried to document some of the changes taking place, and undertook my first transit challenge where I visited every station on the Island of Montreal within 24 hours. I also had the opportunity to preview the REM which was a special experience for a transit fan.
There’s still a long way to go, and my fear is once the current projects are completed, there’s nothing concrete on the horizon. Montreal might be setting itself up for several decades of further transit stagnation, so 2024 may be crucial to getting new long term planning in the works.
And finally, I made my own small contribution to the transit ecosystem as well.
Link Sharing on Social Media 🔗
For those following me on Mastodon, I use Buffer to schedule interesting links and posts throughout the week so my account is consistently alive. Usually I prefix each of these posts with a specific emoji so it’s clear the post is automated:
- 📖 Article
- 📰 News
- 📺 Video
- 🎙️ Podcast
- 🎧 Music
I’ve really enjoyed the conversations which some of these links have sparked during the year, and I always find myself learning new and interesting things from the Mastodon community as a result.
First year as a Canadian 🇨🇦
This year I reached another life milestone as I passed my first year as a Canadian, and reflected on my arrival in Canada back in 2010. Has it really been that long?
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So I want to wish everyone a happy new year for 2024 and to say thank you for reading.
See you in February!
