I have a confession to make. After 28 years of marriage I have a mistress. And boy is she demanding. Always wanting my attention everyday (and at night too). However, before you decide you’ve come to the wrong website let me say that my ‘mistress’ is a blog. Or to be more precise www.biglorryblog.com part of Reed Business Information’s www.roadtransport.com website. Now you’d think that a 53-year old hack wouldn’t be interested in blogging. Not the kind of thing an old journo would do…best left to young bloods who understand cyberspace. Mmmmm. Well all I can say is that blogging has been one of the most interesting ,exasperating, liberating, intrusive, (and don’t forget obsessive) thing that’s happened to me in my life of journalism. I can’t remember any work practice that has had such a fundamental impact on my working day since I joined Commercial Motor in 1978.

Having originally started Biglorryblog, as much out of curiosity and a desire to do something different, some two years ago it has grown like topsy. And rather like Dr Frankenstein’s monster I’m not sure what it’s going to do next. Anyway first some facts: What is Biglorryblog? Well it’s a daily collection of my thoughts, and my own personal take on the quirkier side of the road transport industry, always accompanied by a picture (you must have pictures) of what else? A big lorry. It would have been called Bigtruckblog but when I first tried to enter that name I found it had already been gone. And in a way I’m pleased. BLB may not be so searchable as BTB but I like it. It’s not meant to be serious, although at times it is. What it is supposed to do is provide Biglorryblog’s army of readers (at any one time between 15,000-20,000 a month) with a distraction to the daily grind. The sort of thing they’d read over a cup of coffee when they’re fed up with doing the real work of the day.

When I first started Biglorryblog I admit had no idea where it was going. However I did know that I DIDN’T want it to be a serious ‘think-piece’. That would have taken far too long—that stuff is best left in hard copy publications where people have the time to read it. And besides it would have provided poor opportunities for posting nice big pictures of shiny lorries too…What I’ve ended up creating is a place for all those frivolous, flippant and possibly rude things I’d ever wanted to write before in Commercial Motor but couldn’t get away with. It’s also a great place to extract the yellow stuff out of appalling press releases and crap PR pictures. And at a time in my life when as a senior journalists I find myself giving up hours of my time on ‘management’ issues it’s nice to get back to having some fun as a journalist again. Or to put it another way” “Tis a small thing…but mine own.” However, right from the get-go I’ve been astonished by the reaction of the “community” (and for once here’s a buzzword I can live with) of people who read it (from anoraks to senior executives in the business). And equally astonished when people who I would have imagined have far more important things to do say to me: “I read your blog…”

So where does Biglorryblog sit in the great map of journalism…? Probably somewhere to the west of Tristan de Cuhna. Yet its reach has surprised even me. Not that long ago I was blogging on the future of gas turbine engines in trucks (like I said, I DO post the occasional serious piece) and I started getting a comments back from a guy in the Philippines who clearly knew a damn sight more about the subject than me. But why on earth from the Philippines I hear you ask?  Because blogs are rather like those little Voyager space probes trundling through the outer reaches of space. There’s no telling where they’ll end up. (It’s journalism Jim…but not as we know it).

But like I said it’s a cruel and demanding mistress. I have to post everyday, often 3-4 times. If you don’t believe me, ask my fellow bloggers on roadtransport,com Will Shiers and especially Ollie Dixon who runs an excellent, pithy and highly-respected blog on the machinations of the world’s commercial vehicle manufacturers every day---although I suspect many would prefer him not to. Ollie will confirm that your blogging audience demands fresh meat…every 24hrs. And during high days and holidays it’s not easy, well actually it’s very easy if I don’t want to get a ‘real’ life and don’t care about upsetting the wife who thinks I’m round the twist anyway. However, having created a demand, I’ve now got to feed it with new postings every day. Ego aside, I believe it’s what my audience expects (and demands) of Biglorryblog. And in a way they do. I read somewhere that 50% of all blogs never last longer than two months. I can see why. The trick isn’t starting a blog, it’s keeping the damn thing going daily, with fresh material that’s new, lively, engaging  yaddayaddayadda….But as the search and links site technorati says: ‘zillions, of photos, blogs and videos…some of them have to be good’. So is Biglorryblog any good? Search me…in fact that’s not a bad idea. And if Biglorryblog isn’t for you, I won’t be offended. It just means that somewhere out there is a blog that is…so I suggest you go and find it!