I picked this blog because I live geographically close to London and actually lived there for a few years. At first glance this girl appeals to me, the visual appeal is slick and there is a nice animated pic of various pics of her and an aquarium. Also she seems to have a grip on the sort of things people are feeling at the moment. It is winter, last week it was holloween and the whole of the UK is obsessed by fireworks. She also seems to be involved with ‘Flash mobs’ something that I have heard of, and looks great fun.
This is my first review, one of the first things I was looking for was the link to TWR, unfortunately she seems to have decided that TWR should be gathered at the very bottom, with Blogger of all things! Probably one of the only things I can find to criticise this site. One small point might be to add a comments feature or to make it a group blog and let other friends contribute.
This web site seems to be a highly attractive mixture of personal diary and ‘London promotion’ which I find pleasing. Especially as the blog entries seem to denigrate the public services. It is like showing people what it is really like at the same time as advertising what is going on in London and why they should visit. I would agree with this pragmatic effort. London is great but you have to be willing to make the effort to entertain yourself, especially at this time of the year when the weather is terrible.
Trying to place a value on a weblog is a difficult thing. It really depends on what you want to read. Personally I like to read about obscure locations or topics. The writing here is admirable but I think at times she is desperate to find something humorous about her day. There isn’t anything wrong with this, it just wouldn’t attract me because as the saying goes ‘who wants to be a comic, everyone laughs at you’.
The design of the blog is perfect, giving the impression of vitality and energy of London, the fish tank idea is wonderful. There are quite a few extra links to activities in London and other people’s blog. However I would like to know more about the author, maybe that is the drawback of our busy lives and I suspect that being a Londoner she doesn’t want to have an ‘about me’ page but I think it might be useful especially when some of the jokes seems to involve friends and family that I know nothing about.
In conclusion this is an appealing slick blog for this girl and her friends. She does have other things to say apart from observational humour, there are the weekly results of her life drawing class, a nice discussion in May about the ‘Diceman generation’. The blog is regularly updated – another appealing feature. I really find it difficult to find anything else to say about this blog. It is a lot better than my own blog, it probably isn’t the blog that would appeal to me but that shouldn’t take away from the overall mark. In conclusion London is a great place, and Harriet is a great person, so take a visit to both!
In the Aquarium: a londoner’s life