Forgive me blogging father, for I have sinned....

FORGIVE me father, it's been six long months since my last confessional blog. I've become such a badly lapsed blogger. It's not because I didn't have the time, father, or even the inclination to sit down and write; writing is, after all, what I do professionally and have done for more than 30 years.

No, the reason I've lapsed badly is because I've had nothing to say. I've written newspaper columns for many years, based on the first rule of communication; if you've got nothing interesting to say, then don't say it!

Not that this basic principle has prevented a hideous clogging of the social media arteries by tedious Tweets and boring blogs from folks who want to reveal to the world what they had to breakfast or dinner, intricate details of travel plans, or the latest office gossip. What is the world coming to? Get a bleedin' life, I say!

Don't get me wrong, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and their various acolytes have opened up a whole new exciting world of information. Working in the media, we've had to up our game considerably in recent years to a new level, and we're still trying to keep up after a sluggish start. We are no longer custodians of news and information. Our cosy environment has been disrupted. Fifteen years ago, we would have no truck with the internet and the world wide web. To newspaper men back in the mid-90s, the world wide web was the devil incarnate. Now, it is the mother of necessity and if we don't embrace it properly, then we will die.

No, it's how the social media is used today which freaks me out. There is so much chaff that it really is hard to distinguish the wheat. It's like being stuck in an overcrowded pub with so many inane conversations spinning around that those half decent ones, those with any semblance of value, go straight over your head.

The mundaneness of social media sometimes beggars belief, notably the blogs and Tweets of so-called professionals who, pre-Twitter, would always have thought cautiously before giving a considered opinion on any subject, especially those reaching the public domain. Now these experienced communicators, and footballers, open themselves up with off-the-cuff observations which lack perspective or any sense of trust or respect.

So will mine me any different, or will it be another boorish blog?  Truthfully, that's in the eye of the reader.

Well, there's enough material bobbing around in my small life to offer something which could be readable - I'm getting married in two weeks' time, work has taken a fresh turn in the past year taking me to a new part of the country, I'm in the midst of organising a Doughnut Race during the Olympic Games, while training for the London Marathon in 2012, and I have an opinion or two.

These views on my blog are my own, they're not plagarised and are often written with tongue firmly in cheeck. If you like them, then say so, if you don't, well there are plenty of other interesting geekish blogs to digest.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee........