Local online dating site Datereading.com will be relaunching on 21 July. New features will include, we’re told:
Good luck to Faarhad and team (and to all those looking for a relationship, of course) 
Again, it’s been a while since I last posted on this blog (though I have continued to provide updates on Twitter). I have been out and about, doing this, that and the other - including recording fab new Roarcasts (= Reading Roars! podcast episodes) at Mix cocktail bar and Sushi One0eight. More on these soon…
Fewer First Great Western customers have been complaining about late trains, according to regional station manager Steve Lewis. Instead, complaints were about how the train operator “were going to improve the comfort on the services”.
I agree that comfort can be an issue. This morning, for example, I stood inches from other standing passengers as my Reading to Paddington journey lasted 50 minutes (due to the usual signalling problems).
Also uncomfortable is news that Network Rail bosses are to be awarded enormous bonuses (totally unacceptable, given what we have to put up with) and that weekend engineering works are expected to continue for several more years.
All in all, still not looking good if you are a customer.
What makes a town unique? It is said that the people make the town. It is true of Reading, in my opinion, derided by some outsiders who describe it as “soulless” or a “commuter town” (quite a derogatory tag).
There really is more to Reading than a busy railway station, commercial high street and shopping centres. There are buzzing personalities who give the town a distinctive identity, through their community deeds for example, or their running of independent cafes and historical pubs.
It is a theme that I am exploring with a new podcast series, Roarcasts. In this series, I aim to find out through informal conversations what makes busy people (local business owners, artists and community leaders, for example) in Reading tick, why they do what they do in Reading (as opposed to anywhere else) and what they have planned for the future.
The series begins with a chat with Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, the Ethiopian restaurant and catering service based at Reading’s Global Cafe. In Roarcast #1, Tutu revealed to me why she started Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, what her most popular dish is, the importance of Ethiopian coffee and more.
Before going any further, I should add that I was inspired by podcasts giants Nick Saalfeld and Mike Southon with their Beermat Radio podcasts and Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame. As for the apparently curious name “Roarcast” (sounding somewhat like “broadcast”), this was wittily suggested by Joff Hopkins of Reading 107 FM.
Without further ado, the running order for Roarcast #1 (11 minutes 10 seconds) is below. Please let me know what you think. It’s a first for me, so plenty of room for improvement! At times you will hear the sound fade out and in. It’s a fairly crude editing technique for when I want to snip certain sections, but I’m a newbie and expect to come up with something better.
Roarcast #1: Tutu Melaku and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table [MP3]
The Evening Post has commented on the chilling mannequins in the window of town centre store Jacksons and their subsequent disappearance (”Little shop of horrors“).
I walk past the famous Reading shop almost every day and couldn’t help but notice the beady eyes and knowing smiles of the Victorian-looking children behind the glass. Fellow Reading blogger Wendy described the spine-chilling feeling thus (”Jacksons: mannequins“):
A child mannequin in a tutu appears to watch you with evil eyes… …she scared me… …intrigued me…
Thank goodness they are gone (though there has been no mention of this on the Jacksons blog). They really were better placed on the set of a horror production.
I am experiencing Facebook fatigue at the moment (all those walls <sigh>), so have focused my attention on the microblogging service Twitter (think Facebook status updates).
I’d signed up a while back after reading social media expert and Reading resident Drew Benvie’s blog, but didn’t see the appeal. Well, I see the appeal now, a late entrant as always.
You can follow my 140 character nonsense at www.twitter.com/mattbrady. One of these days I will do something smarter with it. But not today.
A 5km walking/running challenge is to be held at Palmer Park on Sunday 6 July in aid of Sense, the deafblind charity. If you think 5km is not much of a challenge, you can try the race blindfolded (with the help of a guide).
For more information, ring 01372 840321 or contact Ed Charles at ed.charles@sense.org.uk.
I have been checking out veevow (don’t you just love these Web 2.0 names?), an online video playlist site that launched just 10 days ago.
Veevow, founded by former Reading PhD student Dr Matthew Ryan (I’m told that the veewow team is very fond of The Oracle), allows you to build YouTube video playlists. I gave it a go 5 minutes ago and it really is very simple:
You can share the playlist with your mates and add other videos found on veewow to your playlist.
Further features are planned (it would be good to see enhancements such as video rating, a Facebook application, WordPress plugin and tagging, for example). One new feature was added yesterday - a WordPress blog (nice one!).
One to watch, I think 
I have found top-drawer musical talent in Reading - via YouTube. Watch this brilliant video posted by the classically-named schubert06. Lyrics follow.
Why did Fulham have to score?
Only twenty minutes more and we’d have kept the hoards at bay.
Or some other Lita strikes and we’d have lived again to fight
Because goal difference wouldn’t matter anymore.
Our dreams have vanished — just like Sidwell, Chelsea bound.
And I’m sad. I’m so sad…
Oh Royal Reading what are we supposed to do?
The pride of Berkshire, led by Murty - we love you.
Steve Coppell’s army singing in the White and Blue…
In old Division Two.
We know Madejski will be there, we know he cares.
He’s got big hair and we will never let him down.
We face the future without malice
Although we must play Palace near unsightly Croydon Town!
Our dreams are drenched in a Purple Turtle rain
And we’re sad, we’re so sad…
Oh Royal Reading what are we supposed to do?
The pride of Berkshire, led by Murty - we’ll stay true.
Steve Coppell’s army singing in the White and Blue
In the White and Blue…in old Division Two.
I will be using pun-free headlines from now on.
Thinking about it, half of my previous headlines with what I thought was cleverly-engineered wordplay didn’t really work anyhow (several headlines I wrote many months back now appear baffling to me). Now I will try to make them as relevant as possible.