Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

Humunga Kowabunga, Bubba Gumps Shrimp Shack, Manta, Rip Ride Rocket, all names and sounds synonymous with the heat and surreality of Florida, a playground for the young and the young at heart which has drawn families in for decades bringing dreams to life. Names which could soon be coming to North Kent and rejuvenating an industrial backwater famed for the manufacturing of cement and refinement of industrialised metals. I arrived into work yesterday morning under a barrage of text messages from a very excited younger sibling. My sister had read an article on one of the local news websites detailing plans of a new multi-billion pound development which would see a world class theme park and entertainment resort built quite literally on our doorstep. Apparently land local to us on the Swanscome peninsula has been earmarked as a possible location for this venture and Paramount, a Hollywood movie studio has agreed licensing rights which means we could potentially be seeing a collect...

Behind every Facebook status update lies a bigger story. A thought we’ve shared that only has meaning to a select few, or from time to time, our view on a story much bigger than ourselves. These last few days, it has been like that. The sadness behind the status I posted on Friday and then last night, something new, something profound, something that helped one come to terms with an act of despicable evil that arrived and landed, allegedly upon our doorsteps. Thursday night, I came home from work, I was running late, so went straight upstairs to say goodnight to Oliver before he fell asleep. I came downstairs afterwards to say hello to Stephanie, my wife and I immediately saw that something was wrong? “Are you okay?” I asked, but she wasn’t and burst into tears. A couple who we’d met at a party two weekends ago had given birth to a beautiful baby boy, shared his name with our own son, but sadly complications during the pregnancy meant that the baby passed away two days lat...

Last week a friend suggested that I have a look to see what national day/week it was and write a blog post upon the subject. A great suggestion I thought, but the timing was slightly out. The only day in March that really appealed to me was World Book Day , but having already published my post for the week I thought I’d save that particular subject for the future. Since then, I’ve been assigned a task - to write an article about my local Library and so this week, I’ve concocted a blog post which is a mixture of all of that! My article, which I have submitted as part of my writing class was to look at our local library and talk about it, as if writing for a newspaper perhaps. With it came a 500 word limit; meaning I was up and over that long before I’d even made an introduction! Within it, I spoke about our own central library in Gravesend, how Kent County Council are going against the current trend and are actually placing some much welcome investment in the form of a redevelo...

Gravesend is currently in the beginnings of a major transformation. Both the 'civic quarter' and 'transport quarter' are being redeveloped as part of a multi-million pound regeneration scheme, which will eventually see a new one-way traffic system, a new bus terminus, a vastly improved train station and much improved pedestrian areas and access routes. However, if Gravesham Council had their way, the redevelopment wouldn't stop there. Last year, plans for Gravesend's ' heritage quarter ' were rejected. These plans, put together by developer Edinburgh House included new housing, a new public square, a children's play area and enhancement of the river to include better walkways and garden areas. Also included in the grand masterplan was a controversial 32 storey residential block, which proved to be the cause of much upset and discussion amongst local residents. As long time readers of this blog will know, I was quite forthright in my condemnat...

Yesterday, High Speed 1, the new commuter service running from London to Ashford took it's first passengers as part of it's preview service before rolling out full time in December. Due to a series of circumstances I found myself using the train far sooner than I anticipated. For most of my life there has always been discussions, talks, plans and ideas for a high speed service that would link London to the continent, allowing you, if you wished to be in Paris, or Brussels in ludicrously short amounts of time. Slowly but surely as the infrastructure has been built up around us and details about international rail travel and local commuter routes we have found suddenly, that it is actually reality. Living in Gravesend , we have been very fortunate that the Ebbsfleet International Station has been built upon our doorsteps (even if there are a million negative issues here), as this has allowed us easy access to the service. Having commuted to London for the past three y...

According to the Gravesend Messenger Ebbsfleet United, whom changed their name last year in an effort to forge links with the new community in Ebbsfleet have revealed plans for a new stadium... in Gravesend! The new site, next to Morrisons inbetween the new and old A2, will see the new stadium form part of a larger eco-recreational site, which will have walking areas, playgrounds, a BMX track and horse trails. How realistic the plans are only time will tell, but from my knowledge planning permission for moving over the A2 was only granted on the condition that the new space would be used not be used for commercial or residential purposes. Does a football stadium fall under a leisure enterprise thus making them eligible for development? Time will tell. Now for the rant! Gravesend and Northfleet FC changed their name to Ebbsfleet United so that they could forge stronger links with the "new community" expecting to increase their fanbase on the back of a migration of p...

Last year I set up a Facebook Group in an attempt to open dialogue with Land Securities, the company behind the Ebbsfleet Landmark. I also wrote a couple of blog articles and set up a petition on the government website so that us, the local residents could, if we wanted be given the choice to reject the three shortlisted designs as being unsuitable and vote to reject the plans altogether or come up with a more suitable, viable solution. As a result of my Facebook Group I was approached by a researcher for the BBC Politics programme and interviewed over the telephone and subsequently invited onto Sunday's show to discuss the proposition alongside a member of staff working for the Ebbsfleet Landmark Trust - a subsidiary of Land Securities. Despite having huge misgivings about appearing on a television show and attempting to eloquently put together an argument against something and coming across sympathetically to a watching audience, coping with the extreme nerves and potential...

In an attempt to open communications with the people behind the Ebbsfleet Landmark I was provided with contact details for Land Securities by a fellow blogger who shares similar opinions to me. I list below the transcript of our email correspondence (so far) in the belief that by sharing this information other people can learn more about their take on the project and have a further understanding of what's being planned. Good afternoon, I am writing in the hope that this email is one of many concerns voiced regarding the five shortlisted designs for the Ebbsfleet Landmark. Upon hearing of the idea initially I was led to believe that the landmark was being developed for the residents of Ebbsfleet as a vocal point, a place that made them feel "at home". I asked myself the question - How can you build something for somebody who isn't even there yet? Surely the people of Gravesend, Northfleet, Swanscome and the local area, the people who have been there for years need to f...

A little while ago I read about an idea about placing an "icon" on top of the hill as you head down Swanscombe Cutting entitled "Angel of the South". Today, my fears which were highlighted at the time became reality as the five shortlisted designs where revealed. It is quite clear that the whole pretentious idea is flawed, and that none of the designs, which I have listed below are in fitting with the local community, not on any level; culturally , aesthetically , historically, artfully - the list is endless. Am I being a little harsh? Judge for yourself. 1) Christopher Le Brun This design from Christopher Le Brun looks like a huge satellite dish which has been crashed into by a huge bird, which is stuck with it's arse hanging out of the ground! 2) Daniel Buren The Far East or Gravesend , where would this look more appropriate? I cannot see it remaining shiny contemporary white for too long. Some lad from Swanscombe with a spray can will see to that! 3) Mar...

In the middle of last year, sometime before the football season started I wrote about how Gravesend and Northfleet had changed there name to Ebbsfleet United and how wrong I believed it to be. Well according to the BBC in this article , they were actually paid by the developers of Ebbsfleet to undertake this bastardisation of their name and confirms my feelings of distaste about what my home town club has become. However, this blog posting, rather than rant on again about those so called "future-thinkers" from Stonebridge Road is regarding the main focus of the above BBC article. Five artists have been asked to design a sculpture measuring 50 metres (165 ft) that will be visible from road, rail and air. An estimated 40 million people a year will ride past it on trains and in cars, and the landmark must create a sense of pride and belonging for the planned new town of Ebbsfleet . Ten thousand homes are being built in the next 20 years as part of a huge regeneration projec...

I am a Gillingham Fan, first and foremost. But I am a massive follower of football, and so take note of all the goings on around the footballing globe, from non-league to more recently MSL (and yes, because of Mr Beckham's influence). I had therefore, obviously heard about the idea of a group of people putting a website together and coming up with the idea of getting enough "supporters" together to buy a club and run it. Being a web thing, you would have thought that would have been right up my street being a bit of a geek (according to most). However, reading various articles around the footballing blogosphere , it became clearer in my own mind what a crazy idea this really was. I shall not go into depth here, but you can read more from the horses mouth by visiting myfootballclub.co.uk However crazy I thought the idea was, I was never for it, or particularly against it, as it was always in my mind that some random team would be the eventual guineas pigs and I could...

I was planning on writing a blog today, celebrating the joyous occasion at Anfield last night, as Liverpool reached their seventh European Cup final, their second in three years. The fact that it was a hard fault battle against the likes of the unlikeable Robben, Drogba and the "cannot make my mind up about him" Mourinho made it all the sweeter. Poor Oliver whom was attempting a peaceful nights sleep was probably wondering what the hell his Daddy was doing two inches away from the TV trying to scream quietly and jumping up and down like a rabid banshee. However, my pre thought blog entry was instantly scrapped when I read this article on the BBC website. "Gravesend announce change of name" my Google homepage told me. Naturally I was intrigued as to what this meant, I thought maybe they had dropped the Northfleet part, as in some media circle the Northfleet is never displayed (possibly because Gravesend and Northfleet is too long or something). Instead, it turns ou...

I read this great story on the BBC Website about the Gravesend and Northfleet Chairman ringing up all his season ticket holders in order to inform them that Saturday's kick off against Morecombe had been brought forward by an hour. I know it would be practically impossible for Mr Scally, the Gillingham chairman to do the same, but it goes to show what a diffference a personal and friendly chairman can do for a football club. A lesson for not just Mr Scally, but for most of the league chairman I am sure.

I had heard about the Tour de France coming to London and Kent this year for a little while, and when I first heard the news I speculated that the route may go pass the flat. We live on the main road from Dartford and into Gravesend, and it made perfect sense to me that this is where the route would go. In the past few weeks, with the build up and official announcements on the Tour de France website being made and confirmation by the council , we really will see the Tour de France racing along the Overcliffe and past Pioneer Court! I am not a cyclist, or a cycling fan per se, but it is great news for Gravesend that the world's largest annual sporting event is passing through! Even better for Steph, Oliver and I, is that we can watch all the action live and uninterrupted from the comfort of our front room! It is strange how when you see the Tour de France on the TV how they appear to be cycling through idyllic French hamlets, or high in the hills somewhere providing breathtaking v...