Hello

Well hello, you! I’m Matt, and this is the first post. I’m not entirely sure how this will turn out, I tried to blog when I was in my early-twenties but that didn’t go very far and is now buried in the digital dust (thankfully). But I’ve been inspired by Matt Dray’s recent post “Dear past self: blog” to start blogging, in particular his idea that his blog is his reference library.

I forget everything. That’s especially true for code. - Matt Dray ¹

When it comes to code, I concur. I sort of remember what I’ve done and maybe what package I’ve used, but I don’t remember all the idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of code. Despite making lots of graphs I still have to open the {ggplot2} functions reference every single time I make a plot. So this blog is principally about letting me remember what I’ve done and how I’ve done it. Any additional benefit to others is a lucky coincidence, so you’re welcome.

Why The Lapsed Geographer

My academic background is in geography, it was the subject I loved most at school and went on to study at university, gaining a BSc in Geography from University College London. After university I worked for a small regeneration consultancy, mainly being an interim policy researcher for the London Borough of Hackney. But after that I joined the Civil Service and until recently haven’t been doing anything much geographical. I’m still an analyst, and much of my foundational teaching in geography serves me well to this day. But I’m certainly a lapsed geographer, and not up to date. Hence the blog name. Oh and I got a .london domain name because I’m based in London.