[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":68},["ShallowReactive",2],{"site-settings":3,"site-weather":38,"blog-post-leaving-london":41},{"id":4,"camera_roll_header":5,"camera_roll_subheader":6,"extension":7,"footer_bio_name":8,"footer_bio_text":9,"footer_headshot_url":10,"footer_links":11,"footer_newsletter_desc":21,"footer_newsletter_heading":22,"hero_buttons":23,"hero_desc":32,"hero_tagline":33,"hero_title":34,"meta":35,"stem":36,"__hash__":37},"site\u002Fsite.json","From the camera roll","Self-hosted, uncompressed — a little pond of everything I've been looking at.","json","Sul","Writer, photographer, and lifelong resident of RPG towns. Sulcalibur is the garden where it all gets planted.","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.bsky.app\u002Fimg\u002Favatar\u002Fplain\u002Fdid:plc:cf676cpnyxhrxctrsusddklr\u002Fbafkreibbdzsdxwnxqq3ffvfle3g4gzdpygnm43ihdfx6jugz7xoman7pdm",[12,15,18],{"label":13,"url":14},"\u002Fnow - current focus","\u002Fnow",{"label":16,"url":17},"\u002Fuses - gear & tools","\u002Fuses",{"label":19,"url":20},"\u002Fhello - say hi","\u002Fhello","An occasional newsletter — new essays, photos, and whatever's on the shelf. No noise, ever.","Letters from the hillside",[24,28],{"label":25,"link":26,"style":27},"Start reading!","\u002Fwriting","primary",{"label":29,"link":30,"style":31},"The photo shelf","\u002Fphotos","secondary","Long-form writing, photography and the small live signals of a life spent in RPG towns, quiet hills, and the space between.","A personal digital garden · 物語の庭","Stories, pixels & warm places.",{},"site","XKRgspXnyC_8pwiKfVrqxKDeMGdjmYvhbe7GTuHf204",{"temp":39,"desc":39,"source":40},null,"none",{"post":42,"prev":61,"next":64},{"_id":43,"_path":44,"title":45,"slug":46,"content":47,"excerpt":48,"status":49,"published_at":50,"tags":39,"categories":51,"post_type":55,"bg_color":56,"text_color":57,"color_mode":58,"featured_image":59,"featured_image_alt":39,"author":60},"3b21350d-1cf0-4139-8694-9e0f2e5a85b0","\u002Fwriting\u002Fleaving-london","Goodbye London my Old Friend","leaving-london","\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003Cstrong>From London to Peterborough: A Family’s Journey\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->I was born in North London and grew up there apart from a few times when I moved about 10 minutes drive away from my hometown and just past the M25. Other than that I have always considered myself a Londoner born and bred. I had worked various jobs in and around Central London and even participated in the endurance test every morning and evening, five days a week that is known to most as the commute to work. Nothing will infuriate you more than London trains and the quest to squeeze as many people into them.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->In 2012, a time that should have been a proud moment for us Londoners with the Olympics – after all, we had paid enough for it through our elevated council tax – but alas, it wasn’t. This was the year that the looting and riots kicked off around the United Kingdom, mainly in and around London and especially North London, my home. It was a sad time and whilst I was commuting into and from work eating up four hours every day I was leaving my family in the chaos that was our hometown of Enfield. Enough was enough. We started making plans to move our family elsewhere as the gang violence along with knife and gun crime was rising and with four boys this wasn’t something we were willing to risk.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->Rewind a year from now and we were just in the process of moving to Peterborough. Why Peterborough? So many people from this area have said this to me.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->“Why on Earth did you move from London to Peterborough?!?!”\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->Well, the paragraphs above are just scratching the surface of the reasons why we moved \u003C!---->\u003Cstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->out\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->. The reasons for moving \u003C!---->\u003Cstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->in\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!----> to Peterborough though were mainly due to the rich history and the cost of living (especially house prices) along with the fact that Peterborough is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK. Jobs are also widely available for the boys and the web \u002F digital community seems a great deal more pleasant also. It also has some stunning architecture along with many modern new builds and seems to have a great deal of focus on the environment also, with many new houses being Eco-buildings. I have never seen so many solar panels on houses in my life and in the distance you can usually see Wind Farms.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->The Future of Suljam (our Business)\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->In London, we always struggled to get the Suljam business off the ground. Work was too few and far between and money was always an issue especially with the extortionate cost of rent. Networking seems futile at best and every success was usually greeted with a failure or high cost creeping around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, there is a huge amount of success to be found in the big city, I was just growing tired and weary trying to maintain a startup along with providing for a family of six.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->So upon setting up in Peterborough I instantly checked Meetup for any like minded folks in groups to start making friends. I came across a group called DPiP.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->DPiP is about collaborative knowledge sharing and engagement through digital technology. Informal social gatherings for anyone working or interested in the digital content. Monthly meetings held in central Peterborough on the first Wednesday of every month. Non-profit free social event and open to all.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->This sounded perfect, to top it all it was held in a coffee shop also! To hit the ground running, get noticed and make new friends I even volunteered to perform a talk also in April 2016 which was called:\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->“The Futile Quest for Perfection” – The best route to finding the “nearest to perfection” in your design – Suleiman Leadbitter\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->From this group of wonderful leaders and its awesome members I have branched out and managed to meet such inspirational people, myself and my family have also participated in a vast number of outstanding workshops and activities including the Raspberry Pi Jam among others. This group has been the truest definition of ‘community’ in the digital field that I have ever encountered. For this I am grateful.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->The Community\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->Since the Geeks at DPiP have now become used to me and have (sort of) accepted me into their clan I have now become part of the team for the very exciting STEM Festival that they are organising for this Autumn. A huge \u003C!---->\u003Cstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->FREE\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C!---->\u003C!----> Festival encompassing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->The Future\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"auto\">\u003C!---->\u003C!---->\u003C!---->We as a family have no idea if we will stay in Peterborough long term but at the moment everything seems to be superb and that is what matters. The positivity that we have encountered has been paramount in us staying and loving our lives here. We are looking forward to the future with the education of our children and the business all growing over the next few years.\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!---->\u003C\u002Fp>","I was born in North London and grew up there apart from a few times when I moved about 10 minutes drive away from my hometown and just past the M25. Other than that I have always considered myself a Londoner born and bred.","published","2016-08-12T00:00:00.000Z",[52],{"name":53,"slug":54},"Personal","personal","popular","#143352","#FFFFFF","dark","\u002Fapi\u002Fdirectus\u002Fasset\u002F2bebb9be-c452-491c-8cc1-259bade11c77",{"first_name":8,"last_name":39},{"slug":62,"title":63,"published_at":50},"peterboroughs-first-stem-festival","Peterborough's First STEM Festival",{"slug":65,"title":66,"published_at":67},"50-illustrations-over-50-days","50 Illustrations Over 50 Days","2016-07-22T11:00:00.000Z",1792366699524]