Just upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10, which has been released today.

The video, by Canonical Design, gives a brief taste of the new version of the operating system I use on a daily basis.

All looking good so far…

Bids are invited to propose the venue for the follow-up to WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011.

The event is planned to be held on the weekend of 14-15 July 2012.

This will be the fifth in the series of UK-based gatherings of WordPress publishers, designers and developers, which is held at a different location for each event.

The first conference took place in 2008 at Birmingham, followed by Cardiff the following year, then Manchester in 2010, and finally Portsmouth earlier this year.

The decision on the winning bid will be taken by the WordCamp UK mailing list.

Those interested in proposing a venue should follow the procedure on the planning wiki – the deadline for bid submissions is Saturday 26 November 2011.

Increadibly hot weather, for October, in Acton W3 at 1138 on Sunday 2 October 2011.

The level crossing outside Acton Central Overground station at 2004 on Thursday 1 September 2011.

I attended this year’s Green Man Festival, held at Glanusk Estate, South Wales, on 19-21 August 2011.

Our journey to the site started with an epic coach journey leaving Paddington Thursday 18 August in a near-apocalyptic rain downpoar.

Thankfully, the weather improved during the journey, and on arrival Christina, Steve, Des and myself swung into action by implementing our well rehearsed plan to erect our tents in the dark using two torches.

The festival site, held in the magnificent Brecon Beacons, has microclimate conditions, resulting in rapidly changing weather conditions. In the main the weather was fantastic, testified by my sunburn on the Friday, and the subsequent use of Christina’s scarf on Saturday as a protective measure!

Along with a wide range of food stalls, the festival also had five bars providing 24 hour coverage, giving plenty of time to savour the specially brewed Green Man Growler bitter in all the bars, and the Hallets cider in the Courtyard Bar.

For Green Man 2011 there were six performance areas – amongst the many acts I saw were:

• Bellowhead
• The Burns Unit
• Fleet Foxes
• Tim Minchin
• Polar Bear
• Gruff Rhys
• The Sonic Manipulator
• Justin Spear
• Treecreeper
• Zervas & Pepper

With its laid back but organised style, and family-friendly environment, I can understand why Green Man won the 2010 UK Best Medium Festival award.

Pictured above is the burning of the Green Man effigy on the Sunday night.

Green Man – highly recommended: I’m putting it in my diary for 2012!

I attended the Wetherspoon Summer Cider Festival which was held 21-31 July 2011.

Here’s the cider I sampled during my visits to the festival, along with marks out of ten:

• Addlestones Cloudy – 6/10
• Green Valley Cyder Strawby Cider – 5/10
• Mr Whiteheads Cider Festival Special Perry – 8/10
• Thatchers Traditional – 9/10

WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011 took place on the weekend of 16-17 July.

There’s plenty of reports of the proceedings on the WordCamp UK wiki.

As the co-ordinator of WordCamp UK I’d like to thank everyone involved – including:

• Everyone who led sessions.
• Rich Boakes who put forward this year’s winning venue bid and provided invaluable help in the organisation of the event.
• The University of Portsmouth for the venue.
• All our sponsors and microsponsors.
• Mike Little for the efficient processing of all the financial issues.
• Jonny Allbut for building the Portsmouth 2011 event site.
• Jonathan Harris for the event graphics and t-shirt design.
• The WordCamp UK Core Group.
• And last (but not least!) thanks to everyone who attended.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the event, and plenty of improvements were suggested for 2012.

The Core Group has taken on board many of these suggestions, and hopes to be issuing the 2012 venue requirements in the next few weeks, against which bids for specific event locations will be invited.

The decision on the venue for next year will taken by the WordCamp UK mailing list.

So if you want to influence where in the UK the follow-up to the Portsmouth WordCamp takes place, subscribe to the mailing list now!

I attended the Ealing Beer Festival 2011 held in Walpole Park on 6 July 2011.

Here’s the drinks I sampled, along with marks out of ten:

• Coach House Banana – 9/10
• Lynne Down Much Marcle cider – 9/10
• Mordue IPA – 8/10
• Outstanding Pushing Out – 9/10
• Rebellion Googly – 5/10