You can sponsor my efforts here on mydonate and let mySociety know how much you appreciate them!

Have you ever considered why there are potholes in our roads? When there is a pothole in the road, what do you think it preventing it getting fixed?

It turns, when you ask the council, the answer is “no one told us about it”.

The Bogle Ramble Route (c) Manchester RAG

On Saturday, I’m doing the Bogle Ramble – a 26 mile sponsored walk around the north of Manchester for mySociety*

mySociety is an online democracy charity that runs most of the UK’s best known democracy websites. If you’ve ever used or seen The Downing Street e-Petitions website, TheyWorkForYou, WriteToThem, and WhatDoTheyKnow then you’ve benefited from the results of mySociety’s hard work.

As most of the the Bogle Ramble is on roads, I wondered what I could possibly do to make sure that every miles I spend walking the roads of North Manchester is put to the best use possible. Well it turns out that mySociety also runs FixMyStreet – a website that allows you to quickly and simply submit a report of a problem to the relevant local authority who will then investigate the problem and remedy as appropriate.

Almost fall off your bike because of a pothole? Report it on FixMyStreet

Obscene graffiti near your home? Report it on FixMyStreet

Flytipping in your local park? Report it on FixMyStreet

MySociety could use some help to build new sites, keep existing ones running smoothly (website don’t run themselves!) as well as adding new features, which is why this I’m fundraising for them.

Who said this isn’t a bit of fun?

Random suggestions of things and numbers that you could sponsor me:

• 65p for every pothole reported via FixMyStreet
• 25p for every time Tim tweets during the walk
• 30p for every mile Tim manages to walk
• 85p for every mile Tim manages to walk without tweeting
• £3 for every photo of Tim posing with a random stranger (capped at £6)
• £3 for every 20 minutes I talk to you on the phone, during the walk (capped £9 – 1 hour is enough for anyone!)
• £1 every time Tim “live rickrolls” a random stranger on the street
• £5 every time Tim “live rickrolls” a random stranger on the street and posts a video of it online afterwards.
• £80 every time Tim “live rickrolls” a random stranger on the street and unintentionally gets physically assaulted as a result
• 10p each time Tim swears, grumbles or whinges about having to wake up before midday on a Saturday (capped at £10!)
• £x every time Tim does y (capped at z) <—- Make your own!

Bounties!

Because I love you all so much, I’m providing several levels of bounties to you lovely generous people; if you donate more than:

£3 – I’ll sing out my thanks to you whilst I’m walking!

£6 – I’ll send you a personalised, signed, thank you card featuring a random photo from my collection (and the above).

£12- I’ll send you THREE, 10×8, high quality gloss prints of your favourite photos of mine (and all the above).

£18 – I’ll send you 100 glow sticks (and all the above).

£33 – I’ll send you an A3 poster of your favourite photo of mine (and all the above).

£49 – Dinner. You, Me. A suitably greasy pizza joint in Manchester. I’ll pay (and all the above).

£85 – I’ll consider fixing your computer for an hour  (and all the above).

£100 – I’ll use a Mac for the day (and all the above).

How?

Let me know in a comment what I should do, use your real name, email address (only visible to me!) and I’ll be in touch to give you updates and collect teh monniez (or contact sponsorme @ tdobson.net)!

A random fact why mySociety should be supported:

On average, 44% of people who use WriteToThem have never written to a politician ever before. mySociety shows that the net can connect normal people with the political process, not just extend the power of those already in the know.

You can still sponsor me here!

*mySociety is the long running sole project of registered charity: UK Citizens Online Democracy #1076346).