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15 October 2012

Now we are six

Now we are Six

Indeed. The blog is six years old on the 17th October. Doesn’t time fly?

There appears to be a hard core of members of this particular congregation who I cannot quite shake off. I’ve done my bit to lose you, banging on about wind farms quite a bit recently, but you are very forgiving and keep coming back. It must be the free communion wine and biscuits.

I’ve had Sitemeter track the number of visitors since more or less the start of the blog and this is how you, in the pews at the back, have been idling your time away over the last six years:

Sitemeter Total Six Year Stats Oct 2006 - Oct 2012 

Of course, there are those in the front pews who will want a little more information, a breakdown of these numbers. Unfortunately, ‘Sitemeter’ isn’t that hot and only stores a year’s worth of stats and so I have had to resort to Google Analytics for the next two graphical representations. However, I only have the last five years of information as Analytics wasn't around for the first year when I started blogging.

So, here’s the weekly graph for the last five years:

Weekly Blog Stats Oct 2007-Oct2012

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And here’s the monthly stats for the last five years:

Monthly Blog Stats Oct 2007-Oct2012

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And here’s the monthly page views for the last five years:

Monthly Pageviews Oct 2006-Oct2012

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Of course, there are outdoor blogs out there that dwarf this effort; They are gigantic, and quite rightly so as they are full of interesting escapades. However, I like to think of our little gathering as more of a select, hand-picked bunch, who don’t mind the occasional frank exchange, and who don’t mind having their opinions challenged once in a while. I don’t really do “nice” very well.

So, a big ‘thank you’ to the loyal congregation for your last six years of patience with my ramblings.

49 comments:

  1. I feel that it should be the other way round; we should be thanking you.

    So Thanks for a great, inspirational blog.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brian, Gibson. This could be one of those Moebius loops where we continue thanking each other, so we should stop now :-)

      Delete
  2. Thank you Alan. We adore the ramblings and rants. More we cry. Guest posts too. Here is to six more years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The rants... yes - perhaps an age thing. Not too old that I've given up caring and not too young so I don't give a toss. It's that "difficult" age...

      Perhaps I should spend more time being fluffy and cuddly.

      Delete
  3. I know my blog would never have got off the ground (in the lead balloon sense) had it not been for your help and encouragement.
    I suppose you will just have to live with that on your consciense.
    Good work.

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    Replies
    1. Hang on, OM. Don't go pinning your guilt-medal to my chest! I recall laughing my socks off when I found your blog LINK the famous "Gear Review"

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  4. Congratualtions Alan. So can we expect The Blog at Pooh Corner any time soon? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a thought - there could be the same blog there, but .... better! Any volunteers to write it?
      :-)

      Delete
  5. congratulations. Keep it up as they say

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed - I'm still practicing your dastardly wall leg presses. It's agony, Ivy! That and the EPO should get me over next year's Challenge route.

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  6. Well done, Alan, and thanks... yours was the first I read before starting mine.

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    Replies
    1. It's good to see so many of the early blogs still thriving. I miss John Hee's little gem, but I understand he might be making a reappearance shortly.
      Mr Howell and George of London Backpacker are still going strong too. When I started this, there was just a handful of outdoor bloggers in the UK...

      Delete
  7. If the average person visited for 3.23 minutes every day for six years, that’s a total of nearly ten days. You could read the Bible in that time, or War and Peace. If the Nobel prize for literature hadn’t just been awarded to that Chinese chap, I’d have nominated you, Alan.
    Well done, Alen McF

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alen
      Drat those wily Chinese chaps' buttons!
      :-)
      I see you have the journo's typical aptitude with arithmetic... 3'23" = 3.38mins x 365 x 6 = 7,409 mins
      7,409 / 60 / 24 = 5 days and 4 hours (Okay that's 24 hr days...)
      So, maybe I'll give you the ten days.
      :-)

      How many times does "IZAL" appear on a roll? That would take some time to read too...

      Delete
  8. Cheers, Alan. Here's to six more. At least.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sir!
      My brothers and sister have had their cross-matching tests back recently and my "brother with the hair" and my little sister appear to be perfect matches, so, yes, there may be a few more years of the blog to come.
      :-)

      Delete
  9. Happy sixth birthday for the blog Alan...
    You mentioned free communion wine and biscuits..I would like to point out that I have never had any of this - is it because I ride a bike? lol

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    Replies
    1. Hi Trevor
      This blog complies with all the Health & Safety Directives, and does not condone drink-cycling. After the congregation has imbibed, any excess wine is poured away... into my glass.
      It is quite wonderful that you are still bombing about & causing mayhem on our roads, Sir!

      Delete
  10. Bounders and cads in the Pyrenees did it for me Al, or was it the horror tale about your mishap with barbed wire, or then again the other adventure in the slippery slidey bath and the concomitant deluge of water....etc. What ho, Alan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi James
      Hmmm yes. Looking back there have been a few moments... one of the reasons I carried on blogging after the LEJOG - it was supposed to be a bit of a diary for whan I wasn't able to go clarting about in the hills, I suppose.
      What Ho! indeed
      :-)

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  11. Congratulations Alan! As a newcomer(ish) to your blog, I've took great pleasure in digging into the archives and reading your LeJog pub crawl! ;-)

    Here's hoping you're celebrating twice, with a TGO award later in the year!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Paul. I certainly had a good time on the LEJOG and when I get the kidney thing sorted out I plan to go for another walk of a similar length.

      As for the TGO Awards, it would be lovely to win but I'm afraid there's a chap on the judging panel who has nailed his political colours firmly to the SNP mast lately, and so I'm pretty certain he won't have me anywhere near the award... and there are far stronger candidates who have a lot more clout.

      Shame, really.

      He did virtually sod all campaigning against wind farms when he was chief editor of the mag - a position where he could have affected people's views in a big way in the magazine, but he chose to duck the issue.

      Delete
    2. I couldn't agree more with your last paragraph Alan.

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    3. Gratifying to find that it's not just me who harbours a certain scepticism about exactly whose interests are/have been given priority at times. Perhaps enough said.

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    4. Indeed, Gibson, Dave.

      It's always down to Roger Smith's excellent column to fight for causes like this. There is a stunning silence elsewhere in the mag - it's stuffed full of gear reviews instead. (Okay, important to the economics of the mag, but you would have thought the magazine should be fighting wind farms on wild land like hell)

      Delete
    5. .....he fighting abroad:

      http://stakkillington.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/cameron-mcneish-mountaineer-former-editor-of-tgo-urges-defiance/

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    6. He is indeed Willem, but he should be fighting tooth & nail in Scotland against the industrialisation of the Highlands. But that would conflict with his support of Alex Salmond.

      He seems to lend his name to campaigns when it is politically expedient.

      Delete
  12. Happy blog day Alan, sixty years is a long time to keep up the blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well done and Thank You, Alan, and I was delighted to read your response to Mark A's comment. I do however think that you are somewhat deluded - in that I suspect most outdoor bloggers would be envious of the size of your congregation. Keep it up!

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    Replies
    1. Since I replied to Mark I've heard from my "brother with the hair" that he is off to Oxford in a month's time for Ultrasound Scanning, an ECG, MRI scan and a chat with the Transplant Surgeon and a Nephrologist (all in one day, so he will be busy!)
      So things are moving along now.

      There are UK outdoor blogs out there with ten times the readership of this little effort. But our readers are the good guys of the outdoor world. :-)

      Delete
  14. I always tend to sit quietly at the back and listen to the intelligent discussion. Good luck with the kidney, I've got everything crossed for you both. I've got everything crossed for the Chally draw too. It's making walking tricky. I'll just stay quietly sitting at the back. x

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Louise.
      Well, all the applications are in now (a monster number, apparently) so now we just have to wait.
      Pull up your pew and come down the front, by the way, and nudge a few of the noisier members to shove up a bit. There's always room for a few more opinions from shiny people!
      x

      Delete
  15. Happy birthday to Al's blog, and encouraging news on the health front too.

    Mine's never going to be as big as yours, but I've had some fun with it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fantastic news on all fronts - where have 6 years gone ......... but more importantly,wonderful to have such support from siblings that it seems you might be in line for the new kidney and a new lease of life. Good luck to you both and if you were to also be awarded and rewarded for all information about the horrors of the wind "farms" then that would be brilliant. We love your blog and its quirky journalese. John and Mary Allcock

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oooh! Hello you two!
      :-)
      I'm incredibly lucky that both my "Brother with the Hair" AND my little sister are both perfect matches: 6 zero reactions out of six in the cross matching. My other brother (with no hair) is also willing to be on standby as well as he is not a bad match either (just 3 positives out of six.)

      So, my "brother with the hair" is going forward as the donor as apparently male to male transplants work best, due to the closer matching sizes of the kidneys. If after all the tests he has to undergo there's a problem, then I have my sister to fall back on.

      I am unbelievably lucky to have brothers and sisters who are willing to go through with this and also to have perfect matches.

      I've been on EPO now for four weeks (the intravenous iron didn't work) to boost the blood count and so that should make me feel less knackered as well until I can go for the op.

      Love to you both
      Alan
      x

      Delete
  17. Happy 6th e-birthday, Alan!

    I would have dropped by before now, but it's been a struggle to get past the vast pile of communion wine empties outside the front door :-)

    I suppose that all of the biscuits have gone :-(

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    Replies
    1. 'fraid so, dear thing

      The Vergers and the choirboys snaffled the cow biscuits and I could not possibly divulged who downed the Gigondas.

      It was a particularly good year though.

      Delete
  18. Happy 6th Alan. As I have only recently sat down at your table I can only say it has been my loss not to have been there from the start. I enjoy the writings and the themes. Thank you very much.

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    Replies
    1. I'm really enjoying your blog, Paul - I've just finished reading it from the start. I particularly enyoyed your First Walk

      Keep it up Sir!
      :-)

      Delete
  19. it is we who should be thanking people like your goodself who take the time and trouble to set up and run such an imformative blog and have a laugh at the same time . without bloggers like you the world would be a much much pooer place and i thank you . just stop calling me a poppet there,s agood lad my mates have only just stopped ribbing me.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Mister Yapp, Sir
      (May I call you Chris? Good)
      Well then, Poppet...

      So - You've applied for the Challenge again, eh? With a fixed up fleece too, I hear. Well done!
      :-)
      Looking forward to meeting up in the Fife Arms then.

      Delete
  20. if i,m passing that way and i can get there by the saturday as i have to start my challnge on the sunday due to work commitments then i,ll buy you a drink or two.

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    Replies
    1. Splendid!
      We'll still be there until mid afternoon on Sunday, when we amble up to Callater Lodge for the Sunday party.
      :-)

      Delete
  21. A bit late to the party, however, I have always appreciated the entertainment and information provided on your blog. If I think back to the early days of the blog I see it as both a narrative on your outdoor adventures as well as a commentary on the writer. Congratulations and look forward to many more years of insightful story telling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's never too late for a party-goer.
      We'll just rifle through the fridge to find the unopened cheeses and nip back down to the cellar for a couple of bottles of the good stuff.
      Come on in and pull up a chair!
      :-)

      Delete

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