Blogs I visit

There is still something funny going on with those links on the left. Some of them update with remarkable regularity, showing new posts that only only an hour (or less) old, while others never seem to update. Skip's blog (the original) is still showing that the last posting was 4 weeks ago. As the King of Siam said, "Is a puzzlement."

Of cabbages and kings

I spend quite a lot of time (some would say, probably quite rightly, too much) meandering through the blogosphere and have come to the conclusion that there are five main categories of blogger. Each of those categories is capable of division into several sub-categories, but that is just too far to go along a dead-end street. They also tend to overlap, with some blogs falling into different categories week by week or even day by day.

Perhaps the most annoying category is the person (or commercial concern) who uses a blog as a shop front from which to sell anything from shoes or clothing to software or computer accessories. These blogs seldom, if ever, carry the navigation bar at the top to enable a surfer to click "next blog". What is worse, after returning to the previous blog by using the back arrow and then clicking "next blog" again, the irritating commercial blog re-appears, if not immediately, two or three blogs down the line.

Then there are the bloggers who post every day (or nearly every day) but whose blogs consist entirely of progress reports on craft projects, such as quilting or painting, or recipes. These have no interest for me, but they all seem to have numerous followers. I include in this main category those people who scan in the covers of LP records and post one of them each day. I have to ask myself just what they are trying to achieve. Also in this group are the large number of people who post a photograph every day, Many of these are "city daily photo" bloggers and some are accomplished photographers whose work is a pleasure to see, although many, unfortunately, are little more than snap-shotters. Two of the best that I have found are not city photographers (although one does take his pictures in London) but nature photographers. There is Nick Hamilton of London and Abe Lincoln of Brookville, Ohio, both of whom rank very high in my estimation. I also like to see Avignon by Nathalie and Menton by Jilly.

Some people seem to use their blogs as a form of those letters one still sometimes receives with a Christmas card, You know the sort: "James has done very well with his football and has been the star player in the school team as well as playing the lead in the school play and being the principal triangle soloist in the orchestra." I suppose Grandma might be interested in knowing that young Fred can now blow his own nose, but who else is likely to want to know that?

The fourth category covers those whose writings are meant to be fairly serious. Many of these blogs are written as a form of serial story with a little bit being drip fed to readers on a daily basis. A few (a very few) have sufficient merit to attract a publisher and end up in the bookshops but a lot of them are, frankly, too grim to even bother with. Also in this category are the blogs which are not necessarily serious - they can be, and sometimes are, humorous - but are rather more than random musings. I think I would include Jim Sullivan in this category as well as Stephen George and Melissa, although in she perhaps belongs more in the fifth category. But I did say they overlap.

And so to the fifth and last category. Needless to say, it covers everything that doesn't fall into one of the previous four! So, we have some of those blogs that give fascinating insights (well, they are fascinating to me) of other people's lives. Toni's blog is an example of this type. And, of course, this category includes those blogs that consist of random thoughts and musings. (Yes, Skip, that means you!)

I really think that I have rambled on far too long now. I must get down to clearing the bits and pieces from last night's Lions meeting.

Thanksgiving comes first

Every year, the Royal Mail doesn't just encourage us, it positively urges us to post early for Christmas. It is good to see that they are practising what they preach. Yesterday we received the first Christmas card of the year - from the Royal Mail. Honestly, I do think that mid-November is just a tad early for Christmas. As Skip and Suldog (and probably others too) point out on their blogs, Thanksgiving comes first. Of course, we don't actually have Thanksgiving in this country, although I suppose we could give thanks that we managed to transport so many criminals to the American colonies before they broke away. All the same, when I saw workmen putting up the Christmas lights in Châteabriant last week and realised that the lights had already been installed in Pouancé, it reminded me of just how commercial this religious festival (should that now be pseudo-religious?) has become.

Today's quote

This is so appropriate that I must keep it available.

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?"

It's obvious really

One of the books that I am dipping into at the moment... No, that should read "One of the books into which I am dipping at the moment..."

I'll start again.

I recently borrowed a book by Bill Bryson entitled Troublesome Words. This is not so much a book to read as a book to dip into, which is just what I have been doing. And I have discovered that for a long time I have been guilty of a simple error, that of putting the letters "AD" after the date year. Of course, had I troubled to think about what those letters stand for I would have realised straight away that they should go before the date year, eg AD 1757, whereas the letters "BC" come after the date year.

Which reminds me: I don't like the use of the term "common era". Give me AD/BC every time.

Back in Blighty

A really relaxing week. I did decorate one room (except for the window, doors and radiator, all of which will have to wait until the weather is warmer) which meant just a quick coat of emulsion on the ceiling and walls. I think I read about six books, one by an author new to me - Greg Iles. The Devil's Punchbowl runs to something over 500 pages and the hero does conveniently know a number of very useful people (or knows people who know people) but the story gripped me. I will try to find more of his works. I had previously read just one of Harlen Coben's books (Gone for Good) which I sort of enjoyed but certainly wasn't mad about, but I tried another - Hold Tight - which I thought much better.

The drive back yesterday was smooth, apart from the buffeting of the wind, which was strong, until we hit the stretch between Boulogne and Calais. Although it wasn't us that hit the stretch, it was storm force winds and torrential rain. A motorway that normally has cars moving along at 80mph saw traffic slowed to 20. I see in the paper this morning that the port of Dover was closed yesterday afternoon with the winds too strong for ferries to sail, so it was lucky that we were travelling through the tunnel.

Having checked most of the regular blogs this morning, I have become concerned about Skip, who seems to have sunk more than usually deep into philosophical thought. I expect he will recover quickly.

That's it

All done, now I can relax with a coffee before watching what is about the only programme on television that I enjoy. Off first thing - first thing for me, that is. Other might think the day half gone by the time we leave.