Blog stats and those pretty charts that reach around the world

The thing about writing a blog is that you have no idea who could be reading it and where. You're writing into a vacuum and in the hope that someone will read what you have written and that the time that you've spent thinking about what to write and then actually doing the physical thing is not wasted. If you're a journalist, then you are paid per word and you can be guaranteed that there will be some kind of an audience but with a blog...?

Now 'Sam' has joined us for another big birthday weekend. It's 'Beth's'... I won't say which number. I don't know just how emotionally tied she is to what she was and what she is now. Suffice to say that it's worthwhile repeating what my late father said: 'You should only have birthdays...' Quite. We're celebrating tonight. A trendy restaurant in an area that was once the 'schmutter' district of the city and is now gaining a name for its great restaurants and bars. Of course there are still a number of quite unique stores with buttons and bows and a myriad number of fabric emporiums...

Anyway, to get back to Sam and blogs. He showed me a stat counter. He's started his own blog and is now much more au fait with new technology than me. I'm not a Luddite but haven't bothered to keep up to date in terms of layout and links and advertising. I simply look at the numbers at the bottom of the page when I've published the blog and hope that maybe they will increase. It never occurred to me to actually look at the stats. As it is, I'm full of amazement. I have discovered readers from countries as diverse as Georgia, Germany, the USA, the Netherlands and Iran. Iran? Well, why not. There are certainly enough Iranians who speak English and I'm absolutely certain that there's plenty of mental health issues in Iran that are comparable to anywhere else in the world. I can't see who precisely is reading my thoughts or exactly how many people, or even if it's just the same person, but I'm pleased that it's being read there. Then, again, it could be some Revolutionary Guard element who thinks I'm a subversive. So enjoy!

Looking at the pretty charts, I've delved back at the comments that have been left over the years since I began writing. One particularly insightful epistle was penned by 'Lenny' in August 2010. A piece quite reflective of what 'episodes' or 'mental breakdowns' do to entirely otherwise sane people. If any of my readers is interested, then do take a look and consider. It's not very pretty but the picture it paints is of someone who really is not residing - (notwithstanding his assertion that he is 'on a ward') on planet earth, although to some extent I do sometimes wonder myself whether I am on a sane planet or somewhere down the rabbit hole with Alice and her friends.

As an aside, the Mac is now mended. That in itself caused inordinate stress. I really should impress upon Zach that he should treat it as he would a baby. Would you put a baby on the table and spill a fizzy drink in his face? Would you put her on the bed and watch while she fell to the floor? These things do happen. I really, truly hope that they don't happen again chez Zach. Does he read my blogs? I doubt it but if he did, then that would show up another interesting aspect of its  reach.