Page view counter

I have installed the site's page view counter at the end of the Home page and it shows that, after about five months, there have been nearly 25,000 page views. I know that they have come from nearly all over the world and some regular readers check in to see what is going on. Yesterday, I was seriously thinking of closing the Blog but a few messages demonstrating that some people come in here to have some light relief have dissuaded me from taking that course. So: onward and upward.

Anonymous Posters

When any anonymous comment is now notified through e-mail, I have the option, without reading it, of publishing or deleting it. I have just deleted the first one to arrive after I mentioned that anonymous posters are unwelcome. This is the last time that I'll mention it but, frankly, it is time for you to find something better to do with your time.

And Another Thing

From today, all anonymous comments will be deleted unread.I don't have the time, even if you do. Farewell 'Anon'.

I have received some amazing and extreme personal abuse as a result of the last post: some of it is bent towards support of the mob (the so-called protesting majority) and some of it is bent towards support for Chas 'n' Camilla (as Private Eye put it Chas: "married at last" - The Queen " - yes - and to each other!") and one individual even uses it as a pivot on which to spin remarks that have the post as a starting point and a criticism of my life in Brazil as the butt end of nastiness. This morning's first correspondent suggests that I am the backend of a horse and spells the crux of the suggestion as though I were merely a donkey. I just will not be intimidated into giving up my blog and to those of you who come in here to express hatred, spite and bile and even to write obscenity, I say: find something better to do with your time; it is also worth mentioning that the law relating to harassment (the criminal law and the civil law), both probably apply to intervening abusively in personal blogs.

I still like the picture of Chas 'n' Camilla because it perfectly captures a moment and shows us the real faces of people who otherwise progress through life with faces like frozen cod: whether it is a good or a bad moment is beside the point. The world is a better place because it has on record photographs of the relief of Belsen and Auschwitz and the other death camps. They are not nice to look at but they tell us something and warn us of the power of utter evil.

One correspondent (an identifiable 'Anon') mentions that Charles' clothes are "right up my London street". This is nonsense. I think the fact that Chas's skimpy ties are always tied so tightly, in those miserable little hard knots, suggests a serious uptightness and any Prince of Wales (with the millions a year from the Duchy of Cornwall) who could not be tolerably well-dressed (even the thick-headed Dook of Windsor) would need to have his donkey kicked.

This Picture Rocks

The paparazzo who took this photograph deserves some kind of medal or reward. It just rocks. On whether they deserve to be as loathed as they seem to be, I express no view because I am pretty much indifferent to them. But I am amazed that they do not realize what many people think of them (and I do not say this as a supporter of the memory of the late, last Princess of Wales, as I am not).

Patey Hats II

Patey Hats, established in 1799 are, as I have mentioned before, the only gentleman's bespoke hatter left in the UK. They now have a new shop in Connaught Street, London, W2 2AZ, telephone 0207 706 7632 or see www.pateyhats.com

Headed-up by two former senior James Lock & Co employees, Janet and Patrick, they also stock RTW hats in a range of town and country and seasonal styles.

The fact that they have established a shop in a prime area of London suggests that the hat is not yet defunct.

The Complete Smoking Suit

I have just received a selection of patterns of Italian super jacquette (19% silk), from Henry Poole in 9 great colours and, in my dreams, I shall not be able to resist a smoking suit in one of them ere long; unless, still in my dreams, I go for the Churchillian romper suit.

I suppose that Mr Patey will have to make the hat and Mr Foster or Mr Maxwell the slippers; on which I shall certainly have all my initials intertwined in a gold-threaded monogram. Come to that, why not have the same on the front of the hat too? It will not be brown. 'Marron', maybe. But never just brown.

The 19% silk and 81% cotton mix is, apparently, the best velvet now available.