Blog Review

I restarted this blog, aiming much, much wider than mere dress (which I regard as just appropriate background, even if important appropriate background, to the real business of living), in July 2010 and wondered whether it would ever take off; although I gave it a good kick start, by blogging for my life for a couple of months. An established men's wear writer is on record as saying that he, as a writer, generally expects to be paid for writing and I suppose that Dr Johnson is right behind him on that one: "Only a blockhead ever wrote but for money". But, frankly, writing on men's interests from clothes to cigars and guns seldom pays much anyway; unless you happen to be in the inner media circle, and so, being repelled by the prospect of endless, forced schmoozing with total strangers at receptions, it suits me very well, instead, to take pleasure in the way that the blog has grown.

In under a year, between forty and fifty per cent. of visitors are real visitors (and repeat visitors at that) and do not just hit the blog by mistake and leave within five seconds; although there are many in that category (as there are bound to be on any blog).

Maybe my proudest boast is that I have a regular visitor from central Mongolia, but they come as well from places such as: Singapore; Hong Kong; Bonita Springs, Florida; Kettering; Sydney; Bucharest; London; Eire; most English counties; Hanoi; Minnessota; Balochistan; Islamabad; Kuwait; Mecca; Kuwait; Tel Aviv; Ontario; the Punjab; Hawaii; Cambridge; Berlin; Colombia; Athens; Kiev; Paris; Rome; New York; Washington (both of them); Mexico; New Zealand; Argentina; Slovakia; the Czech Republic; Finland; Sweden; Croatia; Serbia; Egypt; Philipines; India; Japan, and Truro.

The Africans, the Scotch, the Welsh and the Chinese seem generally unimpressed (or maybe they have yet to find the blog) but, overall, I am quite pleased with progress.

Maybe it is a pity that book sales nowhere seem to meet viewing figures but, who knows, maybe they will improve in time; especially as the effort that I used to put into contributing to other people's sites has now been largely diverted to this blog; meaning, I hope that content will, in pari passu with the extra time available, improve.

This, then, is a moment to thank you all for dropping by and please continue to do so.

Today's picture is of Fowey Harbour in Cornwall; one of my favourite places on earth (right click to enlarge).