Well, a year ago today I was visiting Gavin's blog and noticed a little thing at the bottom of his blog which counted the number of visitors. As a blogging newbie then, I thought "what a good idea" and so I signed up for the free, basic service at Sitemeter. And today it has been a year since I started counting, so I thought I'd do a little blog to say not only thank you to Sitemeter for a handy little service, but also 18,000 thankyous to everyone who has visited my blog so far. Thank you one and all.
This is the bit I really like – seeing the whole world saying hello, especially when I get all continents (bar Antarctica, of course) taking part at the one go. Who is that in the centre of the Amazon? Hello Cape Town! Greetings, India. Howdy, the US and Canada. And cheers, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Iceland, the Caribbean, Hawaii and all my mates in Australia and across the ditch in NZ. 
Until I signed up with Sitemeter I had no idea how many people visited my blog. I presumed it was about half a dozen, maybe even a dozen, as I noticed a variety of names cropping up regularly leaving comments. Now I know that about one in 100 visitors leaves a comment, which is fine by me. Sitemeter surprised me with the numbers visiting here, which is more than I imagined but still very modest by any standard, but it helps to keep me going!The odd family member and friend asks me why do I bother blogging, and that's such an easy question to answer. I'm expressing myself. At last.
I grew up with dreams of being a writer, but soon realised that I didn't have anything huge, like a novel, lurking within me. I was full of little bits and pieces of ideas, but no grand, unifying themes. So I have turned my modest writing skills into a comfy income as a journalist. And I've always loved to take photos, but always as a happy amateur without ambitions of anything beyond the odd pic appearing in magazines. And I love gardening. Oh how I love gardening.
And so blogging is the perfect storm of all these hopes and interests swirled into the one cloud of words and photos. Finally, after 56 years on this planet, I am expressing myself in a way that seems right for me. Thanks for dropping by!
7 comments:
Congratulations Jamie. I am a new reader and find your blog very helpful - I have a garden in the inner-west too, and find your advice on shared things like weather and insects excellent!
thanks Jamie, I have now got sitemeter. By the way, I like your writing style - its not too wordy!
Robble
Yay Jamie. I enjoy reading about your experiments and triumphs in the garden. I'm in Sydney too, though further west than you, and my two major problems are lack of rain and possums. Yet we soldier on because gardening is such an essential part of life, like breathing! Congratulations on your blog milestone.
Hi Jamie, congratulations on your 18000 visitors. Like Mikhaela and Robble I love your blog for its helpfulness but more for its personality. Lovely fresh, friendly tone and always something interesting to read. And I too love having a blog for the fact that it's just mine - I also write for a living but am in love with blogging because it is untrammelled by money, deadlines, editorial direction, the need for themes and structure and all that stuff you mention about other kinds of writing. For me it's pure pleasure, shared. And I get exactly the same feeling from your blog - so cheers to you.
PS I had NO joy with my spuds! But undaunted, I shall try again down the track. Yours are an inspiration.
Hi Jamie, one day I will find a way to convince those stats that I am neither in Jo'burg, way up north, nor Parow, wrong language, not actually Cape Town, 2 hours drive away. What fun to find another blogger who is intrigued by the blog visitor stats.
I think I probably blog for thesame reasons and also now to keep in touch with new gardening friends
Mikhaela, Robble, Erica, Charlotte, Diana and Helen: thanks for all your kind comments.
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