Yesterday, in a post featured on this blog, I declared that I was going to ‘follow the signs’ and take a break from blogging. I declared this, despite saying in the post that I wasn’t taking a full break, as I would continue with various blogging features I participate in.
I also said that visitor numbers are down; but in fact, they are up each month compared to the entire first year I was blogging, so they’re not down at all, all things considered. And I still receive regular comments from my regular visitors anyway, so that’s no reason to have a break. Thank you, commenters!
Maybe the signs were actually steering me away from having a break… merely pointing out things that I need to notice.
However, that said, yesterday I was set on taking a break and left it at that.
I went to bed last night, and had a night full of vivid dreams. Dreams featuring people I know, hundreds of people I know (some who I haven’t seen for a very long time).
We were all at a rally of some kind in a town centre. I was originally there with one of my cousins and his wife, but as I was chatting to all of the other people who I met, they had eventually mingled into the crowd. Others coming forward when others stepped back. Dreams always have a surreal feel to them, even though they feel real at the time!
Whilst I was chatting to an old work colleague, who was pregnant incidentally, a spotlight shone on me, and a well known TV personality appeared from the crowd. His name isn’t important, as he’s a British TV show host, and I’m not sure if he’s known around the world. He advised me, and the hordes of others present, that I had come second in something I have no idea what (that’s the power of dreams – the most important facts seem to be the easiest forgotten as well!!!). I felt good at coming second, and that’s what’s important.
From the rally, my pregnant colleague and I had to take a passenger lift in a building to the next floor down. How we ended up inside this building when we were originally outside, is beyond me. The lift was one of those olde worldie ones, where there was an outer and an inner door that opened separately. The outer door opened first, and then the inner one, which revealed that the lift hadn’t reached the floor properly. It jolted down, causing the people inside to gasp, and then they all left the lift quickly.
My colleague and I got into the lift, and an electronic voice said “Doors closing.” as voices in lifts tend to do. The lift started to move, and then the voice said “Brace yourselves for impact. Obtain the crash position”. My colleague and I instantly crouched to our knees, the ceiling of the lift came down to just above our heads, and we felt the lift fall down the shaft to the next floor.
An alarm sounded, which at first I thought was the lift alarm, but it was actually my alarm clock trying to wake me up for the day.
In my dream, the lift doors opened again, and both my colleague and I got out, unharmed. There were more people standing there, and one of them asked me what it felt like to come second. I was about to speak when I heard another voice say “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Odd. Yes, I know.
It was then that I woke up, ten minutes after my alarm, and had to dash around to get myself ready for the day. Oversleeping wouldn’t have been the best course of action for today.
But, as my bath was running, I had a quick glance at both my blog, and the news on the BBC.
Andra has advised about some changes that may have had an effect on blogging visitor numbers around the world (please see the previous post for more details) and the BBC revealed that all online content, including blogs, is going to be stored in a library or two somewhere. Maybe not every blog, but that got me thinking.
The reason the online content is being stored, is for future historians, and research. Click here for the news article. Tweets and Facebook status updates will also be stored (only public ones, that is) – and the aim is for all websites to be archived and stored. This idea has come about due to some websites being deleted that would have contained very useful information relating to the time they were on line. This makes sense to me, as long as it is only information that is publicly available… which publicly available blogs are.
My posts may be mere drivel at times, but for a future historian looking back onto our ancient civilisation they may be invaluable, once they’re discovered in some dark and dusty cellar somewhere and deciphered.
And here’s the reason I started thinking: what if bloggers are being quietly pushed to one side… Being coerced into taking a break, and then never returning to the fantastic world of blogging? Many a suggestion can be filtered between the words we read…
The changes that I have noticed in the blogging world have become very noticeable of late. It is fun, blogging, and visitor numbers don’t matter unless we’re selling anything. In my first month of blogging I felt as though I was writing only to myself, nobody visited… yet I continued. Now, my visitor numbers are much higher than they were back then, but as they are lower than I feel they should be I’m feeling something is lacking. I had the feeling that, because of this, I needed to take a break. Something isn’t right there.
We could now be in an ideal time to add a voice to how the normal folk live, in addition to all of the usual famous folk who usually fill the pages of history books… although we won’t be able to, if we don’t blog.
Yes, we are busy in our real lives.
Yes, we sometimes lack inspiration for our blog posts.
Yes, we may write drivel.
But we can do it. We have the facility to do so. Even if only one person reads what we have to write, that other person may be inspired to do similar, or do something different in their life. We have the ability to inspire others. Regardless of what search engines or social media sites do to try to change things. If we can’t be found through search engines, we need to come up with better ways in which we can be found.
We can only do this if we continue blogging.
If we keep on keeping on.
And that is why I’m not taking a break.
Now, as you were.
“Valentine’s what?” one of my teachers would have said to me centuries ago when I was in school, if I’d have dared write something as I did the header of today’s post.
Her unwavering gaze and glare would cause anyone to forget what they were thinking. Tightly scraped-back jet-black hair pulled her eyebrows into points, and seemed to force her nose forward somewhat as well.
It’s funny, the things you remember. I remember this teacher, although she is a composite of many. She wouldn’t have said “Valentine’s what?”, however, as I wouldn’t have written anything such as Valentine’s back then. She’d have probably been referring to apple’s what or some other apostrophe related dilemma.
I don’t mind the day itself… February 14th that is; that’s OK. It’s just the overall love-fest that comes with it. And, I’m not referring to lovers of the world, either… that love-fest can take place on any day of the year, it doesn’t need to be expensively enhanced exclusively on one day in particular. But, if people want to pay, who am I to stop them? Bah humbug!
Sinister hand-made hand-delivered letters have been arriving at the secret headquarters of the Elite Force of Britain in Cheshire, causing some of the EFB to be baffled as to who the letters can be from. Viridian recorded the letters into the EFB tape recorder, and Bettystretch246 typed up the recordings for the EFB’s EFB Paper Files, together with Viridian’s comments.
Dear Muriel Magnificent, 
Dear The Cloud, 
Dear Lycralad, 
Dear Viridian, 
Dear The Crimson Songbird, 
Dear Invisible Charlie, 
Dear The Elite Farce of Britain, 
