Blogs

I've been cruising the blogosphere. Cruising is perhaps not the mot juste - the blogosphere is a vast, invisible place without a map, and I've only dipped my toe in the water -  haven't even got a boat yet. However, my forays have been fruitful, in that I am beginning to be clearer about what I like in a blog:

1) It's got to look appealing to me. If it's crowded. with huge chunks of text all over the place, flashing images and adverts, I'm not going to read it, however interesting the content.

2) If it's written by an English person (sorry British - I do hate that term. And even more, its ugly abbreviation Brit. Ugh. Actually I can see rapids ahead - I will change that to a person whose first language is English. That still sounds hazardous to me. Good job I'm wearing my life jacket.) it's got to be written in good English (and, for the avoidance of doubt, I consider American English to be a separate language) - spelled correctly, correctly grammarised (go on...) and with a fluency that makes for easy reading. Does that all sound like I'm a candidate for the BNP? I sincerely hope not - all I'm trying to say is that for me, the use of language is important and as I only speak one (which is embarrassing), it's English.

3) I like pictures. The quality of some images is astonishing. I've never been much of a photographer, having come of age in the era of SLRs, fancy lenses and huge price tags. Although I had mobile phones (American translation - cell phones. See? Separate language.) the cameras were poor and hardly worth using. A few years ago everything changed when I got my first iPhone (seriously - everything) and I had a decent camera with me at all times, so now I take more photos that I used to. I'm not very good at framing images, but I've still managed to take some that please me. My favicon is a picture I took at Biddulph Grange Gardens.

Ever been there? It's remarkable. And if you ever have the misfortune to find yourself transporting four teenage boys to Alton Towers, Biddulph is not far away and you can while away some time. It's mysteriously compact.

Here's the picture. S'alright, innit?*



4) Although I don't particularly like blogs which have a lot of personal detail, such as a litany of the doings of small children, I do like to get some sense of the writer. OMG!* We haven't had a musical interlude yet. Hang on. Try this

5) Did you like it? Point 5. There should be a point 5, otherwise we'll only have four points, and that would be unsatisfactory. I much prefer uneven numbers - 3, 5, 7... If they are primes, so much the better. Did you hear the readings from Daniel Tammett's Thinking in Numbers on Radio 4's Book Of The Week recently? Cracking. I rushed out and bought the book. Oh, oh oh! I've just remembered he has a blog. Let's see if it meets my criteria. Or helps me set new ones.

Thanks for reading - see you soon.

*IRONY