Explaining My Absence

In case anyone was wondering where I had got to, this might help explain my absence.

The End

Dear Reader,

 

I've neglected you, and I'm truly, truly sorry.

 

I could lay out the reasons for my absence - how life has got in the way, my habits have changed, how things have been busy, how I've been away... but really, they would all be excuses.

 

You have, however, never been far from my thoughts. The list of posts I want to make has grown long even if the moment for some of them has come - and then gone a begging.

 

 

Well, that's the way these apologies are supposed to go... but this isn't about you, though, it's about me. A blog, after all, is a selfish exercise; for all one wants to talk about sharing thoughts, ideas, likes and dislikes with the world, it's a solitary pursuit which is more about the writer than his/her readers.

 

I'm afraid, dear reader, that you are not the be all and end all. You do matter - but you only matter when there's more of you. As I said, it's a selfish exercise.

 

And so, with each passing day of none-posting, the reader numbers dwindle away and the harder (and less worthwhile) it seems to get back on the saddle. An inertia kicks in, a tendency to adapt to the new norm and go about doing what I have been doing, rather than going back to what I did do. It's the proverbially slippery slope which has seen a month already go by without a post.

 

And it ends today.

 

 

Not the blog - although that has been considered - but the recent intermission.

 

Although I have a busy weekend ahead - and I am genuinely more busy at other times - I am climbing back into that saddle. I, hope, dear remaining reader, that you can forgive me my harsh words and will continue to read as I re-commence this venture. And, perhaps, we will be joined by others as we move on from this hiatus... 

 

Sincerely Yours,

 

Andrew

4 new roads to the widow's world...*

How did you get here? Did you follow a link from another blog, from a blog aggregator, from Twitter or Facebook? Did use Blogger's "next blog" whilst viewing something else? Did you search for a particular story or item? Where you looking for an image? Or did you type "www.oneexwidow.blogspot.com" into your browser address bar?

Whatever you did, however you got here and whatever you're here for, welcome...

...and if you should choose to come back, there are now 4 more ways to find these pages:

www.oneexwidow.com , www.oneexwidow.co.uk, www.andrewcbrownuk.com and www.andrewcbrownuk.co.uk

In time, I hope to use these addresses in a more extensive fashion, but for now they are additional routes to the widow's world.

Andrew

*who says the coalition doesn't do infrastructure spending?!

2012: A Blogging Top 10 - Part 2

Here is the second part of my list of the most popular posts on my blog this year. As I noted yesterday, it reflects only those written and published over the course of 2012. Stats courtesy of Google Analytics.

At Number 6, some thoughts on The Voice UK. I'm not sure it lived up to it's initial promise - but the format still had a lot to recommend it.

Number 5 was another musical post, this time a review of a concert by del Amitri frontman, Justin Currie, at The Fleece in Bristol. It was a brilliant evening with a man completely at home on the stage, happy to banter with the audience and take requests. *Mental note to self: go to more concerts in 2013.*

Not quite making it to page (part) 3 of this run-down was piece in support of the campaign to persuade Dominic Mohan to end Page 3. This isn't a campaign about censorship - merely sense. Anyway, here is the post at Number 4 in the run-down - it's Not Safe For Work.

Andrew

2012: A Blogging Top 10 - Part 1

Here is a list of the most popular posts published on my blog this year. It excludes some of the perennially popular older posts and reflects only those written over the course of 2012. Stats courtesy of Google Analytics. Today, Numbers 10 to 7...

At Number 10, This review of JRR Tolkien's book, The Hobbit. I had read it as part of my 4-yearly programme of re-reading Tolkien's great works, although I have only just started with The Lord of the Rings, so my usual programme is somewhat out of synch.

Another book review makes it to Number 9, this time it's Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman, which I found interesting in concept but ultimately disappointing.

Next up, I suspect that including the words "gratuitous male nudity" in the blog-title of Sunday Sounds 48 may have helped its popularity...

Finally for this instalment of my year's top 10, at number 7, my review of The Amazing Spiderman: sadly it wasn't all that amazing....

Andrew

An Educational Post...

I am acutely conscious that normal service has been lacking lately, and I will seek to rectify this in coming days. Meanwhile, here's a You Tube video I came across which teaches an essential life skill. Don't say this blog isn't educational....

Andrew

On This Day

After writing my earlier post explaining that blogging will be light over the next few days, I proceeded to schedule posts through to Sunday, leaving only Monday and Tuesday for me to sort out tonight... as such, blogging may not be so light as I led you to believe (although I still haven't written my planned peace on the SNP's referendum campaign; hopefully I'll get a chance to write this before I get back online.)

For now, though, because I don't have anything original to post, here are links to my posts from the 29 May for the last two years.

In 2010, I was celebrating the Power of Fopp whilst last year, I was being Bohemian Like You.

Enjoy!

Andrew

Blogging Will Be Light

I'm moving house on Friday and lose access to Broadband for a week as of Wednesday... as a result, blogging will be light. I have, however, scheduled a number of posts and, subject to there being a lack of glitches in Blogger, these will hopefully go up OK - if not, feel free to comment but don't expect a swift response!

My 700th post - and a first!

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

I can't quite believe it but this is my 700th post on the widow's world. It's been just under three years and, I'm pleased to say, I'm enjoying blogging more than ever! 

To celebrate this little milestone, I decided to write a piece of fiction. I also decided to discipline myself to compose a story in just 700 words. It is the first piece of fiction I've published here and I'm not sure whether to promise more or not. You may not even want more in any case! 

Anyway, enough rambling, here it is - my 700 word short story:

Boxes.

It's funny how much change I've seen in my lifetime.

Take telephones as an example. First there were landline phones (or just "phones" - how quaint!). Then, in the eighties, there were carphones - I vaguely remember friends of my folks having them, although they never really took off. Then mobiles; mobiles the size of bricks, granted, but mobile telephones none-the-less. Then cameraphones. Then smartphones with internet access and integrated social media.

So much of change in such a short time. It has been, of course, mostly progress - there are advantages to be constantly contactable or to being able to contact someone else without having to find a phonebox. But, well, don't you sometimes just wish you had some time and space to yourself? I know I do...

And phones with cameras - are they really progress? When I was a child, pictures were cherished; kept safe in albums and boxes in order to preserve our memories. There was something special about bringing them out to share with friends and family; the faces smiling back at you from another time and place. Holidays, weddings, day-trips. Sunny days, long-dead relatives, famous places. Say "cheese!", click.

There was something visceral about a physical photo. A deep sense that it had captured a moment in time; never to be regained. An awareness of the thought, time, energy and expense of taking the picture and developing it. A sense that it had been imbued with a greater worth through each stage of its life.

No more. Now, the image is taken, shared and forgotten in an instant. And, even when it is remembered, somehow logging into Facebook lacks the romance of flicking through an album.

I used to love getting out the shoebox in which the photo wallets were stored. Gingerly taking them out, careful not to get fingerprints on the prints. Looking at each picture in turn, evaluating it, reminiscing, moving on to the next one, sharing the good ones with those around. Fascinated by the way some of the pictures were distorted with over-exposure, double images or leaked light. Fascinated, now, that these were preserved for posterity along with the headless shots and those in which everyone suffered from red-eye.

I used to love holding the negatives up to the light, wondering at the process that could turn the murky brown film into brightly, accurately coloured prints. (I was going to say glossy prints, but ours were almost always Matt - developing photos was always a pricey business.)

I could spend hours with those photos but sooner or later they - and their memories - had to be put back in the box and returned to the cupboard.

They will be preserved though - their analogue memories will remain. The pictures of relatives long gone, who never knew what a digital camera was, they will live on in those Polaroids and 35mm prints.

My grandfather and his box of sweeties. My grandmother and her sewing box, knitting bag and tin of buttons. The hours I spent enjoying their company, staring into their coal fire, laughing at my grandad's jokes and being fed sandwiches and cake by gran. These are memories that - to me at least - an iPhone will never be capable of capturing. Memories that only a "real" photo will ever fully rekindle.

Just thinking of the time spent with them both reminds me that it didn't last. My grandmother died and things were never quite the same. My mum inherited her sewing, knitting and button boxes but their attraction was lost to me. My grandfather's tin of Pascall's Fruit Bonbons and Butterscotch just didn't taste as sweet.

A new, more sombre, box of memories took their place. The box of her ashes, pride of place on the mantlepiece, instead of the more-traditional carriage clock. An even more potent reminder of the passage of time.

So many boxes, so many memories.

And now here I am in my own box, a memory now for those standing round the grave above. How will the digital age preserve me for those present? Will they, in future years, lament the passing of SD Cards and Hard Drives and, with them, my memory?

The Mark of the Beast

I don't want to freak anyone who is superstitious... but I was checking my Blogger stats last night and I noticed that my recent post on Dexter had had a significant number of readers:

Damien...

A Brief Annoucement

Unfortunately my computer died last night so until it has been resuscitated, blogging will be light. I do have a number of NOW! posts scheduled and one or two others, so there will be at least a weekly fix of blogging activity, but otherwise I may be gone for some time.

A Gain for Lib Dem Gains

A cross-post from Lib Dem Gains, my occasional blog which I have neglected of late - this may give me a kick up the proverbial posterior.

Total Politics is currently in the process of publishing the results of their annual awards, voted for by political bloggers across the bloggersphere. Yesterday they published the list of the Top 100 Lib Dem Blogs which I was pleased to see featured the following blogs so highly (amongst many other favourites);

• the excellent Caron's Musings at number 2
• the eclectic, pithy and witty Liberal England at number 3
• the late Andrew Reeves at number 4
• the campaigning Stephen's Liberal Journal at number 5

What I didn't see, and it took a Twitter message from a Lib Dem conference attendee who was up 2.16am to catch his plane to Birmingham to alert me to, was this list: Top 100 Lib Dem Bloggers and, in particular, the entry at number 58.

Given that it has been (let's face it) some time since I updated this blog and that my main blog is largely politics-free, this is very flattering - especially as I didn't even vote for myself. So if you did vote for me, many thanks. Here's to future Lib Dem Gains and more blog posts!

Andrew

501

This is my 501st blog post and so, to celebrate, here's a picture of - ahem - some jeans...

Here's to 501 more!

Andrew

A new window on the widow's world

Since I started this blog a couple of years ago, I've surprised myself by the number of photos I've taken and posted, largely under the influence of Stephen's 5 on the 5th. So much so, that I've decided to establish a new blog for photographs to augment my photographic posts here.

the widow's window will allow me to show pictures in a larger format than I typically do here and to display a wider range of pictures - particularly where these don't fit in with the theme for a larger posting. It will also give me an opportunity to use historic pictures, republish favourites and, perhaps, play around with the cropping and effects on some pictures too.

I've already made a few posts there, so feel free to go and have a gander!

Andrew

No excuses

If you're a regular reader, please accept my apologies for my lack of posting recently.

I offer no excuses, I have no real explanation (other than that I lost momentum while awaiting a new charger for my laptop), and I can only say sorry for the prolonged absence.

I am, however ready to make a comeback and start regular posts again. Immediately after this post, I'll be posting some photos taken at Cheddar Gorge and I have at least one other photographic based post earmarked for the next few days. Other than that, I intend to return to the usual mix of post topics, videos, music and what-not.

So sit back, relax, enjoy... and check back often for new posts - they will be here. I promise!

Andrew

New ways to view the widow's world

Blogger has introduced a range of new ways to display blogs, which are quite fun. There are a range of five, two of which I've illustrated with screengrabs below.

My favourite, at least for this blog, is Mosaic. Here's a picture of a typical page - and you can see what is generated for you by following this link:

Of course, such a picture-led approach doesn't suit every blog. For Lib Dem Gains, I think this ("Flipcard") is a better look (although I obviously need to post more!):

Click on the links and have a play... you can also use these tools on any blogger blog, so stick in your own or another blog name and see what you get!

Andrew

Interregnum

I'm afraid my blogging will be subject to an enforced interregnum due to the failure of my laptop's power cable. I have a new one on order althogh this is likely yo arrive while I'm in Scotland this weekend.

Normal service will, hopefully, be resumed next week.

Andrew

From the Vaults: March 2010

Today's blog is another of my occasional retrospectives. This time, I've chosen a selection of posts from last March which give a flavour of what I was blogging about this time last year.

First up, a picture from the first in my (stalled) series of features on Great Buildings - the Modernist exemplar that is the Villa Savoye - you can see more here.

Next, an excerpt from my letter to my 60-year old self. If you could talk to your future self, what would you say? Here's how I started:

Dear Andrew,

How has it all worked out? On second thoughts, don't tell me - I'd rather find out for myself.

There are some things that I hope have happened, though.

I hope I managed to sort out my finances in time to enjoy some travelling and make some sort of half-decent pension provision. I know you've still got 7 years before you get the state pension (if there still is one!) but hopefully you've got a bit more put by!

Are you still blogging, or is the Internet completely outmoded? It's funny to imagine that could happen, but then 25 years ago it was hard to envisage it at all!!"

Finally, a link to some poetry, Yeats' Lake Isle of Innisfree.

Hope you enjoy, 

Andrew

It's Census Time!

Today is Census Day in the UK and as someone who finds statistics and demographics intriguing, I've dutifully completed and filed mine online. What's more, I'll be looking out for the results being published - which is just the way I roll!

Anyway I thought I'd hold my own mini-Census of my blog readers using genuine questions from the Census form, so please take a moment to answer these questions in the comment section below. 

1. What is your gender?*  

2. What is your country of birth?

• England
• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Republic of Ireland
• Elsewhere (please state)

3. What is your religion? (This question is voluntary.)

•  No religion
• Christian (Inluding Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations)
• Buddhist
• Hindu
• Jewish
• Muslim
• Sikh
• Any other religion (please state)

Although I can't guarantee confidentiality for 100 years, if you don't want your details published, please note this in your comment.

Andrew

* The actual question is "What is your sex?" but I'm a bit of a pedant!

Calling all South Dakotans!

While browsing Google Analytics earlier, I was pleased to note that, at some point or another, my blog has been read in a total of 151 countries, including a viewing in China! Still another 41 (or so) to go, but that's for another day and another post.

What stood out for me today, though, was when I looked at this map of the US:

Spot anything odd? 

For all that the USA is the location for most of the visits to my blog (after the UK), it appears no-one has ever visited from South Dakota! What am I doing wrong? What interests the good people of the Mount Rushmore State? 

If you're a South Dakotan, leave a comment and say hi... there may be a prize in it! For the rest of you, here's a picture of Mount Rushmore:

Andrew