Blogger

Well this is it then. Big Blogger draws to a close.

Fifteen of us entered the house just two months ago, and now we have been whittled down to four, and by this afternoon we will have been whittled down again to Vit one.

But there is one more post to go. My seventh and final post on the subject of the number seven. What topic will I choose. Well, for me this one was a no-brainer.

You see, of the four folks left in the house, I am the babby, in blog-terms at least. Mike has been at this game since Jesus was a boy, and Vit and NML have both been thrusting their thoughts and opinions on the world for over a year now. But I’m just a simple newcomer, pleased to have been able to hold my own in such august company.

Because my blog has been running now for just…..

….wait for it, wait for it….

Seven Months!

(Actually six and a half, but we’re going to say seven for the purposes of this post and if you don’t like it, well tough titty and yah boo sucks to you!)

And seeing as everyone else has been busy making lists, in a final act of shameless self-promotion I give you…

My Seven Months of Blogging

Month 1 - My book was published on 7th February. A signed copy of it will shortly be winging it’s way to Vit the winner of this competition, where it will undoubtedly sit gathering dust on the shelf until she they decide to hawk it on ebay. I ranted for the first time (but nowhere near the last) about British public transport, wrote an obituary for one of my all-time heroes Arthur Miller, and celebrated, as a former hunt saboteur, the introduction of the fox hunting ban into Britain.

Month 2 – I began tracing my family history and introduced everyone to my friend and fellow mountaineer Grania Willis who was about to set out on an attempt to climb Mount Everest. I wrote another obit for another hero, this time Dave Allen, and was hoping things didn’t really go in threes like my mum always said they did. I went climbing in the highlands and posted some photos of me on snow covered mountains. I ranted about public transport again. Then I posted some nice photos of Edinburgh and for some reason that seems to have been the turning point which started to bring me some regular readers.

Month 3 – Began rather well with me being invited to speak at a conference in Baltimore next year, and asked if I would agree to be interviewed on camera for a documentary feature while I was there. I introduced everybody to my family through the medium of casting the movie of my life. I posted my obligatory list of things you probably didn’t know about me, and got all excited because Zoe left a comment on one of my posts! The pope died and I decided it was all my fault. I went to the dentist. My mum came to visit and tell me all the things that are wrong with the way I live my life. I decided to go on a diet.

Month 4 – This began with my threatening to have colonic irrigation and telling an exciting story about climbing mountains and runny poo. A few days later began what would become the bane of my blogging existence. I wrote a post about Paula Radcliffe pooing on the London Marathon. I still get at least five visitors a day googling on that search string. This Monday Graham Norton mentioned the incident on his program and within ten minutes I had received 20 hits from people searching on it. Will they ever just give it a rest??? I ranted about public transport. Again. There was a little matter of a general election. A bizarre Hungarian female came to stay for a few days and didn’t leave for a month, and I met a whole bunch of bloggers in a pub in Edinburgh, among them two of my fellow Big Bloggers.

Month 5 – I met another fellow blogger, this one all the way from France! My friends Sam and Ann-Marie come to stay while cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats, precipitating the departure of the bizarre Hungarian. Grania Willis reached the summit of Everest (as the aforementioned Sam had done one year earlier). I ranted about public transport. No surprise there then. I discovered that one of my photos had been published in a Chinese newspaper. Then I ranted about public transport again.

And the big news of the month, as a last minute replacement, I entered the Big Blogger house!

Month 6 – I began a series of reports on the G8 protests in Edinburgh. As a consequence, I got detained under a section 60 order and became an enemy of the state. The post in question was quoted on the Channel 4 news website. More rampant egomania ensued. My G8 posts came to a crashing halt when bombs started exploding in London. I took my daughter to a rock festival and began to realise what an old fart I am.

Month 7 – I sit quietly and await the result of Big Blogger. May the best Vit blogger win!