Hello, and thanks for joining me on this special day.
Why is this day so special?
Well, by my best calculations, it marks 10 years of continual blogging on this blog.
Yes, that’s at least one post a day on 6000 miles… each and every day for an entire decade.
Yep. 10 whole years.
I’ve been blogging here since early 2008 (and before that at the now defunct ballacorkish.net), but it was only at the end of 2011 that this ‘post a day’ nonsense began.
I’m not sure why I decided to start doing this on 31st December 2011 – in all likelihood, I didn’t make any conscious decision at that point to try to achieve anything other than putting pixel to screen for that day. It just continued from there until it became “a thing”.
It’s a bit sad that the very first post (of this series, at least) isn’t particularly exciting or remarkable, but I guess that’s what you get with this blog: the occasional flash of brilliance amongst all the disappointing mundanity. So a bit like being at a Michael McIntyre show, but with an occasional flash of brilliance.
Since then, we’ve been through a smorgasbord of football, music, parenting, history, geography, travel, photography, beagling, South Africanisms, beer, politics, microbiology, (hopefully most of) a pandemic, and of course, several (or more) lighthouses.
Yes, yes. I’m fully aware that other people have blogged every day for much longer. But they’re not me. I did this and that’s why I’m crowing about it. I’m quote impressed with this achievement.
And I haven’t been keeping track. I just spotted this upcoming anniversary when someone asked back in September – with some degree of incredulity and dismay in their voice – just how long I’d been doing this for.
But the real suckers heroes are you guys who come and read this stuff. Thanks for being here, commenting (when that was a thing) (you can still do it on the Facebook page) and just generally being supportive.
And of course, huge thanks to The Guru for all his patience, expertise and technical support. I couldn’t have done it without him, which gives you all someone else to blame for this.
Here’s to ten more years.
Possibly.