During February 2003 on diamond geezer I kept myself busy counting things. Ten different counts, to be precise, in a thrilling daily feature called 'The Count'. A sort of 28-day tally chart. Last February I decided to count those ten categories again, just to see how my life had changed, and this February I thought I'd repeat the exercise. And, blimey, things have changed (and not always for the better). Below are my counts for February 2005, accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering. You'll probably be most interested in count number 7. I was most illuminated, however, by count number 5.
Count 1 (Blog visitors): Over the last year the monthly number of visitors to diamond geezer has risen from about seven thousand to about ten thousand. That's roughly 350 visitors a day, not all of whom arrive here by accident. Thanks to you the reader for dropping by, and to all those of you who link here from your blogs and keep the visitors flowing. 350 daily readers eh? Peanuts on a global scale, but still enough people to fill three bendy buses. Total number of visitors to this webpage in February 2005: 9636 (2004: 6917) (2003: 2141)
Count 2 (Google searches): Those Google robots will link to anything, like the bindweed of the internet. Many's the bewildered soul misdirected here in search of some nugget of information that I know nothing about, or that I covered in depth months ago but is no longer on the front page. Still, at least I've managed to cut the number of disappointed image-seekers sent here by Google, just by a little. Total number of Google referrals to this webpage in February 2005: 908 (2004: 947) (2003: 316)
Count 3 (Blog content): Well that's a relief. I was concerned that I might be writing a lot more this year than I was last year, but this turns out not to be the case. Looks like I'm really very consistent - abut 500 words a day. Good, I'd hate to think my blogging was increasing out of control like an addiction or something. Total number of words in diamond geezer in February 2005: 16016 (2004: 16214) (2003: 14392)
Count 4 (Spam): I salute my service provider, whose spam filter blocks almost all of the spam that the inhabitants of Boca Raton try to email me. A surprising proportion of my dodgy email is only intelligible to Russians, or sent by people with unbelievably unlikely names. But, only two spam emails a day - this I can cope with. Total number of spam emails I received in February 2005: 54 (2004: 31) (2003: 30)
Count 5 (Nights out): Here's the biggest change in my life, and probably not for the better. I've only been out in the evening twice this month (both occasions being more than three weeks ago). Back in February 2003 there were only seven evenings on which I stayed in. That's one hell of a social decline. I thought something like this might happen when my bestmate emigrated to America, but I must say I wasn't expecting to end up quite so introspective and hermitlike two years later. Don't worry, I do still go out, but I've sort of given up on going out after dark to be with other people. And I don't really mind either, honest. But, as gwplf warned in my comments yesterday, I must take care "not to become a cut-off pond in the river of life." The number of nights in February 2005 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 2 (2004: 7) (2003: 21)
Count 6 (Alcohol intake): Whenever I'm in a pub, club, bar or restaurant, my alcoholic beverage of choice is a 'bottle of Becks'. The fact that my 'bottle of Becks' count this month is zero should give you a pretty good hint as to how many pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants I've visited recently. Anyone noticed if the Becks brewery's share price has dropped accordingly? Total number of bottles of Becks I drank in February 2005: 0 (2004: 17) (2003: 58)
Count 7 (Tea intake): You'll remember that tea used to be an essential part of my working life. Then in September my employer changed and kettles were suddenly banned (supposedly for safety reasons). No way was I drinking tea from a machine so I had to learn to survive at work without this golden beverage. Then, just before Christmas, everyone at work was sent an email saying that kettles would be allowed after all! There was much rejoicing. Excitedly we waited for our kettle to appear but nothing happened, until last week when we decided to email the powers that be to ask them what the delay was. They replied by saying that we were welcome to provide our own kettle but that they wouldn't be doing so - and, if we did choose to bring in our own, could we please ensure that it was safely unplugged and put away after every use? All extremely nanny state, but we do now have our own kettle and our own tea again. At last. Just slightly too late to affect this month's brew total. Total number of cups of tea I drank in February 2005: 81 (2004: 135) (2003: 135)
Count 8 (Trains used): See, I told you I was still going out. Total number of trains I travelled on in February 2005: 117 (2004: 109) (2003: 103)
Count 9 (Exercise taken): There used to be four escalators on my journey to and from work, but now there's only one. Admittedly it is the extra-long escalator at Holborn, but I'm really not getting the stair-climbing exercise I used to. But don't expect to see me working out at the gym to make up for it. Total number of escalators I walked up in February 2005: 38 (2004: 72) (2003: 73)
Count 10 (Mystery count): I never did tell you exactly what I was mystery-counting, did I? I said I would if the count ever crept above zero, but it never has. Not in any of the last three Februaries anyway. So I'm still not going to tell you what the mystery event is. London - it's overrated. Total number of times that the mystery event happened in February 2005: 0 (2004: 0) (2003: 0)