During February 2003 on diamond geezer I kept myself busy by counting things. Ten different counts, to be precise, in a none-too thrilling daily feature called The Count. My 28-day tally chart may have been deathly dull to the rest of you, butI'vecontinuedtocountthosecategoriesagain, everysingleFebruarysince, purely to keep tabs on how my life is changing. It's changed a heck of a lot, not just because of the pandemic but also because my circumstances have evolved considerably over the last two decades. Below are my ten counts for February 2022, each compared to the corresponding count for February 2021. And because this is the twentieth time I've blogged The Count, expect a bit more retrospective quantitative introspection than usual.
n.b. The month hasn't finished yet so all this year's totals are best guess estimates, but I'll come back and update/rewrite the post as February draws to a close.
Count 1 (Blog visitors): It's the best February ever for people turning up to read what I've written, which is nice, even if it's only by a small margin. This is reassuring given I haven't been venturing far from home so my content's been geographically limited, plus I've subjected you to five verbose walks down minor B Roads. But before I get too smug at least 2000 of those extra visits were down to a single post reporting on Crossrail trial operations, and almost as many came from running a liveblog while it was windy which is an easy way to hike the figures. Whatever, 2500 visitors a day is not to be sniffed at (and is probably an underestimate because a lot of you prefer to read the blog without visiting it). I'm glad my ongoing quest for London-centric bloggage continues to engage. Total number of visits to this webpage in February 2021: 65701 Total number of visits to this webpage in February 2022: 69714 (↑6%)
20 years: In my first February I had fewer visitors in a month than I now get in a day, but the blogosphere was smaller then. Numbers climbed steadily over the next decade, with a boost in 2006 for the Bloggies and 2012 for the Olympics, and have plateaued in the high sixty thousands for the last five years. On a Londonwide scale these are still insignificant figures, but at least I'm not yet on the decline. (2003: 2141) (2004: 6917) (2005: 9636) (2006: 42277) (2007: 23082) (2008: 32006) (2009: 26048) (2010: 30264) (2011: 37200) (2012: 40018) (2013: 55369) (2014: 51727) (2015: 58380) (2016: 60609) (2017: 63770) (2018: 68993) (2019: 69102) (2020: 66682)
Count 2 (Blog comments): There's nothing quite so unpredictable as comments. Some days this blog attracts hardly any, while other days the discussion catches fire and you add dozens. This month we've been averaging about 30 a day, which is down on last year's record total but still well above numbers in my first decade. What got you talking most this month was changing postage stamps, disconnecting landlines and ending the pandemic, not to mention numbered pubs, stormy weather and what colour the background of this blog should be. It's generally the case that discussing something that affects us all generates a lot more feedback than writing about a restricted part of London. I'm particularly pleased to note that the conversation's not been dominated by the same few regulars droning on. An amazing statistic is that 300 different people have commented this month, chipping in when they have something relevant to say, and that variety is truly humbling. Somehow a community has evolved here where regular and occasional commenters co-exist, and that's not an easy thing to create. Total number of comments on this webpage in February 2021: 946 Total number of comments on this webpage in February 2022: 850 (↓11%)
20 years: The comments have always been a strongpoint of diamond geezer, indeed I suspect a number of you come back each day for a second read. They've averaged over 10 a day pretty much ever since I started and over 20 a day since 2015, which for a blog in the 2020s I'd say is damned impressive. Most blogs either no longer allow feedback or have commenting zones resembling tumbleweed, but somehow you lot always seem to carry on talking... nipping in with a pertinent reference, a pedantic query, a nostalgic nod, a ridiculous aside, some schoolboy grandstanding or a bit of insider know-how. Admittedly it doesn't take much to set a few of you off, particularly if the topic is transport-related, and some days the gradient between sparkling and cringeworthy can be steep. But thanks everyone, because it's you that helps to bring this page to life. (2003: 166) (2004: 332) (2005: 463) (2006: 648) (2007: 566) (2008: 504) (2009: 472) (2010: 396) (2011: 558) (2012: 440) (2013: 546) (2014: 477) (2015: 625) (2016: 687) (2017: 752) (2018: 810) (2019: 706) (2020: 702)
Count 3 (Blog content): You might expect me to be writing less, given I've spent two years in a mostly-local bubble and there can't be many fresh angles left. When Woolwich is as exotic as it gets, writer's block could easily set in. But instead I'm writing as much as ever, mainly because I've not been interrupted by having a social life, leaving me nothing else to do of an evening but type. It's been a challenge to keep finding stuff to cover but the wider situation's always blogworthy, and if all else fails there's always nostalgia, snippetry and data analysis to fall back on. I confess I always try a tad harder in February because I know I'll be tallying my output (so there are never any "ah stuff it, that'll do" days), but hopefully that doesn't skew things too much. And it means I'm still averaging about 1100 words a day, the equivalent of writing five novels a year, which remains an excellent way to keep myself occupied. Total number of words in diamond geezer in February 2021: 32122 Total number of words in diamond geezer in February 2022: 33056 (↑3%)
20 years: There have been three eras of diamond geezer, word-count-wise. For the first six years this was a 600 words a day blog, then came five years when the total ticked up inexorably and since 2013 I've been churning out more than 1000. But it never seems worth going beyond that, partly because it'd bore you but mainly because it would burn me out, so I suspect I've reached a natural limit. (2003: 14392) (2004: 16214) (2005: 16016) (2006: 15817) (2007: 17102) (2008: 17606) (2009: 20602) (2010: 21595) (2011: 23120) (2012: 25698) (2013: 29410) (2014: 32283) (2015: 30362) (2016: 31192) (2017: 33094) (2018: 30680) (2019: 33361) (2020: 29099)
Count 4 (Sleep): I'm sleeping about the same as last February, although I expected it to be a tad more. That's because when I lie in bed listening to the midnight news summary I sometimes nod off early whereas last year I invariably made it to the weather forecast at the end. It's not like the news is any less interesting, so I guess I must be waking up fractionally earlier instead. Seven hours a night isn't a bad average under the circumstances. Total number of hours spent sleeping in February 2021: 190 Total number of hours spent sleeping in February 2022: 188 (↓1%)
20 years: This pattern's pretty clear. I used to sleep about six hours a night when I went to work and needed an alarm clock to wake me up. Now I wake of my own accord it's more like seven, and I think I should be pleased it isn't eight. (2009: 173) (2010: 164) (2011: 172) (2012: 167) (2013: 163) (2014: 165) (2015: 169) (2016: 174) (2017: 183) (2018: 197) (2019: 198) (2020: 199)
Count 5 (Nights out): February last year fell during Lockdown Three when indoor socialising was banned so 2022 could only be an improvement. It's not been a massive increase but it is a return to my usual equilibrium which is a weekly trip to BestMate's sofa. I last had a February night out in a restaurant in 2019 and it's 2018 since I last had one in a pub. But I'm pleased to say March 2022 already has three additional nights out booked, so some degree of convivial normality must be returning. The number of nights in February 2021 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 0 The number of nights in February 2022 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 4 (↑4)
20 years: I'm not an especially social person of an evening, indeed this count has only once surged into double figures. That'll be the manic month in 2002 I blogged about a few weeks ago, so hopefully you now understand why the following list has one massive outlier. Other than that it's been once or twice a week, max. You'd never get a blog to read if it was much more than that. (2003: 21) (2004: 7) (2005: 2) (2006: 2) (2007: 3) (2008: 7) (2009: 7) (2010: 4) (2011: 9) (2012: 6) (2013: 4) (2014: 6) (2015: 8) (2016: 8) (2017: 6) (2018: 3) (2019: 4) (2020: 4)
Which leaves five more counts to rake over tomorrow as the month draws to an end, including the important news on how much bottled lager I've been drinking and whether the Mystery Count has mysteriously scraped above zero. Don't hold your breath.
During February 2003 on diamond geezer I kept myself busy by counting things. Ten different counts, to be precise, in a none-too thrilling daily feature called The Count. My 28-day tally chart may have been deathly dull to the rest of you, but I've continued to count those categories again, every single February since, purely to keep tabs on how my life is changing. It's changed a heck of a lot, not just because of the pandemic but also because my circumstances have evolved considerably over the last two decades. Below are my ten counts for February 2022, each compared to the corresponding count for February 2021. And because this is the twentieth time I've blogged The Count, expect a bit more retrospective quantitative introspection than usual.
