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'vecontinuedtocountthosecategoriesagainevery, singleFebruarysince, purely to keep tabs on how my life is changing. Twenty years later I can confirm it's changed quite a lot and I have the data to prove it. The figures should also now be back to normal, whatever normal is, after two years of pandemic disruption. Below are my counts for February 2023 accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering.
Count 1 (Blog visitors): It's been the best February yet for people turning up to read what I've written, which is nice. What's more the previous record total was exceeded on Sunday morning so I'm going to beat that by some margin. I'm now averaging about 2700 visitors a day so I can't complain, and that's just people who turn up in person rather than reading via the magic of RSS. It amazes me sometimes that anyone comes back when there's the risk of reading about cafes in Acton, litterbins on the tube or outlying villages in Havering, which is hardly "must read" subject material for the average person in the street. But I do try to provide you with a varied diet where possible, rather than endless recycled press releases, because I believe there's still demand for original subject matter. As one of my regular twenty-seven hundred, I assume you either keep coming back for the variety or can put up with the personally-irrelevant stuff inbetween. Total number of visits to this webpage in February 2023: 77244 (2003: 2141)...(2008: 32006)...(2013: 55369)...(2018: 68993) (2019: 69102) (2020: 66682) (2021: 65701) (2022: 69714)
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 a tad below last year's total but still well above numbers in my first decade. For a blog in the 2020s I'd say it's also 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 correction, a nostalgic nod, 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 tedious can be steep. But one 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. I also note that only five people have left more than 15 comments, and that 10% of my commenters are called Andrew, David or Michael. Thanks everyone, because it's you that helps to bring this page to life. Total number of comments on this webpage in February 2023: 830 (2003: 166)...(2008: 504)...(2013: 546)...(2018: 810) (2019: 706) (2020: 702) (2021: 946) (2022: 850)
Count 3 (Blog content): The number of words in my posts is still creeping up and now averages 1200 a day. That's not to be sniffed at, indeed it's the equivalent of writing six novels a year and I wonder how many of you write that much on a regular basis? I often start out thinking "I doubt this'll be a long one" and then by the end have written loads because I've uncovered more along the way. Equally I fear I often write too concisely, packing all my facts and observations into a single sentence when I could have written an entire paragraph. It's always a balance between adding detail and avoiding burnout, between making sure you have enough to read and making sure I get enough sleep. At least London remains a broad enough canvas that there's always plenty more to write about, which remains an excellent way to keep myself occupied. Total number of words in diamond geezer in February 2023: 34291 (2003: 14392)...(2008: 17606)...(2013: 29410)...(2018: 30680) (2019: 33361) (2020: 29099) (2021: 32122) (2022: 33056)
Count 4 (Hours out): I thought I'd count something different this February, not how many hours I sleep but how many hours I spend out of the house. It turns to be about a quarter of my time, that's six hours a day, which isn't bad when you don't have an office to go to. It's also much higher than during lockdown, effectively by definition. I normally only make one big trip a day but it all adds up, not least because places like Ruislip and Sidcup take a while to get to and get back from. With regard to my former count I see I slept 186 hours this month, meaning I sleep more than I leave the house, and that may or may not be the right way round. Total number of hours spent out of the house in February 2023: 164 (2021: 96) (2022: 113)
Count 5 (Nights out): I'm not an especially social person of an evening, as you can tell by the fact that this count only once surged into double figures. This February's trips have been no further than BestMate's sofa (where we watched Thursday night telly and put the world to rights), with no additional jaunts to pubs, restaurants, cinemas or the like. I'm more likely to meet up with someone during the daytime but because this is a 'Nights out' count, these bursts of sociability don't count. Don't worry it's all fine, and you'd never get a blog to read if I went out as often as I did in that heady February twenty years ago. The number of nights in February 2023 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 4 (2003: 21)...(2008: 7)...(2013: 4)...(2018: 3) (2019: 4) (2020: 4) (2021: 0) (2022: 4)
Count 6 (Alcohol intake): For the purposes of this long-term count my definition of alcohol had always been a specific gassy bottle of German lager. I clung to Becks for familiarity and ease of ordering, plus the fact it doesn't give me hiccups, but it's become increasingly hard to source in recent years so now any bottle of lager will do. This month's three bottles have all come chilled from my fridge rather than uncapped in a pub, saving me approximately £20 in the process, all thanks to a rare stash of proper Becks I found in my local Tesco last month. As you can see I'm not downing them overly fast. Total number of bottles of lager I drank in February 2023: 3 (2003: 58)...(2008: 28)...(2013: 2)...(2018: 5) (2019: 0) (2020: 0) (2021: 3) (2022: 1)
Count 7 (Tea intake): Apart from one dodgy year when workplace kettle usage was banned, my tea consumption had remained impressively consistent within a narrow range of 120-140 teas. It dropped a little after I left work because I was no longer desk-bound and kettle-proximate, and rose again during the pandemic for approximately the reverse reason. It's therefore come as a surprise this year to see my mug total drop below the 120 threshold for the first time since 2005. I think I've worked out why which is that before the pandemic I sometimes stayed in all day and now I always make a point of going out somewhere, having learned from forced incarceration to 'seize the day'. That means I'm not usually around for a mid-morning cuppa, and that means I've slipped from being a four-and-a-half cups a day man to just four. But still milk no sugar, thanks. Total number of cups of tea I drank in February 2023: 116
(2003: 135)...(2008:134)...(2013: 127)...(2018: 123) (2019: 121) (2020: 122) (2021: 128) (2022: 132)
Count 8 (Trains used): This count's normally been pretty consistent too... always just over a hundred a month (unless the government decreed otherwise). I don't have to travel by train any more but I choose to do so to explore the capital, hence the number's crept up this year to what's narrowly an all-time record. I like to get value for money for my annual Travelcard because it would be foolish to fork out that much and not use it. To that end I've also travelled on 237 buses this month, an average of nine per day, and don't look at me like that because you already know that's what I'm like. Total number of trains I travelled on in February 2023: 141
(2003: 103)...(2008: 117)...(2013: 139)...(2018: 110) (2019: 135) (2020: 136) (2021: 0) (2022: 17)
Count 9 (Steps walked): I'm back to normal amounts of walking after two years of turbocharged lockdown roaming. When I didn't have a Travelcard I walked everywhere, averaging a ridiculous ten miles daily, but now it's a much more typical seven. Quite a few of those miles have been interchanging on Crossrail. I still reckon fourteen thousand steps a day is a half-decent total, and thus far it does seem to have kept my waistline below 2019 levels, but on the downside another pair of trainers is now ready for the bin. Total number of steps I walked in February 2023: 434000 (2013: 273300)...(2018: 342000) (2019: 464000) (2020: 405000) (2021: 671000) (2022: 627000)
Count 10 (Mystery count): Sorry to disappoint you all, again, but the legendary diamond geezer Mystery Count continues to be nil. I know, I'm as unimpressed about the outcome as you are. In one way 2023 should have brought greater opportunities than 2022 for a non-zero score, but also when you stop and think about it a lower probability too so I can't say I'm surprised how it's played out. Apologies. Total number of times that the mystery event happened in February 2023: 0
(2003-2022: 0)
n.b. I'm also undertaking some annual counts this year, entirely additional to my normal stats-packed February, so let's see how they're going...
• Number of London boroughs visited: all of them (at least six times each)
• Number of London postcode areas visited: 221 (which is 91% of the total)
• Number of London bus routes ridden: 357 (65%)
• Number of Z1-3 stations used: 209 (53%)
• Number of Z4-6 stations used: 0
I did suggest that you might count something specific during February 2023, so do let us know if you did. Life's more interesting when you count it.
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. Twenty years later I can confirm it's changed quite a lot and I have the data to prove it. The figures should also now be back to normal, whatever normal is, after two years of pandemic disruption. Below are my counts for February 2023 accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering.
