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-two years later I can confirm it's changed quite a lot and I have the data to prove it. Below are my counts for February 2025 accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering.
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 been the best February yet for people turning up to read what I've written, which is nice. What's more last year's total was much inflated by the hubbub over renaming the Overground lines whereas this year's record is a result of consistently higher daily performance. I'm now averaging 3400 visitors a day, or about 45 doubledeckerbusfuls, and that's just people who turn up in person rather than reading via the magic of RSS. One reason seems to be that Google have loosened the brakes and are sending a lot more search engine queries this way, for example more than 3000 people arrived because they wanted to know where the new Apprentice cafe was. Most likely it's a torrent of one-off readers but hopefully a few of them will decide to stay. It amazes me sometimes that anyone comes back when there's the risk of reading about roadworks in Bow, timetable posters in Chorleywood or art galleries in Hartlepool, which is hardly "must read" subject material for the average person in the street. But I do try to provide 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 three and a half thousand 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 2025: 97000 (2004: 6917)...(2009: 26048)...(2014: 51727)...(2019: 69102) (2020: 66682) (2021: 65701) (2022: 69714) (2023: 77244) (2024: 93789)
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 25 a day, which is alas lower than it's been over the last few years 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 260 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 nine people have left more than 10 comments so it really is a group effort. Thanks everyone, because it's you that helps to bring this page to life. Total number of comments on this webpage in February 2025: 754 (2004: 332)...(2009: 472)...(2014: 477)...(2019: 706) (2020: 702) (2021: 946) (2022: 850) (2023: 830) (2024: 861)
Count 3 (Blog content): The number of words in my posts has been edging up and now averages 1300 a day. That's not to be sniffed at, indeed it's the equivalent of writing seven 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" but by the end have written loads because I've uncovered more along the way. Equally I fear I often write too concisely, packing loads of 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 2025: 37049 (2004: 16214)...(2009: 20602)...(2014: 32283)...(2019: 33361) (2020: 29099) (2021: 32122) (2022: 33056) (2023: 34291) (2024: 38040)
Count 4 (Hours out): On average I spend just under six hours a day out of the house, because if lockdown taught me anything it's to go out every day because you never know when that might no longer be possible. It used to be more like ten hours when I had an office to go to, but it's still a decent time to be out exploring. Have Travelcard, will travel. I also spend just over six hours a day asleep, so if you drew a pie chart of my time it would be 25% Sleep, 25% Out & About and 50% Indoors. My trip to Sunderland was the longest I spent out (15½ hrs) and the miserably wet day afterwards was the least (3½ hrs). Total number of hours spent out of the house in February 2025: 161 (2021: 96) (2022: 113) (2023: 164) (2024:150)
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. Admittedly I have met up with people during the daytime on a couple of occasions, 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-two years ago. The number of nights in February 2025 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 4 (2003: 21)...(2009: 7)...(2014: 6)...(2019: 4) (2020: 4) (2021: 0) (2022: 4) (2023: 4) (2024: 3)
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. That said, 100% of this month's total has been the genuine stuff because my brother managed to source a dozen bottles as a Christmas present and BestMate surprised me the other week with a giant bottle. The fact my total's still only four should convince you I'm no alcoholic. Total number of bottles of lager I drank in February 2025: 4 (2003: 58)...(2009: 4)...(2014: 4)...(2018: 5) (2019: 0) (2020: 0) (2021: 3) (2022: 1) (2023: 3) (2024: 0)
Count 7 (Tea intake): Apart from one dodgy year when workplace kettle usage was banned, my monthly tea consumption has remained impressively consistent and almost always falls within a narrow range of 120-135. My mug total 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. Things have now settled down, brown-liquid-wise, so I'm back to being a four-and-a-half cups a day man. Milk, no sugar, thanks. Total number of cups of tea I drank in February 2025: 125
(2004: 135)...(2009: 129)...(2014: 129)...(2019: 121) (2020: 122) (2021: 128) (2022: 132) (2023: 116) (2024: 123)
Count 8 (Trains used): This count's normally been pretty consistent too... always just over a hundred a month (unless the government decreed otherwise). Last year's total was ridiculously high because I was attempting to swipe my Travelcard at every single zone 1-3 station (tube, DLR, and National Rail), but this year I got that out of the way in January so February was more normal. For comparison the number of buses I've ridden this month is 130, an average of five a day, and the number of cars I've been a passenger in is 1. Total number of trains I travelled on in February 2025: 163
(2004: 109)...(2009: 103)...(2014: 129)...(2019: 135) (2020: 136) (2021: 0) (2022: 17) (2023: 141) (2024: 265)
Count 9 (Steps walked): For me a normal amount of walking is just under half a million steps a month, i.e. about seven miles daily. That's lower than the ten miles I managed during turbocharged lockdown roaming, but also higher than the four miles I was averaging when I had an office job. I still reckon fifteen 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 the pair of trainers I bought last February may need replacing soon. Total number of steps I walked in February 2025: 425000 (2014: 255000)...(2019: 464000) (2020: 405000) (2021: 671000) (2022: 627000) (2023: 434000) (2024: 452000)
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. Other Februaries when the Mystery Count was zero include 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015, but you already knew about the last two of those. Apologies. Total number of times that the mystery event happened in February 2025: 0
(2003-2025: 0)
I did say I wouldn't be counting how many times I made an error on the blog this month but I was lying. I was indeed counting, I just didn't want you to think I was in case you got pernicketier than usual. It turns out the number of observed errors in February was 24, well down on the 33 reported in January so I'm counting that as a win.
And I did suggest that you might count something specific during February 2025, 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-two years later I can confirm it's changed quite a lot and I have the data to prove it. Below are my counts for February 2025 accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering.
