Here is a picture WordPress sent me to mark my fourth anniversary on their site.
As you can see, no expense has been spared in WordPress’s celebration of my entrance to the vintage Bloggers club. To be honest, I wouldn’t have remembered that it was any kind of anniversary at all if this smart illustration had not popped up.
Over the four years lots of things have changed, not least is that a number of valued and treasured followers, and then my publishers have prompted me to write a book and then another book, and until I began this blog, writing a book had never occurred to me.
I have a Blogroll, because one did or must, but most of the people on it seldom if ever visit apart from a few and treasured individuals. It is also true that I have made many other contacts, some of whom are both talented and wonderful and who visit regularly and who are not on my Blogroll because I don’t seem to get round to updating it, and wince at the thought of removing a name from it , even thought they wouldn’t know and never visit now anyway. How stupid is that.
More than anything I realise now how ephemeral blogging is. It is a bit like a cocktail party held at a railway station where people keep a constant eye on the time because they are soon required somewhere else and have so much else to do, but apart from the obviously facile dimension to it, it remains a forum where disparate people of every age and culture join to share and discuss the powerfully intimate and yet general experience of being alive. There is a kind of beauty and music to blogging which transcends the idle chatter and makes me want to reach out to you all and say, “We all share this age together, albeit in different circumstances and cultures and touching your lives, as you have touched mine, has made my existence infinitely richer and I thank you all for it.”
Ha, ha, I can relate to the Blogroll dilemma… and I love the way you put it, about the ephemeral nature of blogging links, ties, friends…
Congratulations on your four years, and here’s to many more (if you want it).
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Thank you very much for the comment. Your visits are always appreciated
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The richest among us are those of us who read your blog (and books).
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I could say the same of yours sir. Many of us can talk a good life, but you have lived one, and its a privilege to know someone who has walked this earth equipped with a decent amount of common sense 🙂
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Congratulation on 4 years:-)) How true about blogging allowing us to touch each other’s lives, even if just for a brief moment. Beautifully written.
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Thank you very much for you nice comment
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I share some, if not all, of your sentiments. I’m pleased that I found you so early in my own blogging experience. You rule! Terry.
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The feeling is entirely mutual, and I always enjoy my visits to your Blog 🙂
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Congratulations on your 4 years. I received one last month for my 1 year. So yeah…I posted mine as well. You keep right on counting those ducks…and I’ll quack-quack…keep reading.
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Can never beat the sound of ducks echoing across the Blogosphere
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I love your analogy, Peter, and echo your sentiments. A little effort has proven worthwhile as your writing has enriched my life – just allow the deadwood to float away like flotsam!
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Your loyalty and the quality of your comments exemplify the rewards of Blogging, and I really appreciate your visits to this place
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Very well written. It’s like my eyes are wet fingertips gliding across the crystalline brim of a blogger’s writing…hoping for resonance.
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AAARRRRGGGGG!! Too early to hit the right spot — I meant to LIKE this reply. Sorry, Erich.
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No apologies necessary…I was just glad I came across your post as it harmonized with my last post.
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🙂
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You say it well
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well said as usual, peter. congrats and i’m happy to be part of your minion. i’m sure the expensive champagne will be arriving at any moment. )
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Well I always enjoy your visits to my Blog. Of course the glasses are out, polished and waiting for that bottle of bubbly I am sure will be arriving as a small addition to that marvellous illustration they sent me 🙂
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Cheers, Peter!
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Thank you for all your support and encouragement. It makes more difference than you know
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Thank you and you’re welcome and congratulations and perhaps the most eloquent blogging speech and description of the blogging world I’ve heard so far!
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Always lovely to see a comment from you, and I always enjoy your versified observations on life, which often put a smile on my face
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So glad. Well, always a pleasure to read your writing!
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You share the exact reasons why I never started the blog roll thingie! I’m honored to follow you and your amazing writings so keep it up! Congrats!
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Meeting people like yourself exemplifies the essence of why I enjoy Blogging. I would never have got to know you on any level or enjoyed your wonderful photography without it, and my life is richer on both counts
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Congratulations, Peter. Your blog is one I really look forward to. Janet:)
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I can say the same about yours. It’s just wonderful frankly 🙂
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Happy 4th, Peter. Sorry I didn’t send a card…ran out of time, train was coming.
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Totally understand. Cards are so expensive these days and the postage to an undisclosed address is beyond prohibitive, but I appreciate the idea 🙂
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Well done! I think I may be 4 in August! I, too, have a blogroll which has become quite meaningless as a few have disappeared and most who follow me now arent on it and it’s just too technically challenging for me to bother altering it all, since my daughter did most off that stuff for me anyway, and now she has finished uni and has a grownup job she hasn’t the time! But I totally agree about the blogging experience. Here’s to more anniversaries. 😊
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Well you’ve certainly been a chum well made on here and the living proof of how rewarding blogging can be 🙂
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😊
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What a beautiful description of blogging. The virtual world has, in a controversially paradoxical way, made communication easier between those unlikely to meet.
Then again, I am writing this sitting alone in my apartment… 😀
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I understand that very well, I think, but on some emotional or mental level one can achieve a level of international connectivity and context from Blogging which was impossible before its existence. Thank you so much for commenting
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Well done on 4 years. Quite an achievement. 🙂
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Thank you very much
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I think I will be 4 years around July, if I hadn’t lost my first blog I would be here nearly 6 years, I was a bad boy :).
So many on my blog roll deleted their blogs that I took it down, must get it up again and see if ANY are left.
I enjoy blogging although I don’t post as often.
Here’s to many more years.
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Off the record, I lost my first Blog too. It was a self-inflicted injury caused by trying to change my template or some other nonsense. I’ve avoided the “technical” ever since !!
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How lovely. You hit the nail on the head with the blogging cocktail party (which I’ve often thought I’d love to host, albeit not at the station…)
Congrats on the 4 years and the many good things that have happened to you!
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Yours is a name which brings a smile to my face every time I see it among my commentators. I love your Blog as well
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Thank you 😊
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Congrats on your bloggy 4th birthday. I always enjoy your posts even though I don’t that often click a like. You have a gift for wondrous expression, and this posting itself is an example of that!
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Thank you very much for saying this. I too visit Blogs without commenting because I only have so much time, like everybody else. We comment when we can and you cannot ask for more than that
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Congratulations I’m jut a couple of weeks behind you!
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Well done you. It is a bit of a journey to look back on isn’t it.
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I’m struggling to find the ‘4’ in that image. Maybe I’m being too literal. Regardless, congrats! You are among rare company!
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I don’t think there is a “4” in it Jacqui, but never mind eh. Your visits and support of my Blog and writing are very appreciated I can tell you 🙂
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Spot on description – congratulations! At least there are a few regular commuters at that station 🙂
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Ah, well you are one of those who are on my Blogroll and who still visit regularly, which is lovely. Mind you, I love your Blog as well, which is often fascinating in terms of your family history and general sense of life. I really appreciate your visits and your support
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Peter, Congrats on 4 years of blogging! My life has been enriched from meeting you through blogging more than you could know. I think you are fab and although time constrains prevent me from reading here as much as I wish, I cherish your blog and always enjoy your writing immensely! You are a truly talented writer but a great human being!
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Thank you so much for these very kind words. I’m hoping you get the time to read my latest book, although I know many things clamour for your attention. Yours is a very important voice in the Blogosphere, and you have provided comfort to hundreds of people without ever meeting them. How wonderful is that !
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Cheers, Peter! I got the same luxury photo-award-announcement.
Four years for me, too. That’s 28 in dog years and at least 40 in blog years.
We are old-timers, my friend. Should we be thinking of retiring? Perhaps a blog-consulting position would be appropriate for us now that we are so “seasoned.” Is there a “village” or “home” for old bloggers like us? I hope they have reliable wifi and a lightning fast internet speed on their super large keyboarded and screened computers (you know, my eyesight isn’t what it was four years ago…). And pudding. We should have lots of pudding, don’t you think? 😉
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Ah, now you struck a bit of a chord with the pudding thing, as I’m sure you know. I’m on a bit of a fitness regime at the moment, although the mirror informs me that there is no visible impact as yet, but it does mean that puddings are sadly not available. Oh how I miss them !
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Alas, the memories of puddings will have to suffice for me as well. Such is life in the slow lane. 😉
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CONGRATSSSSS, Peter!
4 years already!! WOW.
A blogroll. What’s that!!???
xxx kiss from MN.
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A Blogroll is a list of names of Blogs you recommend which is under my book cover links. All wordpress blogs have them but I don’t know anout other platforms. In fact that’s about all I do know, apart from the fact that I’m still grateful to have met you and your lovely husband and boys in real life, and I’ll always love your Blog
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Cocktail party at a railway station? perfect !
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I’m sure there would be a very relaxed dress code, and suitcases would also be welcome. Your constant support of my Blog is very appreciated. Thank you so much 🙂
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Congratulations!! I know that blogroll dilemma well!! Here’s to another 4 years!
Sx
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Congrats on your milestone my friend. And you definitely have to update your blogroll. I am honored to be on that list and I am honored to visit your blog every week to read some of the best stories. Keep blogging my friend 🙂
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Well, I can see something is a bit crazy because its asking me to approve a comment from one of my top favourite bloggers and that can’t be right. I’ve attempted to add your new address to my Blogroll, but its very possible that I’ve failed
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Congratulations on four years of committed writing (no joke, that!) and two books 🙂
One thing you mention leaves me curious: you say that your publishers urged you to write a book. Did you have publishers prior to this blog taking birth (i.e. have you published in a previous lifetimes) or did blogging directly draw the attention of a publisher, who then encouraged you to go the book way?
Blogs have been turning into books since the time I was a wee youth and barely understood how the political economy of blogs worked (truth be told, I’m still a little vague in that department :P). Yours was the first such I read (although your book was not from your blog) and it gave me a genuine joy to think of this transition, for your writing voice I found and find unique, and warm.
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Congratulations Pete!
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Thank you very much, and for the support you have given me. It is really appreciated 🙂
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Happy Blogiversary!
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Happy 4th and here’s to many more! You have certainly done a lot with your blogging life. Kudos. 🙂
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