This, on the 201st day of this crazy year, is my 201st blog. When I started writing the first one in the departure lounge at Malta’s Valletta airport I doubted whether I’d have the discipline to keep them going.
Well so far I’m well over half way through the year and feel confident that I’ll get to the end of 2020, documenting this unique year in my life where I transition from work to retirement.
Back then I was planning a year of fun, lots of travel, lots of socialising and the enjoyment of great sporting events such as the Olympics, Euros football and Wimbledon. I was going to throw in a few cultural events – galleries, museums, concerts, festivals and more – and the year was going to climax with a big birthday bash.
Thanks to the dreaded Covid it has turned out quite differently and I’ve hardly looked at my 2020 Year Planner. The only upside of it all is that the virus and the associated lockdown have forced me to reflect more on what life is really all about without all the distractions I’d planned.
On the whole I’ve enjoyed writing the blogs, some have been genuinely therapeutic, others have helped me clarify what I’m thinking and what to do next. It will be interesting to look back on them when the year is over with all the benefit of hindsight.
One thing I’m particularly enjoying is the website platform WordPress which I use to publish and promote my blogs. I had some experience of websites through my work but I never appreciated how flexible the platform is and how easy is it use once your head round it.
The other thing that is so impressive about WordPress is the quality of support you get. The webchat is exceptional. The responses are virtually instantaneous and you get real practical help, they’ll even create coding for you.
It’s also been heartening to see the stats moving in the right direction, something I look at a few times a day.
I wasn’t sure if anyone would read my blogs when I first started but so far with just over half the year I’ve just had just short of 6,000 views, nearly 3,000 visitors and 123 likes.
The visitors come from all over the world with the UK and USA predictably topping the charts but I’ve also had people visiting the site from another 75 countries including such unlikely nations as Kazakhstan, Mali, Moldova and Bolivia. Also I’ve had two visits from somewhere calling itself the ‘European Union’ which I never knew was a country!
On the various social media platforms – mainly Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn – I’ve amassed around 1,000 ‘followers’.
I appreciate all the views, visits, likes, follows and comments and will continue to blog for the remaining 165 days of 2020 and documenting this year like no other.