So, blogging! It’s interesting stuff. To be honest most blogs are rambles by teenagers or people who think they’re teenagers. Search through the blogs in Blogspot, Journalspace, etc. and most of the information is banal, to say the least. You might find some like minded people, but mostly you don’t – or maybe I’m looking in the wrong places – or maybe there aren’t any people who think like me (which wouldn’t really surprise me).
Even my own blog is mostly incoherent rambling and, in my case, it certainly doesn’t have a real theme. Who is it for? Why do I bother? It’s a bit about Italy, a bit about work (both here in Italy and the web stuff). It’s a bit about nothing in particular. And, why do I bother? Well, I really don’t know. I mean, each entry is for a completely different reason, so, again, there’s no ‘theme’.’
So, to the title. I found (I guess I was bored at work or something) that Google has a ‘more’ tab. And I had a look for no real reason. I found that Google does a blog search – and you can sort it by date, and you can look for things that interest you.
So, the first choice was to type in ‘milan italy’.’ And then I wondered how it decides what is a blog. It is a strange thing, because some of them are, quite obviously not blogs. Blogs, generally, are not advertising hotels or sex shops in Milan! But it seems marketing (I use that term loosely) have found a way to get searched as a blog by Google, which, I guess is good for them.
Then, as my friend N, who is a journalist, actually writes for a professional blog (it’s where a load of journalists give short articles about various things), I typed in her name. And, not only does her blog spot come up, but also other peoples blogs who quote or link to her articles.
So then (God, I must have been bored), I started typing in other people’s names. Now here’s the thing. Most people, I guess, at some point, have typed their name into Google. If you’ve got a common name, like mine, it’s a bit of a bugger. And, of course, there are so many famous Andrew D’s. The writer and director, some Welsh MP, some guy who plays for Middlesborough, some photographer from Cheshire (he may not be so famous, just doing a really good job with SEO (see the blog below)), etc. And yes, if you persevere, you can find me (I think, although I got bored at page 61). I’m just not important enough (which is fine by me) or done anything famous (again, fine).
But what if you type other names of people you know? Well, some of them come up – and not necessarily because they are famous, maybe because the name is unusual or the site which includes their name is a high ranking page on Google, or the page was recently updated (so, will this page appear now when my blog appears on the net I wonder?).
But, then, with the Search Blogs page on Google, I thought I would follow up the last search with some names of people – and nothing much – of course! Nobody puts their name in their blog. Why would they. But, sometimes they put their friends or family’s names in the blog.
So then I tried some places that I used to live. Now that was more interesting. On one of them I found my sister (I think). She started a blog on 30th September this year and there are too many coincidences for it not to be her. Now, I don’t want to contact her or for her to know how to contact me (long story, but those of you who know me probably know the story, so enough said), but, obviously, it would be interesting for me to know what they’re doing, etc. I guess there’s still some thing that holds me to them, in spite of my wish that it didn’t.
So, she’s got a yacht in the Caribbean, apparently. And she has a partner, R, which is intriguing. Is that a partner partner, or a friend partner? And, from intending to do a creative writing course, how the hell did she end up there?
I’m kind of pleased for her. I hope, in a way, that R is her partner partner and that she has found contentment, at last. I hope she doesn’t get too stuck where she is (was) and makes her way back to her yacht and R. AND, more importantly, I hope the one blog entry she has made is not her last (which happens with a lot of blogs), as it means I can keep in touch without keeping in touch (if you see what I mean). And, maybe, I’ll learn more about the family that are stranger to me than long lost friends?
Enough now. More on blogging and what I’ve found in some other entry.
So now, here, it’s raining (and has been for 2 days now – but that means only another day of rain).
Oh yes, and they don’t have pastinaca (parsnip to you and me) as a vegetable at all, but, apparently it grows as some sort of weed in the mountains or somewhere! Wow! These Italians really don’t know what they’re missing out on!