Sunset over Cold Overton

Well it has been quite sometime since I have posted on this blog for a number of reasons but it is about time I brought it alive again. So lets start with a few pictures of the sun setting over the fields around Cold Overton.

The picture was taken on the hill side looking towards Leicester at the site of the former Royal Ordnance observation post that is featured elsewhere in this blog. It is a lovely spot high high with a lovely view looking towards Oakham in the opposite direction.

The idea is that I will start the blog up again, but as to what I will post I don't know yet. I just guess that I will have to wait to see what I feel like writing about, but it is sure to be full of pictures too and that is where I will start.

Popular Posts

Given all that has been going on the last month with the Aldi Store planning application I thought it might be good to look at the most popular posts this month as provided by Blogger itself, all be it one day short of the end of the month. Now I take such things as the stats provided by Blogger with a large pinch of salt, as the detail in the stats is very lacking.

Blogger basically only gives you the number of page views for individual pages and a web browser and operating system percentages over the lifetime of the blog, however it does allow you to look at the top ten posts for a month and these, this month, were:

1. Aldi Plans for Oakham get Approval
2. Police investigate Rutland County Council
3. Politics is a dirty word in Rutland 
4. Social Media Campaign to get Aldi to Oakham 
5. Aldi Plans to be Torpedoed Tomorrow 
6. Rutland County Council Election Results 
7. Not to late to have your say - Aldi Oakhm 
8. NHS Management tell staff have "No to Mugs" 
9. Harrington School gets the go ahead
10. Lucy turns Four

Given the local interest and the lack of reporting in the local press and the immediacy of the internet, the interest in the local politics comes without little surprise that the Aldi planning application comes up high on the list. The only one that did come as a surprise is the last one, Lucy turns Four, which dates back to an event that is nearly three years. Since the start of the year appeared in the top ten posts of all time and it would be interesting to find out why.

Other posts that seem to get a lot of readers are those to do with politics in general and the posts looking at the posts made this month, especially the post about the UKIP MEP and the massage parlour. Seems everyone likes aa bit of scandal.

Thank You

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you that have come back to the blog after so long and those that have found it for the first time. It has been a record month for the year so far. In fact the blog hasn't had this many hits in a month since October last year.

From here on in the rate of posting entries is likely to likely to diminish some what as my work takes over my free time. It won't happen straight away but it will happen. I'm hoping to think up some regular post that will keep the blog going and then there will be the odd family related post I'm sure and stuff I find topical on the news. Just don't expect two posts a day when you will be lucky to see two a week, in say two or three weeks time.

It been great coming back to the blog again and I have enjoyed up dating the year with entries I started and never completed and writing new entries too. I never did get to finish updating the missing pictures from 2010, but that I will continue to do as time allows. Anyone that knows me will know that updating is emotional too, in so many different ways.

So anyway who every you are I thank you for taking you time to read the blog and some of my thoughts on life and on my family too who I love so much, for the people that are special to me will always be special to me at least. Just wish I had more time to post blog entries.

Almost a Record

Yesterday was almost a record for the blog in terms of hits on the site.It came as quiet of a shock since, although the statistics have remained at a reasonable level since the highs of 2012, I didn't expect a spike that would be the second highest in the history of the blog. 

In total there were over 250 views of the blogs, the total number is difficult to know for sure since the Blogger stats seem to have some strange limits on how they collect stats.  Most of the hits are from the UK, as usual, but that is all I know other than the browsers that are most common. Just want to tank all the people that read the posts and those that keep coming back.

The first 1,000 blog posts

when I started this blog, even in its first form started an hosted on a machine on my own computer I never thought it would get to the point of having a 1000 entries. This in fact is the 1000th entry at this point of time. 

There have as I post this something in the region of 140,000 visits and many of them are repeat visits. It lovely to know people come back time and again for whatever reason, despite the fact that the posting rate has decreased in the last couple of years. Although this is the 1000 published post there are another 100 posts or so that are either part finished or finished and never posted. Maybe one day I will have time to finish the unfinished ones or decide the time is right to published the finished ones. 

Thank you all for reading the blog, I just wish I had the time and reason to post like I use to, but post I will at whatever rate the time I have allows. 

Looking Back

I was looking back through the older posts in the blog today to be dismayed that all the early pictures are missing and need replacing. There were all originally hosted Facebook and is seems the linking doesn't work any more at all. I had noticed it before but thought it might be something that Facebook itself might fix and left it to sort itself out.

I would love to also post some of the early pictures of all the girls together, like this one from when Lucy was just a baby sitting on Catherine's knee. Although I have no date for when it was taken I know the location was the Adventure Playground  at Rutland Water near the Sykes Lane visitor center and I can remember all four girls having a wonderful day together. Happy times indeed now very sadly passed and missed. 

Hopefully over the summer I can get some time to at least replace the missing pictures and fill in the gaps. If time allows maybe it time to post some of those older pictures too before they get lost in the mists of time and memory.

Missing Pictures

Someone noticed the lack of pictures on the early posts on the blog and there is a reason why they have disappeared. Originally the pictures where hosted from my face book account and since then Facebook must have changed how they share photographs and they have disappeared. Over the summer my plan is to restore those pictures form my Facebook account and make the blog complete once more.

Future Blogging

What will happen to this blog in the coming year is anyone’s guess. I really don’t have the motivation to continue with it as I have up until September. There is no reason to continue it in that form anymore and I can’t see that situation being resolved quickly.

So what to expect of the blog in 2013, will be the occasional post about programs I watch on TV and the odd photo post and that will be about it. There is unlikely to be any political post as freedom of speech is now dead in Rutland. The Country Council will soon start to sue anyone that questions what they say and do thanks to the Conservatives and their Liberal Democrats friends in London.

Anyway I hope everyone that passes by and reads the past posts and even the future ones has a wonderful New Year. I'm trying to be hopeful so it might be a great year, who knows, but some how I don't think it won't, not much changes for the good and never will.

Blog Update

For those that are wondering what has happened to all the recent blog posts the answer is simple I just haven't had time to write them.

The reason will become clear when I do update the site but when I will have time to do this at the moment is unclear, that is if I have time at all. I haven't given up.

Blog Stuff

With all that is going on there are going to be an impact on the blog. Things have changed so much since the start of the summer in so many different ways.

If you pop by the blog every so often you will have noticed that the number of posts has fallen off and I have gotten behind on the family posts. All the other planned  post about other subjects, I know, will probably never get written. What happens to the blog at this stage is anybodies guess. I know I want to carry on writing down my thoughts and that the family posts will continue in the shortened form until things change, bit ther other types of post might disappear for a while, although you might see some short mobile posts, who knows.

I know my goals in life are the same. I actually do know what I want but I fear I will never get there at the moment, that is going to take time, but I won't give up. Somethings are coming into place at least, lets hope the rest follows however long in it takes.

Busy Times

Despite the lovely weather, a time when you should really be relaxing, it has been rather busy time. So busy that the blog is getting over looked at the moment.

There are family posts from a month or more ago that need finishing, others that are just titles and some that are almost finished. The problem is there is just not he time to do everything in life and then there is the pressure of life itself and all that goes with it sometimes that gets in the way.

Some things are exciting at the moment, while other things carry on to be disappointing. There are things in life you can do something about and those are the ones that are working out for a change and taking up some of my time at the moment I spend writing the blog. The other things, well, you just have to do your best and hope and wait and see if they fall in to place too.

What this means for the blog, I am not totally sure yet. I fear as we move into the autumn there will be less posts, not something I want but my lack of time will just mean fewer posts. I love writing this blog and rest assured it will carry on, but know I'm just working towards what I want in life for those that I love and that matter to me.

Wrights Wanderings

There are many lovely blogs on the internet, but there aren't many in Rutland as beautiful as Wrights Wanderings. A nature photographer and artist who records what he sees on his travels.

It is full of amazing pictures and drawing so some of the wonderful wildlife in Rutland as well as other parts of the world that he has visited on his travels. It is a testament to rural Rutland and why we must fight to preserve it for the wildlife that lives here and for future generations to enjoy. Just looking at it makes me realise we have so much to lose if we over develop the countryside in the sort of way Rutland County Council are planning to do. 

It is well wroth a look and you don't have to be an expert to appreciate the wildlife and birds that he photographs and draws. There is a link at the top of the post and another in the side bar to help you find this wonderful blog.

Blog Delays

If anyone was wondering where all the blog posts have gone after freeze of posting last month well the answer is simple, they have been delayed by a little tummy bug which has knocked me for six since Monday.

It came into the house with Lucy at the weekend. When she said she had been sick on the way home from the holiday I just put it down to motion sickness. It wasn't until she went to the toilet and complained occasionally of tummy pains that I thought something was up, but it didn't seem that bad. She was a bit tired but she was eating. It wasn't until I got it that I realised how bad the little bug was. I slept most Monday and Tuesday away and it wasn't until today that I started to eat again.

Anyway, the subjects for the blog posts are all in place and it will be just a question of time before they are posted, starting first with the family posts and some of the smaller posts.

Two Years On

When I started this blog as Roy's World I didn't imagine I would still be writing it two years later, for basically the same reasons that I started it. Then it was exclusively about my family since then of course and it has branched out in to other subjects that have taken my interest. All the same the primary link is my family life and things in that side of my life I'm dealing with.

Where the blog goes in the next year is anyones guess. I should imagine it will be very much like it has been in the past. I would like to do some more weekly features, but these, somehow seem to run out of steam when things get busy in life or there are other issues that are more pressing. All the same I love writing the blog and I hope that one day the all the children will read it and it will be a reminder of all we have done and how much I love them. If you read the blog and enjoy it, or if you just dip in from time to time, I have one to say to you, Thank You.

Blogger Changes

More changes are being imposed upon on by the people at Blogger. Thankfully this should be less of a problem than the changes they have made to the comments system. At least it has been available to use for months and because of that should be well tested.

However the problem is, as any Facebook user knows, that not all changes are for the best. Having tried the new Blogger interface it doesn't seem to anything to the Blogging experiance. It just looks different and means you go on a new learning curve to find the things that were once at your finger tips. You could say isn't change is good? The answer is simple, not always, just look at timeline, currently being imposed on all users on Facebook and how many users now wish they had never moved over to using it when it was voluntary choice. It looks good, until you realise it's limitations, but that is it. The change of the Blogger interface seems more to do with fitting in to Google family style than anything else. Shame really when they could have spent time developing a new editor or fixing existing bugs,

Anyway as from the start April the new Blogger interface will be imposed on us all, if we like it or not. It clear that web developers have never heard of the old adage "if it's not broke don't fix it". 

Comments

Interestingly I found myself looking at the civil liable laws today, which I must say are much better defined in the United States than in the England. This came about when I was asked to remove some of the comments on the blog, which were described as slander, which is the spoken word form of liable. These comments have now been hidden.

One comment in particular was a long reply by myself to a comment left by a reader of the blog. I would like to make it clear that under the liable laws there was nothing wrong with the reply, since it was both truthful and a fair comment that any person could have made knowing the truth. It was not censored on the grounds of liable. As it say's in the small print at the end of the blog, I will deal with issues about the blog and the comments. In this case, I can understand the complainants point of view and not wishing to offend the person refereed to in the disputed comments I have hidden the comments and stopped further commenting on those posts.

Please be careful if you are commenting that your comments are truthful and reasonable, but don't be put off your comments are always welcome. If you have a problem with a post or comment please contact me using the method in the small print at the bottom of the blog.

50,000 Page Views

If you had asked me when I started this blog that I would have received fifty thousand page views within two years I would have thought you were living in some kind of dream world. A few thousand would have been nearer to what I expected. Even when I realised late last year that it was going to happen sometimes this year, I never thought it would happen so early in the year, I was predicting some time in late summer.

So all I can say is thank you to all the people that read the blog again and again and those that thank you to all those of you that just pop by and read a few posts about something that interests you. And finally a big thank you to those of you that have linked my blog to yours, it has really has upped the visitor numbers to the blog and is reason this total was reached so soon. 

Blogging News

For all those that have been wondering what has happened to the blog recently, it just one of those many blips in life we all have and I have been taking a break from the blog.

The post heading are done and like before I will do my best to catch up. I will start withe, as always, the family posts and then fill in around them. The headings have been done and some of the posts started and photographs taken. All I need to do is sit down and write them.

New Blog Record

It looks like we have broken another mile stone that I didn't think was possible when I started this blog. The blog is currently getting just over five thousand page views per month, something I never thought was possible, but clearly is according to the basic stats on Blogger.

Many of the visitors are from the United Kingdom, but people from all over the world have taken an interest in a post or two on the blog. As always, I would like to thank all of you that come back time and time again, and those of you that just pass by and take a peek at the blog. All of you are welcome and a big thank you to every single one of you.

Blogger Comment Problems

It would seem that Blogger have introduced threaded comments to the comment system without fully testing it to see if it works or not.

Until the system is fixed and the functionality and settings of the original system are restored and added to the new system then there will be no more embedded comments on the blog. Instead a pop up comment box will appear to post comments, although you will still be able to read comments by looking at individual posts. 

Having looked into the problem there are number of issues affecting a great number of blogs on the site. These can range from comments that have disappeared, are wrong date and time stamps, and formatting and font issues. In extreme cases people have reported browsers crashing as a result of the changes.

Blogger are normally quick to pick up on things like this and I would a fix to be in place before too long. Once the fix is in place I will turn back on the embedded comment system.