It had been my intention this month to spend a lot more time in Blogland. Unfortunately my "other" life has been dominant. I was going to say my "real" life but in truth Blogland has been a very important part of my life, real or otherwise, since 2007 right through my New Zealand life and through the thick and thin. I have also made some of my most important friends through Blogland and despite the fact that I don't see many of my New Zealand friends in person now we are still in touch frequently. Indeed during these awful times for New Zealand we have all been in touch a lot.
Other friends I've met through Blogland but whom I've never met in person have become a significant part of my life too - you know who you are and I thank you for that friendship. It's one of the things that keeps me in Blogland even though a few of us are in contact outside of Blogland and Monica and I still play Words With Friends (Scrabble) every day which we have done now for, I think, 10 years. Kate and I communicate daily too and have been in touch since a day (which I remember well) lost in the mists of time but which I could go back to in my New Zealand blog. Gosh, tempus fugit.
My Blogs are also my memories.
This was actually going to be a post about New Zealand but that will have to wait because there are far too many other things on the agenda today and I want to do it justice.
You are an important blog friend to me Graham.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rachel. You also to me.
DeleteI am an infrequent far right blogger.
ReplyDeleteI have heard little about Cyclone Gabriel or whatever it was called but I expect the Kiwis have enough strong young lads to sort it. It's not a country one associates with limp wristed Soy Boys.
I have worked through several Hurricanes and they do have the ability to concentrate one's mind. I remember that they can be entertaining.
We were diverted to Grenada after it was flattened. I think HMS Exeter was coordinating and she told me to go to Woburn, anchor off a little marina there and start making fresh water. This we did and had a run ashore to see if there was anything else to do. It was bad, folk drinking out of streams with dead people in, mostly cut in half by flying tin sheets. The buggers looting and threatening others with machetes, much like London today, chaos. We went back and loaded body bags four crew and a Glock. I took them to the island and started filling the bags. It wasn't a nice job and wasn't improved by a Mexican engineer who was filling the bags randomly with random bits until the zipper wouldn't zip, he was willing.
I told a local to pass the word that they could come out to the tug and we would give them fresh water. I forgot to give them a time. It wasn't long before we were in danger of being overwhelmed. I radioed Exeter and asked for Gerry cans. It started to get nasty, a Dindu in a rib turned up with loads of cans. I asked him to pass them across and kept them with the exception of one which we filled and handed back. He went loony and started slashing left and right with his machete. I'd had enough, I drew my Glock and put a couple of rounds into his RIB, whilst shouting. Sharks! My Mexican engineer said that was crap shooting, you missed him. Soon got it organised, Exeter sent half a dozen RMs round from St George to shoot funny folk for me, not that they needed to after my John Wayne impression. Word gets round fast in small communities. I had water on from 0800h to 1000h and 1600 to 1800h. I sent the engineers ashore to fix gensets and vehicles. Then the owners got in touch and gave us sailing orders. The bastard Dutch wanted a full account of the cost of our labours. I referred them to the Red Cross. I knew there'd not be much in the Red Cross coffers after forking out for the boss, staff, tarts for staff and expenses.
Have fun.
Well Adrian, you are one of my oldest pals in Blogland and we have met and shared the odd libation. You are also one of the most 'interesting' of my readers/pals.
DeleteWe've certainly exchanged a lot of words over the past decade or more for never having met in the so-called 'real' life, Graham! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have indeed, Monica, exchanged many words, thoughts and other communications but, sadly, we are never likely to meet in person.
DeleteI am so glad to have found your blog, Graham. I am always referring to my blog friends in conversations with my local friends and family. I'm so sorry about the trouble in New Zealand caused by Cyclone Gabrielle! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThat's nice to hear, Ellen, because you've 'been around' for quite a few years but despite that you remain a mystery person.
DeleteYour blog is comforting to follow.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear, Maywyn.
DeleteIt is interesting to me that many of us, literally from all over the world, come together to be welcomed and entertained by a good friend on a Scottish island, a friend we all cherish and yet have never met in person. This is my very favorite part of "the Internet."
ReplyDeleteAh, Jill, linked as we are by our love and respect for old Volvos as well as our friendship it is always good to hear from you.
DeleteIf I remember correctly, I found your blog via your brother's, as you were commenting there and I wanted to see what you wrote elsewhere, and like you, I am grateful for your friendship and that of other friends I have made across the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteYou are right - the differentiation of "real life" versus blogging and other social media activities is misleading. What we write and read here is as real as anything. I prefer to differentiate between the online and the offline parts of my life. For instane, my after-work walks are only possible offline, while my reading and writing in the blogosphere can only happen online. Both are important to me, and serve to balance each other.
Meike, we did indeed originally meet on John's blog. It's a shame that he rarely blogs now but he is more active on other social media (where I am not very active at all). The differentiation that you suggest makes a lot of sense and it's sometimes quite strange that the many friends I have known for the half century I have lived on Lewis know little or nothing about my 'online' life.
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ReplyDeleteI take it, Ellen that you found my brother's blog Rambles From My Chair - http://scriptorsenex.blogspot.com/
DeleteGlad to see you are on today, my friend. It has been a while. I Wordle every day with my children and their spouses. Getting a little tired of it really but it is another way of keeping in touch without being too annoying with them. I would like to start up Words with Friends again with people of my own age. Take care, friend!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Donna. I'm finding the commitment to Wordle a little tying but for the moment I'm sticking with it.
DeleteWe have been Blogland friends for several years now, and I like to think that we would be friends also in what you refer to as "Real Life"....One can never be sure, of course, but mutual respect and civility go a long way in my book. Some bloggers seem oblivious to both of those concepts.
ReplyDeleteHope you could figure out that Anonymous was me, I mean that I am Anonymous, well, you know what I'm trying to say.
DeleteYes, Bob, I figured out who wrote those words and I think you are absolutely right. We probably don't hold the same views on many things (and the same goes for my relationship with many of my friends) but that doesn't get in the way of or impede the friendship. All good relationships require respect and compromise however we communicate.
DeleteI've been blogging for nigh on 17 years now...and through blogging have "met" some lovely folk...you, being one of them, Graham. Take good care. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lee. I've not visited for a while because my off-line life has been interfering. I will remedy that later today. I don't know when I first joined you in your 'memories' but it was a long time ago.
DeleteMuch like yourself, recently I haven't posted as frequently as I would have liked.
ReplyDeleteIt is always a pleasure to read your news and wise words. Blog friendships are different from real life ones, but often just as important. X
Thank you, Jules, for your kind words. Your posts give me great pleasure particularly as my rambling days in the hills and mountains of your beautiful countryside are over and I can enjoy them again vicariously through our friendship.
DeleteI consider the people I meet in Blogland as real friends. They are real people after all. I just haven't met most of them in person.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Debby, we are real people therefore why not real friends?
DeleteA great subject to post about, Graham, as I consider blogland folks as friends, just ones I have not met, and perhaps never will meet. But, I have been fortunate to meet a few over the years and most are still blogging which makes our friendship even more special.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Beatrice, it brings many of us from all over the world together in a way little else does.
DeleteIt's blogging that enables us to see what life is like around the world, that's what I enjoy the most, I'd still like to see what your environment etc looks like there, maybe some more photos?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Amy. I shall show you some more of the Islands scenery.
DeleteI do hope your friends are ok in Napier - our experiences post earthquake are still fresh in our minds (it was the 12th anniversary today) and the scenes we are witnessing from the Nth Island bring back many memories. I know people here in Christchurch are devastated to watch so many people displaced and traumatised this week. The loss, homelessness, insurance battles, and ongoing fear of it happening again.... sigh. In terms of blogland I know we were writing to each other in 2010 and I was reading your blog probably a year or two before that - it has been very enjoyable and I can't actually believe we have never met as you feel like an old and trusted friend.
ReplyDeleteFi, everyone I know is safe and sound fortunately. One family was evacuated but only for the day. It's odd that we never met because I went to Christchurch a lot to play croquet. We did communicate a lot though.
DeleteBlogland is a strange land. We know that blogs are not produced by robots. There are real people at the other end - real people just like us. With some folk, the blog probably reveals more about them than "normal" everyday contact might unveil. I can say without question that blogging has enriched my life but it has also taken up a huge amount of time that might have been spent on other things.
ReplyDeleteNeil, it's certainly true that blogs and the friendships made can enrich one's life. Certainly the friends I've made have enriched mine hugely. Unfortunately I've not been devoting the same amount of time in the last couple of years to the blog although friends, including those made in Blogland, have become even more important
DeleteI just returned from almost two weeks in Cuba without internet access. I didn't miss the news, the wars, the political bafflegab, but I did miss my blogging friends.
ReplyDeleteDavid, you've been fortunate in missing the news! It's all doom and gloom and worse.
DeleteYes blogland is a place of friends and a type of diary. I actually print mine out each year as a form of diaries since 2008/9. I have enjoyed reading about your life and interests. I also follow Pauline in NZ, who I think is a friend of yours. They sure are having a bad time over the ditch. Keep on enjoying blogland and real life.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I have had the New Zealand blog printed in book form but, whilst I keep back-ups of this blog I've never printed it out. Thanks. Another job to add to my list!
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