Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Don’t blame me, it’s all Yorkshire Pudding’s fault

You remember Yorkshire Pudding, or Lord Yorkshire Pudding as he likes to be called, of Pudding Towers, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, in the United Kingdom, don’t you? That Yorkshire Pudding. He had to go and publish a list of the ten most-read posts in the history of his eight-year-old blog. Then Carol in Cairns in Far North Queensland down in Australia asked me for a list of my own personal top ten favorite posts from my own blog -- not quite the same thing, but equally scary to contemplate.

The problem is that I don’t have a top ten favorites list of my own posts, and trying to come up with one would require me to read all 1,260-something posts I have written since September 28, 2007 (because my memory may be good, but it ain’t that good, for crying out loud).

What I can do is ask Ye Olde Blogger to provide me with the sort of information that Ye Olde Yorkshire Pudding came up with and then pass it along to Ye Olde Carol and all Ye Olde wonderful people sitting out there in the dark you.

It beats racking my brain to come up with yet another brand-new, fascinating post, especially when my hemoglobin levels are supposed to be going up, not down.

Perhaps this one will have a fascination all its own. And in the far-off future the anthropologists -- if there still are anthropologists -- will have a field day slogging through all this stuff.

I don’t know how Yorkie got ten. Blogger will show me only five.

The five most-read posts of all time (well, the past six years) on this blog are:

1. And now, for a complete change of pace (Sep. 13, 2010)
2. A B C D goldfish? L M N O goldfish! (Jan. 20, 2011)
3. I always loved The Waltons (Jan. 30, 2009)
4. Lazy Day (May 8, 2012)
5. Flannery O'Connor writes of peacocks (May 9, 2008)

My five most-read posts of the past month include three that were written within the past month -- I won’t show you those because they're all right over there in the sidebar -- plus the “A B C D golfish” one, plus this one that wasn’t in the earlier list:

It looks even more like Cair Paravel from this angle (June 29, 2008)

And the five most-recently accessed posts on this blog -- like while I was typing that sentence -- are:

1. Fast away the old year passes, fa ra ra ra ra, etc. (Dec. 27, 2011)
2. Guillermo y Catalina (July 22, 2013)
3. Great job, T.J.! (July 4, 2008)
4. And they said it wouldn't last (Sept. 25, 2008)
5. From the archives (April 10, 2008) (July 3, 2013)

It seems to me that there is absolutely no rhyme nor reason to what readers of blogs are looking for.

But Carol and anyone else who wants to, knock yourselves out pouring through the links in this post!

8 comments:

  1. Ahh beautiful handwriting. Another favourite of mine. I'm not one to boast as you know, however I did win the 'Best Handwriting Competition' every single year in junior school. Age 6-11. *bows, then curtsies, and accepts the flowers thrown at her feet.
    On our last trip away, to Somerset, myself and hubby visited Wells Cathedral, and after marvelling at all the beauty within the place, I found a set of dipping pens in the gift shop on the way out. I've wanted some for years, but kept forgetting about it. And suddenly, there was a beautiful set which was within my means to acquire! I've been meaning to do a post on them, just a picture of them and my subsequent scrawlings really, along with some info about the Cathedral. I'll try and remember to do so now you've reminded me. I think it's all too fast becoming a lost art writing well. My grandparents in their era wrote beautifully, all curls and elegance over actual practicality for the most part, but wow it looked good. It may not come easily to some children, but then maths didn't sit well with me at all and I still had to persevere. I find it sad that it no longer seems to be considered important.

    As you can see I am tackling your most favoured posts one at a time.

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  2. Sir RWP, aside from your lists of 5, I thought you might enjoy adding this blog to your reading list. It is a young couple, married, Christian, who have just spent 9 months traveling in Europe and are transitioning to life back in the US. In their own words, through their own eyes ~ http://www.whiletravelingabroad.com/travel-advice/everything-is-bigger.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=everything-is-bigger

    Enjoy :)

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  3. Oooh. I am behind in my reading - in the blogosphere and with my huge unread piles at home, but I will be back.

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  4. Thank you, ladies, (two Australian, one British) for commenting and even contemplating doing all that reading. I just want to add here that it has come to my attention (when All-Consuming said she was tackling my most-favoured [sic] posts one at a time and then commented on the second one without commenting on the first) that the link-within-a-link on that first link (am I making sense) was corrupted and needed to be replaced with a good one -- what I'm trying to say is, if you go back to "And now for a complete change of pace" you might now actually be able to hear Ellen De Generes talk to Gladys Hardy of Austin, Texas. I'm just sayin'....

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  5. I rarely do anything on a list in the right order. It's more fun. And it's a good job as it turns out. Thank you for checking the links for us too.

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  6. I also jumped straight to the second one about the handwriting. Don't know why, perhaps the presence of the ABC attracted the teacher in me ?Anyhow I found it very interesting, agreed with it mostly and found the comments a real boost.
    Doing the rest ( of the posts ) gradually.

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  7. I'm not familiar with Flannery O Connor, but the excitement over the Peacocks made me smile, and I've also peeled the David Wagoner poem off the page to keep as I like it. They are such unusual birds, but can be quite hissy and spit in nature. Ma and pa had one running in and out of their garden and up and down the road fifteen years ago. They called the local animal sanctuary, but it remained at large for some time. And during that time it managed to scare the pants of quite a few residents with is bad attitude. I'm laughing now at that. But hey, look at Geese, and Swans, they are so irritated and quite bullying in nature too I've noted.

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  8. There you go knocking and mocking me again! What ever have I done to make you so bitter towards me? I feel forlorn and belittled. It hurts Bobby, it really hurts. One of the accidental factors thrown up by your latest study of your blog stats is how off-the-wall many of your blogpost titles are. How on earth do you dream them up?

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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