Tuesday 2 October 2012

Blogging - What's Changed in Five Years?

So... I was tagged by Iota to put down my thoughts about what has changed in the blogging world. One thing - no one tags anyone any more, which is no bad thing IMO. I can do this post, but if I had a dollar for every time I've been tagged to write about something I either had no interest in or experience of, well....

Potty also did one, and I was tempted to just put the link in and be done with it, but that would be cheating. So-

Technically I haven't quite been blogging for five years. That day will come on Jan 9th, 2013, five years to the day after I posted my first blog post and hoped for the best.

I think the biggest change is that the blogging circle or sphere is now huge, and I confess I can't keep up. Back in the day, I seemed to be blogging entirely with UK based bloggers, and at least half of them are no longer blogging.

Anyone remember Drunk Mummy? This was my friend who got me into blogging and is still the funniest writer out there. Except she gave up after about six months for pastures new and more illustrious. I seriously urge you to pop over and rifle through the posts though.

And Frog in the Field who is now up to her ears in her party business and appears not to have blogged in well over a year?

And her from Mutterings and Meanderings, who lives in the north east and has since become a good friend. We meet for a yearly lunch when I'm on that side of the Pond. She hasn't put pen to blog post since 2009.

One of the funniest bloggers was 3 kids, No Job. She actually did have a job and blogged about it from time to time, but has ceased because her cloak of anonymity was slipping.

Does anyone remember Millennium Housewife and her "Things I have said to my husband/parents/kids"? OMG - no one could capture a scene and a full conversation in bullet points the way this blogger did.


 I'm copying out her "Ten Things I have Said to my Parents Today" to give you a flavour and beg you to go and read more. (I hope she doesn't mind - I'm giving her full credit and not attributing anything to myself.)

Ten Things I have said to my Parents today. (Millennium Housewife)
  • Ooh thankyou
  • Happy early Christmas to you too
  • I like the wrapping
  • Shall I guess?
  • Ok
  • Err
  • Well it doesn't rattle
  • It's squareish
  • It's quite light
  • I'm guessing a book
  • Shall I open it?
  • Excellent
  • I wonder what it is
  • Yes I was right, a book
  • Sex As You Age?
  • Sex As You Age?
  • What do you mean I'm quite welcome?
  • It may well have got you through some tough times
  • But I'm in my thirties
  • My Thirties
  • I'm not aging
  • Or in need of an elderly person's sex manual
  • Oh crikey
  • There's notes in the margin
  • Especially for me?
  • Was this your book?
  • Dad please don't say Ours like that
  • While putting your arm round mum
  • Because I'm holding your sex manual
  • And sitting next to you
  • And trying desperately to think of something pleasant
  • And Christmassy
  • And not look at the chapter entitled Arthritis Of The Knee And You
  • Dad
  • Stop winking at mum
  • Put your hands where I can see them
  • Both of you
  • I'm taking away the sherry
  • No you can't have it back at bedtime
  • Because we're in the room next to you
  • And I can see you've put your knee bandage on
  • Yes of course safety comes first
  • But so does your daughter's mental health
  • I'm sure you do have a book on that too
  • But really
  • No more books OK
  • Because my nerves can't take it
  • No thanks
  • I don't want my other present
  • Because it looks suspiciosly like a pot of chocolate
  • And a box of knee bandages


So, I know I've left you a long list, but these are the golden oldies. Not to be missed. 


15 comments:

  1. Oh my God that bullet point list is blooming hilarious! I will hop over to the others.
    Liska x

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  2. I remember Millennium Housewife and her lists too: great stuff.

    I remember when I started blogging in 2007, under a different name, and I thought I was just writing a diary as the tumbleweed bounced down my blogging street. It's sometimes overwhelming now but being part of an online community is still the thing that gives me a buzz. Plus, without blogging, I might not have found you again, long lost cousin!

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  3. Ah yes. That freakishly accurate comment in response to my comment "Are you sure we're not related?" Who knew?

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  4. I haven't been blogging anywhere near five years (what? Maybe two? Three?) and it's amazing how many people seem to slip in and out of our lives in such a short amount of time. Off the top of my head I can think of several bloggers that I had a connection to who have just disappeared. It's kinda sad, really.

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  5. Thanks for the laugh, that is hilarious!

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  6. Oh I LOVED Millenium Mum. What's she up to now, I wonder? x

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  7. Oh boy, I am so glad I've read this post. I used to follow all the blogs you've mentioned here, back in the olden days!! It was such an amazing blogging community and so loyal and cosy. Now it's vast and impossible to get round blogs you enjoy. You end up apologising for not dropping by someone's blog who you've been regularly reading and it's silly really. I still love blogging, even after five and a half years, but it's not like it used to be.

    CJ x

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  8. Yeah that dialogue reminds me of when my mum was here and gave me a sex manual with bits underlined about doing stuff with fruit. The yuck factor was just too enormous even to laugh about it.

    Yeah I think alot of peeps stop blogging because life becomes too busy with jobs etc. I am still blogging on a very infrequent basis because I don't have a job but I am thinking of getting one now I have the green card.

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  9. Thanks for picking up the tag.

    I enjoyed reading your first post. I'm going to have a look through your archives and see how long it was before I commented on your blog. Bet it didn't take me long to discover you.

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  10. I found you in February. It's funny reading comments that were written when we didn't all know each other very well, and certainly hadn't met each other in the flesh. Kind of like looking at old photos, and laughing over old fashions or hairstyles.

    This was your first experience of tagging: http://expatmum.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/tagged.html

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  11. Ha ha - must go back and have a butcher's.

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  12. I'm still here!!! But you're right - lots of the good and the great have dropped off the radar and now there are lots of new ones that I can't keep up with Lx

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  13. Brilliant. It's strange to think of those who have fallen by the wayside. One of my favourites was Emily from Maternal Tales (http://emilybassin.blogspot.co.uk/), who hasn't posted in over a year, though we are still Facebook friends (I think - *runs off to check* - phew, yes).

    Iota commented on my first ever blog post (at WAHM-BAM anyway) and I see I didn't even reply! Dear oh dear.

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  14. Ooh, I remember Drunk Mummy. I miss all that unbridled unabashed drinking. Sigh. Now I'm all alone with my glass of wine.

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