Just curious

Here's a sign that I have too much time on my hands as these days of hunkering down turn into weeks and months.

As the creator and curator of this blog, I have access to statistics regarding its readership.  I get no clue as to any reader's identity, but I am informed of the number of people viewing the blog and the nations in which they reside.

I am based in the United States, and the overwhelming majority of my acquaintances and friends are U.S. residents, so it's no surprise that most of this blog's "hits" originate here in the U.S.  But quite a few views originate elsewhere.

Shortly after my return from South Africa in February, the Miller's Taxi page on Face Book shared a link to this blog, and for the next day or so I got a lot of hits from South Africa.  I thought that was really cool.  Since then that readership has dropped back down to almost zero.  I sure do hope you South Africans will come back and see me sometime.

Once in a while I get a sudden burst of dozens of hits from Russia, and I tend to dismiss those as some variety of hackbots.  I know, I'm profiling and generalizing, but the fact is that I don't know a single person, paddler or otherwise, in that nation.

Most intriguing to me are the fairly-frequent views I'm getting in nations like Portugal, South Korea, Canada, and Great Britain.  Paddlesports enjoy some popularity in all those places, and I do have either friends or friends-of-friends in those places, so I'm pretty sure those are actual human beings having a look at the blog.

SO... if you're in Portugal or South Korea or Great Britain or even Russia, and you feel so inclined, how about letting me know who you are?  Have we met before?  What led you to this blog?  What's your interest in paddling?  You can either post a comment here, or send me an e-mail at thebigeholmes [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Like I said, I'm bored and don't have enough to do, and I totally understand if you'd rather remain anonymous.  But I really do enjoy knowing who's reading all this stuff I write.  Once in a while when I'm at a race somewhere, somebody I barely know will come up to me and say "I love your blog!"  That never fails to make my day.  I rarely attend races with the citizens of distant lands, but it's a thrill to know that at least a tiny number of people there are reading these words.


For more information on what this blog is about, click here.