.......and so this is Christmas.   And here`s me thinking that you are the only one who bothers to read my rants and ramblings in these pages.  Well, you are not alone it seems.  Now people do blogs for different reasons but I do mine just for me really.   I like what might loosely be described as `creative writing` and on occasions I like to get things off my chest - goodness knows there`s more than enough stuff to be exercised about or to share enjoyment with or to give vent to whatever might be on one`s mind.

But what has just recently surprised me is the discovery of `statistics` about how well (or otherwise) my blog has been received not only by you, dear reader, but by others across the globe.   For example, I have discovered that since I began this blog some years ago now, it has been viewed by well over a quarter of a million people.   And they seem to have come from all over the world.  

A small sample - over 50,000 views from the UK. over 30,000 from the USA, nearly 20,000 from Russia and this month alone there have been visits from people in Canada, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, 102 from the United Arab Emirates and even 100 from `unknown region`,` which might be the most concerning entry of all. 

And so you are not alone after all, dear reader, which only leaves me to say thank you for all the unexpected attention and, wherever you may be, to hope the world is kind to you and to...................