[blogfocus saturday] the silly season

We're definitely in the silly season when major bloggers turn off the moderation and word verification in an effort to get commenters and when almost everyone talks of going away for some time.

The clever get other bloggers to guest post during the hiatus but it's a losing game really - people just aren't blogging to the same extent. We begin with a triumvirate of friends and there was a recent birthday party extraordinaire.

1 Geoff Jones explains the itinerary:

On Saturday July 28th I finally come off age. That is the age when you get free bus tickets, 30% of rail travel and 10% of ski passes.

Everyone is welcome to join me at one or more of the following places on the big day.

09:00 In line at Cambridge railway station to collect my pass :-)

10:30 Swimming at Jesus Green followed by celebratory drink.

11:30 Walk to Grantchester and lunch at The Orchard

15:00 Punting on upper river (weather permitting).

19:30 See Taming of the Shrew in the gardens of St Johns College (Queens Road entrance).

2 And Sally in Norfolk reports on it:

My favorite part of the day was going to see Taming of the shrew in the gardens of St Johns college. It was so good I almost didn’t notice that it was pouring down with rain. My cake turned out really well and was enjoyed by everyone… not a crumb was left.

3 But Ellee Seymour was elsewhere engaged at the time:

When we last stayed in Centre Parcs two years ago, I was in the spa having a detox seaweed wrap and had been coated all over with green slimy stuff and wrapped in silver foil, the lights were dimmed, the music played softly and I was dreamily dozing off when the fire alarm suddenly went off. I half hoped/dreaded a hunky fireman would come and rescue me, but I was unceremoniously rushed into the shower by staff and ushered out quickly in a toweling robe; and all for nothing as it turned out to be a false alarm.

4 Meanwhile, either in South Africa or Scotland, not sure which, The Good Woman reflects on expat bloggers:

Expat postings can be compared to marriages. At first there's the frisson of being in something new - finding your way around, forming early opinions, the desire to be open minded and to make it work. Then there's the wedding - the day you find your new home, the furniture arrives and you celebrate having done it.

The honeymoon follows closely thereafter. The routine is new and, therefore, not boring. You relish the new things that are better than the old things that irked in your last posting. You begin to explore your new home. But it still feels like a long holiday.

5 Juliet Pain or Julie if you wish goes back in time to the day the dingo supposedly took the baby:

The Lindy Chamberlain case (1980s), wherein baby Azaria was carried off by dingos, while the mother was accused and found guilty of her murder, being sentenced to life in prison. Some years later the torn and blood stained clothing belonging to baby Azaria was found, upholding the mother's version of events, that she had been taken by dingos.

6 Ian Russell went to WOMAD and reflects on the hygienic standards in eating in public places:

Furthermore, she said, getting into her stride, this is also why there is a ridiculous amount of wrapping of foodstuffs in shops. A banana in cling film?! Onions in a plastic bag?! Plastic bags provided for all sorts of foodstuffs already blessed by nature with a hermetic, inedible coverings?! She certainly does have a point. Modern western human is paranoid about picking up germs.

7 Mr. Fact earned one cent from his AdSense and wonders:

Does anyone know people who actually make any money from Google Adsense? As today’s total shows, I’m not sure it’s worth it to have all those irritating ads on the page (but are they more irritating than the text itself?) - although it would appear that some people can use it properly… Do you hate them (the ads, not the people who make thousands with them)? Should I get rid of them?

8 Inspector Phil A is right on the case of the EU and its clandestine wording of the constitution which was rejected in referenda but went ahead anyway:

The official English translation of the New EU Constitutional ‘Treaty’ is now out – It has not gone unnoticed that they waited until Parliament were off on their 10 week summer break. They have taken out the actual word 'constitution' and have avoided enshrining legal status to the EU flag, motto and anthem.

They have done a Find/Replace on ‘Foreign Minister’ and changed those references to ‘High Representative’. Mmmm - ‘Catchy’. They must have been reading Lord of the Rings again.

I'd like to announce that I shall not be going away on holiday and though my stats have suffered an extraordinarily major and inexplicable [to me] slump today, still we'll soldier on and reiterate that it's the quality of the readership, not the quantity.

Hope to see you on Wednesday evening.