Monday 15 June 2009

Neighourhood Watch, Clinic Campaign & Such

I am amazed and delighted at the number of hits my little blog is getting. Thanks to the installation of Flag Counter I know geographical spread and numbers from UK which of course was where I wanted to target but it does not tell me the Sandwell area. Thank you all for logging on and taking an interest. I suspect some of the hits will have been people wanting to update on clinic campaign and perhaps NHW. Could the visitors from Burkina Faso please tell me where it is?
Knowing what your readership is is one thing, responding to it is another.
If during a Google search you enter Bob Black Country or Brummie I’m up there with the top hits so anyone interested in the wider Sandwell area might check it out. I started thinking over the week-end if I should change the policy of the blog. In reality I never had a policy as such. In fact when I started about 18mths ago I never expected to live this long let alone still be writing and although I say it myself “interesting stuff” The comments spot is poorly represented so perhaps the items I write are not worthy of comment or the blog is used for info only. Thanks to all of you who have commented. Your views are valued. During the time I have been doing this there have only been two comments I felt were not worthy of publication, a blatant advertisement and a rather rude comment from one of the supporters of a minor political party.
A recent comment though did get me thinking hard and that was the reference to me perhaps becoming paranoid about some issues. Thank you David for bringing it to my attention.
Because of recent newspaper interest in our clinic campaign local people are more aware of the issues surrounding Tanhouse and our clinic and I am now known as one of the people leading the campaign. I’ve listened to some of the gossip and scare stories that have been going around. No wonder people think it’s a rotten idea to have a clinic at Tanhouse the rumour mill is telling them that all other clubs etc will be closed. Even members of staff are not aware of the potential for the centre and community as a whole. I’m being told some horror stories about problems with doctor’s surgeries and new health centres in Sandwell not operating properly. I don’t really want to know because I have enough on my mind staying focused with our health centre or lack of one. So no I don’t think its paranoia its staying Focused.
I never wanted to become a champion of this or any other cause for that matter. I’m retired I just wanted to put my feet up and take things easy but circumstances conspired against me. Having become this involved though I will see it through to what I hope will be a satisfactory conclusion. Unless of course my health worsens and I have to take a back seat or the worse case scenario I have to pop off and meet my maker.
My quitting NHW had nothing to do with these issues. That role is one of the most thankless tasks you can imagine. Most of the time the majority of members are obliviously unaware of what is going on and just take the info that gets passed to them as a matter of course. We have had times when the police’s interest was nil and I have had to write to OCU commander. So no thanks from cops non from members, and agro to boot, why would anyone want to continue? I suppose I feel this a lot more than many coordinators because of the spokesperson activities I undertook. Freedom from that task will give me more time for other activities that do get appreciated and as such I have not yet reported on this blog.
The big issue I suppose is my health and one of the new interests for me is the support group for my condition. I don’t expect to report much on that though.

5 comments:

Fat Prophet said...

Hey Bob good post again and you raise at least one topic that bothered me at one time and that was the lack of comments.
I really did get concerned that some of the blogs I read regularly will post and get loads of comments and sometimes it is the silly posts that seem to get the most and the more serious ones get nothing.
I even considered giving up blogging but one of my readers said that while it was nice to get comments was that really why I was blogging. I thought about that and decided that no it wasn't about getting comments, although they are nice when they come, it was about me saying something to the wider world that they might just find interesting.
I think the installation of the flag counter on my blog and the apparent world wide audience is quite helpful.
You can narrow things down a little more in respect of where people are coming from if you add sitemeter on to you blog as well.
By the way Burkina Faso is in Africa and used to be known as Upper Volta when we were at school!!
Any way keep up the blogging and the campaigning!

Gerry said...

I,ve known you a long time Bob and you could not put your feet up if you tried, Gerry

Bob the Black Country Brummie said...

Thank you both very much for your comments. Gerry you'll give the game away.
Thanks Fat Prophet I rememeber Upper Volta it was one of those places I could never understand. How long have you had FC? I notice over 2K UK hits.

Fat Prophet said...

Hi Bob the answer to your question is pass. I was told about the flag counter and sitemeter by Methodist Preacher (Former MEP from Bearwood) fairly early on in my blogging. I have just had a look at the stats on sitemeter and in the last twelve months I have averaged around 260 hits a month. One thing you perhaps don't realise with flag counter is if you go onto your own blog it will flag up as a visit from the UK.
I think as well that the top group of the blogs I read tend to visit fairly regularly and they are all in the UK.
I notice you are doing pretty well considering you've only had flag counter is it two weeks?

Bob the Black Country Brummie said...

Thanks Fat Profit. I never realised my visits counted in fact I checked when I visited to see if the numbers changed. I only visit a couple of times a day so totals still not so bad. I need to thank Methodist Preacher.