Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I Knock 'Em Dead in England

Perusing my blog stats on StatCounter is one of my favorite activities. I don't really peruse the stats as much as I look at the map of recent visitors to see where people are from. I have had readers from every state in the Union save for West Virginia -- and I've been waiting for WV for so long, I'm beginning to take it personally -- and 44 countries on every continent save for Antarctica. (If you know someone at McMurdo, nothing would give me greater happiness than ticking off that last, sticky continent!)

Anyway, I had a reader from Harrow, England. Using the map function in StatCounter, I zoomed in on Harrow, which seems like a lovely little town, only to find that the "pin" in the map indicated that my reader resided in a graveyard.


I hope reading my blog wasn't the cause.

It does look to be a graveyard above average in beauty, if that makes any difference.

If you live somewhere cool, unusual, exciting, beautiful, peaceful, or otherwise noteworthy, please drop a line in the comments and tell me about it. I love hearing about other places, and I especially like to know more about my blog friends.

P.S. I stand corrected. My brother's heart valve was bovine in origin, not swine. We have combined his bovine valve with the titanium plate in his ankle to inspire his new moniker: The Iron Cow.

9 comments:

Cheri said...

I live up against the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. We have, on a regular basis, bears, fox, coyotes wander through our yard. We designed and built our house ourselves in 1994 (which is why the thought of possibly having to move is sad). Nearly every day (in the summer at least) I like to sit out on my back porch with a cup of coffee and look out at the mountains. Truly, it's heaven.

Anonymous said...

well, we ALL know what philly is famous for, right?

no, NOT cheesesteaks! and NOT rocky!

the good old declaration of independence and the constitution! without these, the USA would not exist.

and don't you forget it!

Leslie said...

The gps in my new broadband card places me about 250' from my house because it's inside and must triangulate from cell phone towers. I understand that if I had it installed in a lap top and took it outside it would get me spot on. Maybe that's the reason for the cemetery.

I live at the tip top of the Quabbin Reservoir in north central Massachusetts. In the late 1920's early '30's the Shitty of Boston needed more water, so people from 4 towns were given low market value and told to remove themselves from their homes, some of which had been in their families since the 1790's. Cemeteries were moved, towns destroyed, families dispersed. It wouldn't be allowed to happen today. Many of us here have never forgiven the bastards in Boston and the state government who caused it to happen.

To add insult to injury, my town receives the lowest amount of PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) than any other in the commonwealth even though we're about 80% watershed, non-developmental land. Yes trees are nice, but so is being able to support the few town services and schools we have.

End of Rant. Peace.

Anonymous said...

I am a faithful reader who currently lives in the Chicagoland area (Mundelein), but I am originally from Huntington, WV. Perhaps this will count as having a reader from WV.

Huntington is the western most point in the state of WV, right on the KY and OH state borders (In fact, I was in about the 4th grade before I knew you could cross a state border without crossing a river! From Huntington, we had to cross the Ohio River to get to Ohio or the Big Sandy River to get to Kentucky.) Huntington is also home to Marshall University, the Thundering Herd!!

You might have heard of Marshall and Huntington from the 2006 movie "We Are Marshall" which starred Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox. It was about the rebuilding of the Marshall football program after the team was lost in a plane crash coming home after a game in 1970.

Aidan said...

Sue, Sue, Sue. Nice try. But no, Mundelein is NOT West Virginia. Unless and until the pin pops up on the StatCounter map, I can't claim a nation-wide readership.

I've been racking my brain to figure out how I pissed off West Virginia. I support improved working conditions for miners, I support increased funding for rural schools, I support improvement of electrical and communications infrastructure for rural communities, I LOVE the soundtrack to "Oh Brother, Where Are Thou?"... I'm at a loss. If you talk to anyone in VW, could you ask them if this is just an oversight, or if this is personal?

Anonymous said...

Okay, Aiden. Time to mark off WV and start working on your penguin skills. Blogger doesn't like me, but I'll try posting again. Don't know how the stat thing works, but I've been reading your blog for a while. Greetings from wild and wonderful WV.

soxanne said...

LOVE the moniker for your bro - very clever! I also love the geographic curiosity. When I'm in Chile on vacation will that help your map? I'll work on it in December. In the meantime, I'll post something geographic for you (I'm not much of a blogger, but I'm working on it)

Cinders said...

well I live somewhere really boring in England!!
Love your nickname for your bro.

Anonymous said...

Greetings from East London, South Africa. I live on the south eastern coast of SA. We have subtropical weather - hot and steamy humid(22 - 38 degrees C) during summer and moderate temperatures(16 - 24 degrees C) during the day in winter. We get our rain during summer which makes it extra humid and steamy. Our part of the SA coast is known as the Sunshine Coast or the Wild Coast(lots of storms and ship wrecks during winter). Vegetation is subtropical. I love reading your blog and visit every day to see if you have something new to tell us. Alida