I have neglected my blog recently. Sometimes life just gets in the way. The boring bits of life - such as going to work, and chores - but also the more enjoyable aspects. It's easier to find the time and inclination to blog when you're not reading actual books or knitting, for example. If either of those rock your boat I can be found at Goodreads or Ravelry.
I have recently taken Redundancy through my ex-employer's Voluntary Exit scheme, and, somehow I seem to have even less time than previously for blogging! I am taking a sabbatical, that is, not intending to work for several months, and in my head I have a structured plan to combine lots of cooking of healthy and interesting foods with lots of moderate exercise, and to use my blog to tell that story!
Looking through my photo albums, I have excursions and cookery dating back to last May that I have yet to blog. These include my July holiday to Northumberland, and a long weekend in Jersey in September. I am shortly to go to Cyprus, and when I return I will alternate posts from Spring 2014, with Northumberland (& then Jersey posts), with posts starting in Spring 2015, and with Cyprus tales, as well as providing updates on my exercise/cooking/knitting/reading and generally getting my life together.
A couple of months ago, Rensia left me a comment:
Hi , I used to love reading you writings about Placido, he's also my hero, and wont be able to ever see him in real life, but I 'saw' him through your eyes?Regards Rensia.South Africa.
I think she deserved a reply earlier, but it was one of many things I have procrastinated upon. Perhaps I owe an explanation more widely.
So, here it is:
Sorry I've taken so long to reply.
Unfortunately, every hobby attracts devoted fans, but also attracts people who are beyond 'devoted'. I have found that, by blogging regularly on a subject, I have stirred up some 'beyond devoted' obsessives. Some were angry that I was being presumptive, because I'm low in a league table of devotion. Others because they expected me to do it even more frequently, to fit their obsession, irrespective of what else is happening in my life.
And, unfortunately, I attracted one individual who was extraordinary in her bad manners, and whose behaviour began to look either like bullying, or something more sinister. This behaviour included instructing someone online to check on my behaviour in a local cinema during a Met live screening, and physically intimidating me in the precincts of the Royal Opera House. And there were numerous other incidents that, in themselves were trivial, but when added together created a picture that caused a former colleague of mine (a qualified fraud investigator) to monitor this individual's online behaviour and warn me to very discrete or circumspect.
This sort of reaction from other people turns a pleasure into a chore, and when I started having anxiety attacks and fearing for my personal safety, I realised it was time to draw a line underneath this. It's a pity because I've met some great decent people online and, in some cases, in Real Life, but unfortunately the minority - who I can only speculate have personal problems - tend to ruin any fun activity for the sane balanced majority (I've also witnessed this in football and politics, and am aware that it can strike any community of shared interests).
It's probably over-simplistic an explanation, and perhaps also exaggerating the anxiety I felt about this individual, who is to be pitied more than despised. Nevertheless, it's some sort of illustration of my thinking, and why I now find it easier to blog on more objective matters, such as 'places visited' and 'nice food'.
