A blast from the past
I did a drop of retrospection yesterday.
It’s not illegal [yet] if done in the privacy of one’s home.
Anyhows I got thinking back to the early days when I first started this site. That was back in 2006 when the “blogging” business here was completely different.
Back then it was fun. I’m not saying that scribbling now isn’t fun, but back then there was a clatter of sites, all poking fun at life or generally having a laugh.
There was “Twenty Major” who pasted caustic and very funny comments on daily life. There was “Irish Flirty Something” which was a brilliant and very funny account of the life of a somewhat promiscuous girl. I met the author of that one. She was certainly a fine thing but was paranoid about keeping her identity a secret as she actually held a senior position in a university who just enjoyed writing fiction. “Bock the Robber” was another who liked to stir up some mischief. He defected to Twitter where he possibly still hangs around. They were just a tiny sample of the kind of site that abounded in Ireland at the time.
The point is that opening the browser and scouring the Irish “scene” was a guaranteed laugh. The annual Irish Blog Awards has categories such as Best Personal and Best Humour [I won a few of them!]. Those award ceremonies were mighty craic altogether and guaranteed to produce week long hangovers
Looking around the Irish scene now is rather sad. It is swamped with what I would term Pink Fluffy Female stuff. Sites are all about fashion, makeup, lifestyle, fitness and the like. There are awards all right with reams of categories but no mention of humour. It’s much too serious a place now and seems to be nothing but people trying to become “influencers” which basically means advertising platforms for big business. I get enough advertising on television without hunting for it online.
They all seem to be gone now. However I did discover that “Well Done Fillet” [the life of Manuel, a waiter in Belfast] is still there, though a little dated. I thought he had quit, but at least I have a lot of catching up there just to get a flavour of “blogging” as it used to be.
Happy days.
Unless I’m missing out on other ghosts from the past?
I do so miss some of the regulars on Martinscribblus. Anna Racoon was amazing. I guess though that I most miss Frank Davis. At the same time, I am pleased they were spared the insanity of the last four years.
Wishing you good health.
Please do keep writing.
Sadly I came to Anna rather late in the day, though Frank was a regular read. I suppose it one of the hazards of being “an elder blogger” [horrible word] that my readers will be of or near my generation so one must come to expect an occasional new gap on the perch. All the Irish seem to have gone over to Instagram and the haunting ground of the so called influencer. One of the reasons I have never joined it.
Out of force of habit I will probably continue with this until, one day, I will suddenly stop and leave everyone wondering what happened to me.