When I started this blogging lark way back in October 2010, life in pansies HQ was a different place – different house, different town, different country. Remarkably, the blog took off almost immediately – a bit of a sell-out tour, in fact. It led to that book followed by that sequel and the rest, as they say…

When Liam and I packed up our drag in our old kit bags and paddled back to Blighty on the evening tide, I expected Perking the Pansies to wither on the vine like some dried-up old fruit. But this dried-up old fruit soldiered on, posting regularly but less often. And despite the radical change of scene and my doomster predictions, my random ramblings have continued to pull in the punters with respectable viewing figures. This is particularly gratifying these days with the rise of TikTokers and podcasters, when traditional blogging is a bit old hat.

Just recently, though, my hits surged to dizzying heights – stats for January alone have exceeded those for the whole of 2025.

When numbers unexpectedly swelled in the past, it was because a particular post struck a chord or had been featured elsewhere in the blogosphere. But this time round, the renewed interest in my camp old nonsense is more random, spread across a host of old witterings with no discernible pattern. I know not why. I shall simply bask in the glory – while it lasts. Because it won’t.