I’d like to extend a warm hand to my guest bloggers whose sterling work kept Perking the Pansies afloat while Liam and I were gadding about in Blighty and La Belle France. It was a harvest festival of wit and wisdom, revelation and revelry rudely interrupted by substandard despatches of my own from old London Town.
So, ladies and gentlemen please give it up for:
Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.
My final guest post is from Roving Jay at the Bodrum Peninsula Travel Guide, your one-stop shop for what’s hot and what’s not. Jay has been a loyal pansy fan virtually from day one so I think it’s right and proper that she completes the series with a flourish.
I frequently swim around the Blog-o-Sphere, following bait from pool to pool. I like to observe the fisherman from a distance, and watch them cast their lines in an attempt to lure me in. If the bait doesn’t interest me, I’ll swim out of one pool and lurk in another. But if the lines thrown in my direction are suitably weighted and baited, I’m enticed in for a nibble, and can become hooked on the content! Jack used his worm to lure me in, and I’ve been nibbling in his Pansy Pool ever since. Even though we live in a society where Facebook and Twitter are household names, the dynamics of collaboration still have a 90/9/1 split:
90% of collaborators are Lurkers, watching but not contributing
So! Are you usually a Lurker, a Nibbler or a Fisherman? It’s not a simple question – because is really depends on which pool you’re in. In my own pool I’m a Fisherman, but in the Pansy Pool I’m usually a Nibbler. I leave the occasional comment. I like a post on Facebook. Or I share a post on Twitter. But look at me today. Fisherman Jack has left the bank unattended and there’s a huddle of pseudo Jack’s at the water’s edge casting lines of their own. And if the words we’re casting are suitably weighted and baited, you’ll continue swimming in the Pansy Pool until Fisherman Jack returns with fresh bait of his own. In the meantime, if you fancy a nibble – there’s a comment box below.
I’m supposed to be resting, putting my feet up and watching the pansies grow. Instead I’ve jumped onto a blogging and writing treadmill. It’s taken me by surprise. I had no idea this would happen when we left Blighty. My mornings are spent doing what I call my admin – checking my emails, approving comments, deleting spam and catching up on the weird and wonderful blogs I’ve come across in my new vocation. My personal favourites are listed under Jack’s Favourites – take a look at the side bar. My admin takes a couple of hours each day. I have to be ruthlessly single-minded, otherwise I’d be overwhelmed. Liam says I’ve turned into a geek. Just like the bad old days, when I returned from holiday to hundreds of emails that took days to clear. My major irritant is the number of spam emails I get, urging me to buy slimming pills or viagra. These days I may no longer have a 26 inch waist and my tackle may take a little longer to fire up, but for the record, I am neither fat nor impotent (important yes, impotent, no).
I’m really grateful that people take the time to say a word or two about what I have written. I do get the occasional strange message, nothing offensive, just odd. I don’t mind at all. It adds to the rich tapestry of life in pansyland. Thank you to one and all.
I tend to dedicate a couple of afternoons a week to my posts and write three or four at a time. If I didn’t block write in this way, Liam and I wouldn’t have a life and I’d have nothing to write about. My summer is being spent finishing my book (have I mentioned I’m writing a book?) which is curtailing our social activities a little. Not too much though, we’re determined to enjoy our balmy days in the sun.
Liam is my greatest fan and fiercest critic. He cracks the whip and damns my sloppy words, but lavishes praise when I get it right. He’s also a domestic marvel, keeping me fed and watered and doing most of the daily chores (in Liam’s world, that’s sweeping the dust under the rugs). I do the laundry and stack the dishwasher, both of which, of course, require greater skill.
Is my new career worth it? You bet it is.
Don’t forget to nominate me in the Cosmo Blog Awards. Only if you feel like it, of course. See the oversized badge on the sidebar.
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It’s official. yesterday Perking the Pansies smashed through the magical 100,000 barrier*. I’m genuinely amazed, incredibly flattered and truly humbled. I know 100,000 is small beer to the big boys but this little boy is thrilled. I’ve been writing since the end of October 2010 and, apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day, I’ve posted every day. In celebration of this event Liam and I are popping a bottle of bubbly (well, cheap Turkish fizz) and coming out of the closet with a few select photographs. I expect a brick through our window any day now.
For best effect keep the music playing as you view the slideshow. Be careful not to dance around your handbag.
*Combining my current hits with my old Google blog before it was blocked by the lazy Turkish censors.
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a celebration of our civil partnership.
I apologise if you received an email notification of a non-existent post. I pressed a button prematurely and sent a phantom post off into the ether. My faculties are fast fading in my twilight years.
I’m forever amazed at the growing popularity of Perking the Pansies across the pond. My inconsequential witterings tell the tale of two middle-aged gay men in a faraway Moslem land written in a peculiarly British carry on style laced with low wit and attempted irony. Let’s face it it’s a minority sport. I’ve published the odd piece about my visits of yesteryear to the Land of the Free but beyond that I can’t see the appeal. So who are you my Yankee pansy fans? Are you mainly expat Brits living in America or genuine Yankee doodle dandies attracted to the semi-gay theme in a fag frat pack sort of way? Does the expat perspective resonate for global nomads wherever they are? Perhaps you just like it because it’s funny or well-observed (or both or neither). Or maybe you’re just waiting for us to be clapped in irons for outraging public morals, or worse (as would happen in some other Moslem countries).
You may have read that I’m writing a book that’s due out at Christmas. God knows I’ve been banging on about it enough. It’s the best of the blog and mixed with the same ingredients but tells our emigrey tale with extra spice and more depth. I doubt it’ll make my fortune but I’d like it to do well. Of course, I’d love it to fly off the shelves. The trouble is I don’t know what American shelves it might fly off from. I’d really like to know why you read my inane and irreverent ramblings. If you have the time and the inclination please leave a comment on this post, add a few words to my Faceache page or drop me a line at:
I’m not fishing for complements (though all will be gratefully received). If you have any marketing tips I’d like to hear about these too.
If you like this then you’ll love these:
I completed the Ultimate Blog Challenge which was to post every day during July. I blog daily anyway so it wasn’t much of a challenge to be honest. Well done to everyone who participated. A pat on the back from Jack to one and all. I came across a couple of interesting sites and may have picked up a few extra pansy fans along the way. It’s difficult to be certain about numbers as my posts on Amy Winehouse and Gay Marriage sent my hits through the roof – 4,500 for these two posts alone. The Amy Winehouse piece was so successful that I’m thinking of concentrating on obituaries from now on and will be scouring the pages of the London Times for the recently deceased. The posts also attracted some great comments. However, there was one that I didn’t publish. Some sicko wrote something truly vile about Ms Winehouse. I trashed it. I can do that. It’s my site. Hopefully one or two of these pansy novices liked what they read and will come back for more. Not the sicko, though. He’s not welcome in Pansyland.
Natalie from the Turkish Travel Blog nominated me to take part in the Seven Links Project which was started by Katie at Trip Base. If you’ve not heard about the project, here are the rules of engagement.
‘To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor (sic) to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.’
THE RULES
I like the idea because often once a post is read it’s dead which is a bit sad. Mind you this hasn’t stopped me re-cycling my old tosh like repeats on BBC Entertainment. So here are my offerings…
My Most Beautiful Post
I don’t really do beautiful, well not since I was 21 when I had cheekbones to slice cheese with. There are acres of fabulous blog pages out there crammed with exquisite writing and stunning photography and Perking the Pansies isn’t among them. Perking is about observation, satire and irony (at least I think it is). However, someone kindly said of one of my posts ‘This is one of the freshest pieces of writing about Istanbul that I have read for a while. I am new to your blog and am looking forward to exploring more. Superb’. Who am I to argue?
My Most Popular Post
I originally wrote my personal classification of ex-pats because Liam thought it might help readers to understand and remember some the new terms I’ve coined or purloined such as emigrey, sexpat and the like. It seems to have caught on and is far and away my most popular piece. The list has even been included on other blogs.
My Most Controversial Post
I always try to be culturally sensitive and respectful of the faith of others though I draw the line at treating women as chattels and marrying off children to their cousins. The trouble is that I’ve been godless since I was a boy and I can’t help poking fun at all those funny old fairy tales. Mind you I just love a classic Hollywood Old Testament epic romp. Anything starring Chuck Heston will do.
My Most Helpful Post
Like beauty I don’t do helpful. I’m not an agony aunt and who am I to tell people what to do and where to go on holiday? Therefore I’ve picked something about the Turkish language not because it’s helpful but because it’s informative (kind of).
A Post Whose Success Surprised Me
I’ve been deliberately courting the site sharing service Stumbleupon. Few seem to know how the system really works as the algorithms they use to distribute websites to their users is shrouded in mystery. One day I posted a piece about Liam’s compositions then stumbled it. A few minutes later my pansy map went berserk and I had one the biggest hit surges ever. It goes to show what a good title can do. I only hope the hundreds of spotty teenagers across the States weren’t too disappointed. I’m sure few returned for more.
So You Think You Can Write a Pop Song?
A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved
Gorgeous Kym invited me to be a columnist on her new website about the Aegean Coast of Turkey called On the Ege. I was both flattered and delighted. The trouble is my debut article didn’t really fly which surprised me because I really liked it.
The Post I am Most Proud of
Just after I started writing about our adventures in paradise canny, clever Karyn at Being Koy contacted me to ask if I’d like to guest post on her blog. It was my first invitation and I bit her hand off. The piece I sent her just flowed from my pen (well keyboard actually) virtually unchanged from the first draft. Karyn inspired me. I subsequently reposted on Perking the Pansies. I still think it’s one of the best things I have ever written which probably isn’t saying much. You be the judge.
Now for the bloggers’ chain letter. In no particular order the nominations from the Pansy jury are…
As if they haven’t got enough to do keeping on top of their blogging and writing work, and getting on with their unique lives.
I’d like to extend a huge thank you to an individual from Burlingame, California who has single-handedly doubled the hits to Perking the Pansies for the 4th July, American Independence Day. I really hope you like what you read and will come back again. Burlingame, the City of Trees, is a small community close to San Francisco. It looks like a charming place to live. Perhaps Liam and I will get to visit one day.
On this side of the pond it was Independence Day long before our Yankee cousins awoke from their slumber and began their tea party. It made me wonder how the course of modern history might have been different if mad King George III and his hapless ministers had agreed to the reasonable demands of the thirteen colonies to be represented in the British Parliament.
Happy Birthday America. No hard feelings.
PS: It would be thoughtless of me not to mention the dedicated Pansy Fan from San José, Costa Rica who has visited hundreds of times over the months. I don’t know who you are but I’m indebted to you. ‘I thank you’ as the glorious Julian Clary would say.
I’ve just joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have to post every day for the whole of July. Well, I post every day anyway so where’s the challenge?
Perking the Pansies 