I need some geography lessons

Those of you who visit regularly will perhaps have watched the red clusters on my cluster map in the sidebar register the places where visitors to this blog live. Yesterday, I was doing just that, wondering exactly where all these people came from, checking the map against a world map and trying to decide exactly which countries had the cluster red dot in them.

I came up with a list that may or may not be the most accurate record so far – North America is fine, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile . . . There’s Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa ( I think that maybe Judy is one of those little red dots - hope so – if so – waves to Judy) India is there, Japan, Korea – but it’s when I get to Europe that the countries are so close together and the map so small, even when enlarged, that I couldn’t be sure exactly where everyone was visiting from. I recognise some - the red dot over Malta must mean Julie (Waves to Julie) but I wanted to be more accurate,.

Then last night I had a wonderful visit from a long term friend (I’m not saying old because although our friendship might be old in years, she’s definitely not someone I would ever describe as ‘old’). Duck (her blog name is Little Yellow Duck) is the Offspring’s godmother, she is currently living in Dubai with her web site designer husband – that’s their red dot over on the Persian Gulf in the UAE (Waves to Duck who will be home soon). It was one of those wonderful ‘pick things up from where they were two years ago’ meetings and we crammed a lot into a couple of hours to sustain us until we meet up again. (The Alhambra 2008 – right, Duck?)

Well, Duck has her own blog and she has solved the geography problem with a counter that shows exactly how many visitors she’s had and exactly where they are. So, inspired by this, I’ve set up my own counter and I’m looking forward to reading the results as each day/week/month goes by. I’m hoping Duck from Dubai will be listed there soon after a safe and trouble free journey home.

But what about the rest of you? I know you’re all there – I can see those red dots. But I’d love to know who you are and what part of your country you live in. Every now and then I get selected translations of my books and I know I have readers all over the world. So if you’re from Sweden or the Philippines or Egypt or Estonia, I’d love to see you post a comment. Some time back, I offered free foreign editions to anyone who spoke those languages - those editions were Italian, Spanish, German, Afrikaans and Greek – all countries that have red clusters on them on my map. I don’t have any foreign editions at the moment – a large bundle of those went off to needy causes only last week – but I’m sure I’ll be getting some more soon.

So if you’re visiting from other countries- other continents (other worlds??) why not drop by and say hello? And then, in the future, if I get some translations of my books in your language, I might be able to offer you a little gift.

And it will be great getting to know you better.