Well I knew we were there or thereabouts, but a quick search through the back copies here in Crinklybee Towers (never that easy a task, as ever since our last redesign of the colourscheme back in 2008 or so, the links under the heading of 'archive' over there to the left sidebar, taking us to successive months' worth of posts, have been written in dark brown on a very slightly less dark brown background) reveals that it is 10 years to the day since, having stumbled across an intriguing and obscure section of the Guardian website dedicated to some new-fangled online phenomena going by the name of 'weblogs', I decided I quite fancied the idea of having one myself, so signed up to Typepad (well they seemed to have the most catching colourschemes) and dashed off the first ever post to grace these pages- which, for reasons now lost in the mists of time, started off talking about the contemporary European Elections, only to dart off at the first available tangent and describe in forensic detail my chronic and debilitating fear of the bright red British Postbox.
And we've been darting off at the first available tangent ever since. A quickfire odyssey back through the mists of time is perhaps in order, taking in birthday posts along the way. Starting with:
2004 : Those European Elections (and that fear of the postbox) in full
2005 : We had a birthday quiz! (controversially won by my sister Abby who detractors claimed had an unfair advantage of the specialist subject- the life and times of the author)
2006: We reached part four of our feted Wolverhampton Trilogy. In a word: cathartic. In the words of irregular commenter Skipsey: 'Haway Jon, that damn near made us cry man!'. I sure as hell don't feel quite up to re-reading it even now).
2007: Another watershed moment, as we fondly bid goodbye to the flange desk to take a scary Guardian-type job (an attack of the heebiejeebies follows, also lovingly and intricately chronicled- no holds barred here you know!
2008: It's complicated being a boy. No really, it's complicated. Panini stickers do help, though.
2009: We hadn't been here for a scandalous 25 days (a worrying trend of infrequent posting had started, dating back to the end of those halcyon flange days, it now seems). So we were catching up and letting you know we were still alive.
2010: The nation recoils as it is revealed that in the forthcoming World Cup I will be bestowing my favours upon Ghana, the Great African Hope (well I say recoil. Actually there are four commenters, all of whom agree following England is a really bad idea. We're an unapolegetically unpatriotic lot in that there comment box).
2011: We have an allotment! And we are using it to drown slugs on!
2012: We are neglecting our allotment by jetting off to Brittany, land of fascist biscuits (and corny campsite discos, where Frankie reveals a rare talent for interpreting the Abba songbook)
2013: We probably still should be on the allotment, but are instead whiling away the long nights watching obscure BBC documentaries about bees.
So there you have it. A whistlestop tour (and an exhausting exercise in nostalgia). And I have to press 'post' in the next two minutes, or we will have missed the 10 year anniversary by a day. So- thank you, as ever, for all your comments (I treasure every one of our commentistas- regulars, newcomers, those from the heady days of 2005 who pop in every three years just so I know they're still out there, people who are in my family and therefore have unfair advantage in one-off birthday quizzes, people who I have met only through these pages, people who I'll maybe never meet- you are what keeps me going here, really).
It's getting late now (and I know, I've missed that midnight deadline- so it is now ten years and one day since that fateful postbox post). But- an invitation to whoever is still out there: how about marking this auspicious occasion by happening by the comment box and joining us for a glass of something fizzy and maybe (if we can rustle it up) some kind of offering from the cheeseboard? Lurkers (do we have lurkers? I do hope we have lurkers!) especially welcome. Here's to another ten years of ah- this kind of thing, everyone.
I remember most of those, but will re-read them a bit later on. I started this palarver in 2005 too, after coming across Mike Troubled Diva's blog and thought it was great! Writing about yourself to an unknown audience--for free? I want a bit of that. Eeeh, didn't realise it was ten years so it was good to be reminded of it.
Really is dwindling again now though -- some of my blogroll links are becoming sparser in their offerings now. FB's got a lot to do with it I think.
Anyway it's been a corking 10 years on crinklybee. It's impossible to choose a favourite bit, but I did enjoy that one when you broke that really valuable oar or something in Spain.
And I'm glad that through the blog we've managed to actually meet up once or twice, and I hope we can get the non-league football idea into reality next season.
Posted by: looby | June 13, 2014 at 03:21 PM
Hooray! And a happy anniversary to you! I am proud to count myself in at least two of your categories, and also to have been reading since, well, *nearly* the beginning! Pretty much the only blog I still read, and regularly recommend to others. That speaks for itself. Well done, wor Jonathan (have I got the lingo right?) and I very much hope we really are still here blogging (in your case) and lurking/occasionally commenting (in mine) come 2024!
Posted by: MQ | June 15, 2014 at 05:37 AM
sorry i'm late to the party! well done on hitting ten years, innit. think you will keep going for ten more?
Posted by: Bushra | June 23, 2014 at 10:35 PM
Bushra! Great to know you're still out there... and yes, I hope so...
MQ- thanks for keeping reading (and recommending, we like the recommending...)
Looby- oh, Santi's oar. I remember the incident of course like it was yesterday but can't actually remember exactly when it featured on these pages... will have to search it out again as I know you are a Crinklybee connoisseur (possibly at this stage the world's foremost) so a fine judge of a post...
Posted by: jonathan | June 25, 2014 at 11:00 PM
I love your blog Jonathan! It's harder to write in these 140 character days, isn't it... but I treasure your northern vignettes and hope there will be many more to come x jo
Posted by: jo | June 29, 2014 at 10:08 PM
eeeee, I also meant to wish crinklybee a happy birthday, hurray hurray may it crinkle on buzzily for ever!
Posted by: Abby | July 02, 2014 at 10:00 PM
My immaculate search skills as a librarian found you again! Actually it was searching for Gavin Lok that found you if I'm honest. Still alive I see, so am I but sometimes I wonder how! jo xx
Posted by: Jo Myhill | July 10, 2014 at 07:29 AM
Jo from Bushbury Lane! Great to hear you're still out there (and alive, that is always a start. I think that having survived the tyre fumes from the Goodyear factory we are now somewhere near immortal actually)!
Jo from the North thank you! Northern vignettes, I like that, should maybe adopt as the byeline (not a patch on your 'beer, feminism and Oxford Comma, though, of course- I'm quoting from memory here so hope that is somewhere near)...
Abby- I know- 10 years! I'll try and fit in another competition sometime in the next decade and you can win again and scandalise the comment box.....
Posted by: jonathan | July 16, 2014 at 10:41 AM
I'm a lurker. I've been lurking since about 2006. This is my first comment! Keep going, remember there are far more lurkers than there are commenters. We appreciate you in our own heads.
Posted by: Catherine | July 18, 2014 at 05:29 PM
At last, a lurker...and a longstanding one at that! Thank you for breaking cover to drop by Catherine, your words(and let us imagine, the unspoken ones of literally tens of people like you) mean a lot and are appreciated.
Posted by: jonathan | July 20, 2014 at 07:53 AM