Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Gibbon

Edward Gibbon, a model of certain type of writer, presented his patron, the Duke of Gloucester, with the results of several years of writing furiously, and the good Duke's famous deflationary response to this was "Another of those damned fat, square, thick books! Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Gibbon."

Now, I would not compare myself with Edward Gibbon in any way except in the compulsion to scribble department. But I notice that today, as it happens, marks the date of my first entry in this blog a year ago. Once or twice in the course of that year I have announced that I intended to reduce the frequency of entries, and then, usually as a response to some kind of political horror, I have rushed out and stepped on my own announcement. According to my statistics I have made 356 entries in this blog since I started it.

I'm supposed to be retired.

But I think I will once again announce, maybe with less confidence, a work slowdown. Whether it turns out to be an ineffectual job action, scorned and ignored by management, or will lead to a long-term improvement in working conditions, remains to be seen.

I am also thinking of making this more of a photo-blog and less of a political blog. For any regular readers who look forward to polemics against the Bush administration, I am pretty sure that any effort I might make to quit completely, cold-turkey, would fail, so I think, realistically, those kinds of entries will continue to appear, albeit (hopefully) less often.

Now, I don't have any illusions about my photography. I think of it only as an enjoyable hobby. Perhaps its also a very Zen way of running a blog, seeking a glimpse of the ox, and putting up pictures now and then with the subtext, "well, you may not see it, but I swear to God, I did, or at least, so it seemed at the time."

I am aiming at one or two entries a week, rather than one a day.