Schlecklander Flags

Well, I have really enjoyed having my Schlecklander Flags proudly flying, and I've been really, really impressed by the staggering variety of countries.

I cut it down to just showing the top 50, as the box was getting unmanageably big with some of the smaller countries only having one or two Schlecklanders - but I'm hoping that they enjoyed seeing their national flags up there on display.

It's interesting that the biggest membership by far is the USA - I had assumed that it would be the UK, as I am English, but no, we're second in terms of viewers, with Australia close behind: then Canada, France and the Netherlands, with Lux sitting there in 7th place, which is pretty impressive considering that it is smaller than Norfolk...

Side issue: I wasn't quite sure how big Lux is in comparison to various English counties, so I did a quick google search using the term "Luxembourg is the size of" to see what I got.  Here is the result:

Looks as though this time last year, an iceberg the size of Lux started drifting north: and by January of this year it had reached Australia!

OK, the two events could be unconnected. But I hope that Figgy is listening, if only to prove that she is not the only one being haunted by Lux and all things Luxish.

So where was I? Oh yes, impressed that Lux made it 7th in the charts - well done, you guys!

However, I've decided it's time to retire the flag collection, as I foolishly looked at someone else's blog the other day, and their flag counter was running into the 100,000s for several countries. Suddenly, Schleckland felt a bit small... so I've decided not to "compete" in any of these popularity poll things, and to just steam on regardless. (That's a metaphor, by the way: the Schleckland Ship has masts and sails, and is not a steamboat.)

One of the things I hated most about Facebook (apart from the general inanity of "I am eating a sandwich") is the competition to have more "friends" than anyone else. It's sooo "playground". I hate it. That's why my "Followers" on the blog are invisible, I don't want to feel that I am competing with any other cycling blog: I am very happy to have my merry bunch of regulars who scoot in most days to see what's going on in Schleckland, and I'm always thrilled at Tour de France time to welcome the extra 3,000 a day who come in, look around, read all the back entries - yes, I've tracked people coming in from "outside" as it were, during TdF, who then go back and read every single entry! Mad crazy fools, can you imagine a) how long it takes to read the whole thing - (one poor lost soul spent 18  hours in three sessions, phew, total immersion in Schleckland, were they scarred for life afterwards?) and b) were they scarred for life afterwards?  *pink cheeks - I didn't think that sentence through before I wrote it, did I?*

After that terrible experience with Scary Italian Stalker, I consciously try not to read anyone else's blog - well, apart from my Schleckland-Niece Miss Fede of course - as I find that if I do, it just makes me realise that other people are a lot more serious about their blogging and their cycling than I am, and it makes me worry that I should try to be a bit more in-depth about it all. And hey, why should I?  You guys all seem to like my style, or lack of: it keeps me out of mischief, so I'll just carry on as I am. (Although if a cycling mag were prepared to pay me for an occasional column, I would be very, very interested.....) (ok, sooo not going to happen, but a gal can dream?)

Somewhere in Schleckland, a phone rings.

"Uh??!!??" Cougar girl - slim, early twenties, waist-length copper-coloured hair swishing luxuriously in loose bouncy curls - leaps to her feet in confusion. "I don't have a phone - what's going on?"

She looks around, and spots a ringing phone.

Coug: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hi, Coug, it's Wonderful World of Cycling magazine here, we've been following your blog for some time now, and we wondered if you would consider writing an occasional feature for us."
Coug: "Really? Well, how kind of you to phone. What sort of readership do you have? I mean, my thoughts on cycling are not exactly technical, you must be aware of that. I couldn't do reviews of the latest SRAM XX 2x10 Grip Shift, for example. I don't even have a bike!"
Caller: *laughs* "That's ok, Coug, we don't want you to do reviews. We have people to do that. No, we want to increase our female readership, and we like your style. We feel that a column by you would really help to increase our female demographic."

Coug: "Err, column, did you say? As in, regular column?"
Caller: "Oh. Did I say that? No, no commitment, just the occasional feature."
Coug, sensing something shifty: "How often would you want these occasional features, then?"
Caller: "Oh, well, you know, when it suits you - how about monthly, to start with?"
Coug, suspiciously, tossing back her tumbled curls over one shoulder in slow motion: "Would that not be a regular column, then? I'm not sure I can commit to a regular column: you've seen my blog, sometimes I don't write anything at all for days at a time, it's not something I do regularly, I just do it when something sparks my interest."
Caller: "We'd pay you £1,000 per article, and of course you'd get to meet any of the pro-cyclists that you wrote about......."

There is the sound of high-speed typing, and then the Ping! of an email being sent.

Coug, slightly breathless: "There you go, just emailed my first contribution. I look forward to your payment and the plane tickets."

Where was I? Sorry, got a bit distracted there. Oh yes, the Schlecklander Flags. Anyway - they've served their purpose, we have Schleck fans in just about every country that there is, which is fantastic, but I don't want to compete with other blogs - or, to be honest, I don't want to be known as the Smallest Cycling Blog Out There, so I'm deleting it.  Here for posterity is the final flag counter:

D'aaw, pretty! Pity I can't work out how to show the flags in order, but without the numbers.

I have had a quick skim through the  Flag Counters website, and I can't find a way to do it - but if anyone out there knows how, do let me know!

Oh, and in case anyone didn't realise, nothing about the description of Coug in the dialogue above is true.

Except that I don't have a phone - well, not a land-line phone, I only have a mobile phone. I'm a bit strange like that. But then, you had already noticed, hadn't you?