13 years ago this week

By the end of this week, it will be thirteen years since I put that CD-ROM into my aging PC and proceeded to install the AOL software. A PCMCIA-card enabled the access to the phone network, and my dial-up connection was up and running. My computer was so old that it was only able to manage access to AOL chatrooms, not much else. AOL chatrooms were a bruising experience, partly as a result of it being a hotbed for right-wing extremism in England. I think I have one contact left from that time. Eighteen months later, I discovered AOL journals and its J-land community. That was lovely caring and sharing community, which only lasted another three years. AOL then closed it down, not even archiving the blogs - we had to transfer them to Blogger. Although I have 70 blog sites (mostly to do with local history in the Scottish islands), I rarely blog anymore. What J-landers are left on-line mostly communicate through Facebook. Not ideal either, lengthy posts like this are a pain, and no formatting. Nonetheless, J-land continues, with the trials of life and (as we saw yesterday) death of its members. I hope it carries on for a lot longer than the 5 years it had on AOHell.

Blogoversary

Today in 2004, I set up a journal with AOL, and called it Northern Trip. It was to become a diary of my exploits in Northern Scotland, which continue to date. I started blogging properly about 11 days later, on 8 October - read that first entry about my exploits in Skye, from the big white building in the left of below picture.



This blog, Atlantic Lines, was set up as its successor 4 years later, upon the withdrawal of AOL's blogging service. Nowadays, I use Facebook, and I use Atlantic Lines primarily for writing down my views on various matters, near and far.

In the years I have been blogging, I have met many dozens of people on-line, but only a few of those I have met face-to-face. Many I count as friends, with all the ups and downs that that entails.

Here is to another year of blog - whether here, or elsewhere.

Facebook is down, but we blog on

Facebook is down around the world, so, as I smirked on Twitter, a surge of productivity is gripping the globe. At least I have the option of writing down my thoughts on Twitter in 140 characters, or (more verbosely) here on Blogger. Google Plus is still around, in spite of it all. Ach, let's just go and do something useful. Posting the hurricane updates, for instance. Isn't it 10 o'clock yet?

Blogging anniversary #11

On 28 September 2004, I was seated in the common area of Kirkwall Youth Hostel, and had my half hour on the communal computer. At the time, I was user of AOL, and discovered their blogging service Journals. I opened a blog (or journal) and named it Northern Trip. At the time, I had been on the road for about seven weeks, and was coming to the end of my four week stint in Orkney. I returned there, for those interested, four years later, in different circumstances. A fortnight later, I found myself in Kyleakin, in Skye (see pic below), and decided to start making daily entries in my blog. The first entry refers to people going swimming in the sea at Kyleakin, which today sends shivers down my spine. Last week, a man went missing doing just that, and his body was discovered last Wednesday a few miles away to the north. From Kyleakin, I went to Eigg, Rum, Lochaber and finally the Western Isles, which greeted me on November 10th. My entry into Lochmaddy was one to be forgotten, and my eleven year stint here has not been without hitches. But then, what would life be without its challenges. Four years after opening Northern Trip, AOL closed it down and I switched to Blogger to open Atlantic Lines. A transfer to Facebook followed shortly, and I am now mostly 'blogging' on Facebook. I kept this blog going mostly as a photoblog, but have recently taken to writing longer postings here, something that Facebook is less suitable for. What the future holds is not clear for me at this stage. I have enjoyed 11 years of blog, and hope to add many years to that.

Kyleakin, Skye, October 2004