Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Oh dear - am I really that bad?

It always surprises me how people find my blog and I always look with interest at the search paths that take people here - I'm sure all bloggers do. Usually it is quite simple - they find me through the couple of websites with which I am registered, or through an email (thank you, nice people who mail the link for here to their friends!), or they have googled my full name, perhaps with "Marrakech" thrown in for luck. Other people come to me quite by accident when they google other phrases, often quite random - my first ever hit from a stranger was from a person who had searched for Naomi Watts in google blogs - it just so happened that one of my first posts was about finding the parasol used in The Painted Veil on ebay (I bought two but have used neither). However, the reason I am talking about this today is that I got a rather embarrassing hit yesterday via google, from a person who did a search for "Awful Marrakech". Isn't that mortifying?

Now my gentle readers, *you* know that (despite the dirt, the annoying children, the lethal mopeds and the impossibility of conducting a straightforward transaction anywhere outside Marjane hypermarket) I genuinely like it here - after all, why else would I stay?

We're extra excited about Marrakech at the moment too because not one, but two whole people are visiting us in September (you know who you are my loves!) so there will be a flurry of interesting blog entries because we won't be able to hide in the house any more, revelling in white walls and watching the falcons, but will be dragged, kicking and screaming, out into the city to bring our guests to all of the exciting places we can think of, including a few days in Essaouira. One of our guests has the added virtue of fluency in Arabic and we plan to drag her up to every child and teenager who has annoyed us since our arrival so that she can shout at them for us. It's going to be great.

6 comments:

xgirl said...

OK, I have a question. Is the seeing who your readers are and where they came from always an option here, or do you have to have some special set-up? Because I would like to know if anyone ever reads my sporadic entries :) (And this is Cordelia from MUA, by the way :) )

Sarah said...

Aha! I was wondering who you were! I use statcounter to track my hits and so forth, and it tells me where people come from - tremendous fun.

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I was talking with my parents last night over supper about Marrakech. They had not a good word to say about it - save for one or two approving asides on carpets. Clearly, there's some kind of age ceiling at work here; forty and above and the medina loses its patina?

The last word differently (incorrectly) pronounced and there's a rhyme there somewhere...

Anonymous said...

OH, too funny! It is sooo terribly interesting to find out how people find us isn't it? Yesterday oiver 50 people came to me from a hard core political blog. Mr friend and I scoured the site, and could not find the connection? Strange. I am having an issue with a woman who seems to be attached to everything I am doing. She is linked up to me at the hip. And, she is a call girl. Madame Vanessa. GREAT! Oh well. Anyhow, it will be fun for you to have your friends there! And taunt back!! hee hee... xxo

Anonymous said...

I arrived at your blog after a Google search for "Marrakech" and "silk carpet"! We're visiting next year, and I'm enjoying reading about your experiences - I found Maryam's blog via a link from somewhere else.
Good luck with the dissertation - sounds like there is far too much to distract you ...