Statistics – Skirtingroundmylife

Skirting Round My Life 2021 My Year On The Blog

As I look back on the events of 2021 I have to say that it wasn’t the year I or anyone hoped or expected it would be. These past 12 months have been a difficult year for us all and this continues to be reflected in Skirting Round My Life as it has in every blog, journal , magazine or other news outlets.

On looking at the statistics, this year has seen Skirting Round My Life on a bit of downward trajectory which I think was to be expected given the circumstances. Hopefully this will change in the next 12 months. Though that will, to a certain extent at least, depend on things opening up a bit post Covid and providing me with more opportunities to enjoy myself and post about my exciting experiences.

The first thing to say that Skirtingroundmylife gained 2, 507 views in 2020. This represented an drop of 16% from it’s 2020 total of 3,018. Though disappointed with the drop I am not in the least bit surprised as continued uncertainty from Covid19 played havoc with our lives and restrictions on what we could and couldn’t do meant opportunities for growth were very severely limited.

This lack of opportunity resulted in a very dramatic drop in the number of posts in the last twelve months as they fell by almost half from 98 to 50. It can also be said that the number of both visitors to the site and comments on posts are both down with the later dropping from 28 to 16 and likes falling by more than 60% from 83 to 36

Topics covered in the last twelve months included Acceptance, Age, Bisexuality, Childhood, Christmas, Coming Out, Ceilidhs, Concerts, Covid19, Crossdressers, Dancing , Dating, Death, Discrimination, Equality, Faith, Fashion, Friendship, Grandparents, Holidays, Lockdown, Love, Memories, Mental Health, Poetry, Relationships, Secrets, Sensuality, Sex, Sexism, Sexuality, Stereotypes, Transition, Transphobia, Visibility, Women,

2021 again saw a slight dip in my global reach as visiting nations were slightly down from 31 in 2020 to 27 last year. The top five countries were UK , USA, Ireland, Germany and Finland, with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guernsey, and Sweden. making up the top ten. There were also readers from countries including France, Croatia The Philippines, Denmark, Colombia, Peru, Norway, India, and Poland amongst other nations who paid this a visit

As all the statistics have now properly evaluated it is time to bring this review to its conclusion but before I do so I just want thank all my readers. Whether you subscribe to the site or read the posts on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter it doesn’t really matter, the main thing is that you read them and find them entertaining, enjoyable , thought provoking and maybe in some cases challenging. I really hope you’ll continue to do so as that’s what makes blogging so enjoyable for those us who put our opinions out there on the blogosphere for you to read. So all that remains is for me to wish you A Happy, Successful, and Peaceful New Year and I hope you’ll keep skirting round my life throughout 2022 and beyond .

Till next time

Gayle X

Skirting Round My Life 2020 My Year On The Blog

As I look back on the events of 2020 I have to say that it wasn’t the year I or anyone expected it to be. These past 12 months have been like a rollercoaster ride for us all and this has been reflected in Skirting Round My Life as it has in every blog, journal , magazine or other news outlets.

On looking at the statistics it’s been a game of swings and roundabouts as to some extent it always is in the blogging world. While there has been progress with the number of both comments reaching record levels it is offset by the fact that there was a drop in overall page views.

The first thing to say that Skirtingroundmylife gained 3, 018 views in 2020. This represented an drop of 7% from it’s 2019 total of 3,262. Though naturally disappointed with the drop I am not in the least bit surprised as the national lockdown caused by the Covid19 pandemic was bound to have some impact on the blog. Yet despite the challenging circumstances this has been a year of only slight decline with average views down to 7 views per day compared to 8 in the last two years.

This I think was due in no small part to lockdown though the fact I didn’t promote certain poems anywhere near as much as I should also contributed. This is something I will work towards improving in 2021.

That said there is one area where has been noticeable growth is in the number of posts published which rose from 88 to 98 in the last twelve months. It can also be said that the number of both visitors to the site and comments on posts are both up with the later more than doubling from 8 to 28, and likes increasing from 74 to 83

Topics covered in the last twelve months included Age, Birthdays, Bisexuality, Bullying, Childhood, Christmas, Coming Out, Ceilidhs, Concerts, Covid19, Dancing , Dating, Death, Disability, Discrimination, Equality, Family, Faith, Fashion, Gratitude, Kindness, Lockdown, Love, Lingerie, Memories, Mental Health, Poetry, Relationships, Role Models, Secrets, Social Distancing, Stereotypes, The Broga Frois, Transition, Transphobia, Transport, Visibility, and last but not least Football

2020 saw a slight dip in my global reach as visiting nations were slightly down from 34 in 2019 to 31 last year. The top five countries were UK , USA, Ireland, Canada, and Australia, With New Zealand, Spain, Turkey, Iraq, and Germany, making up the top ten. There were also readers from countries including South Africa, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Argentina, Norway, and much to my astonishment Guadalupe, Yes readers my words reach glamorous places.

Till next time

Gayle X

Charades

This poem which is written in the form of a letter tackles the issue of transphobia and it sends a very clear message to the self appointed gender critics of both sexes that the days of bullying transpeople are over and over for good. In the 21st century I find it sad that some people are so socially and culturally conservative that they can’t accept the idea of live and let live Many of these people will attempt to justify their hate filled bile by claiming that they are somehow defending the rights of women despite every poll on the topic providing evidence which shows that the majority of women and girls support transgender rights. Indeed the demographic with the biggest problem on trans issues are right wing Conservative males and particularly though not exclusively men of a certain age who are set in their ways who don’t like their behaviour being challenged . I’ve given it the title Charades I hope you enjoy the read.

Charades

Dear gender critics
I think you need to know
a few things
about living in these enlightened times.
being a transwoman isn’t a crime.
though as for your behaviour,
that’s a very different story
Who needs Tories
when we’ve got you
standing in the way of equality?
All you ever do is carp and whine
as you long for the days
when you could say without inhibition or fear
of anyone daring to contradict your well known fact.
that for every silver lining
there’s at least a million clouds.
standing bigoted and proud,
you look not to the future but the past .
you tell me and others like me ,
to think of the children we have never harmed.
deluded you think this is your ace card.
and you may be right,
because you’re sounding more demented by the day.
you can’t wish us away,
because when we’re gone ,
who will you blame
for all the world’s ills ?
And don’t give me the we’re doing this for women and girls chat.
the fact is you’re not:
most women and girls support trans rights.
statistics tell the story of this
and I’ve noticed, apart from a few career politicians
most of your staunchest advocates happen to be men of way above
a certain age
full of orchestrated hate
I have to ask what are you afraid of ?
is it progress or maybe change ?
whatever happened to live and live
or the sense of Scottish decency
and British fair play ?
or do they only apply to those
you’ve selected to participate
in this game of charades?
a game by the way
you’re far too clueless to win

©Gayle Smith 2020

Real Women

This poem was inspired by my friend Katie Walker when she commented on an image I had shared on my Facebook where I said how daft I thought the image really was. The fact that the image may very well have been photoshopped matters not one jot, it was content on it that got me mad angry enough to write this poetic rant as it dared to suggest that real women should be subordinate to our men. Now uncomfortable as it is to say this I have actually met some women who do think like this and this was especially true during the Independence and Brexit referendums. Granted the numbers concerned were extremely small but to say that nobody thinks like that is a fantasy especially if they’ve been brought up in strict religious conservative homes where certain parts of the bible are given primacy over other what could be seen as more contentious books or verses. It was with this in mind I decided to go on a kinda rant as to what I think real women are prepared to accept. You may not be surprised to know I’ve given it the title Real Women I hope you enjoy the read.

Real Women

Real women will give the world
comfort and passion
fashion advice to each other
and occasionally men
send sexist attitudes
homeward to think again
campaign for equality
stand up to end poverty
take no lip from politicians of any hue
real women are not afraid to share our views
will not do as we are told
by the mainstream media
or advertising executives
will never be what you expect of us
because nobody has the right
to say what our expectations should be
will call out injustices whenever we see them
we will never be beaten by slogans or statistics
we will be altruistic if that’s in our nature
refuse to be lectured on our best behaviour
or do as you command
real women will not hand our paycheck to a man
for only a pittance in return
so if anyone believes we should
then I suggest they are up to no good
and should leave the comedy
to those who can actually deliver
the laughter
and boldly go
back to the 18th century
while the rest of us
get on with our lives
you see that is what real women do
we are sisters, daughters, friends, partners, wives
and all of us have many parts to play
in the ever changing drama
we call our everyday reality
so believe us when we say
that we will be nobody’s sideshow
a real women knows
her place
and that place will be
wherever she wants it to be
to those who call us birds I say this
most of them fly free
and those who are trapped in cages
long to escape
that’s it that’s my rant over
now where did I put my wonder women cape?
I have much work still to do.

Skirting Round My Life 2019 My Year On The Blog

As I look back on the events of 2019 it’s fair to say that my second annual review has seen Skirting Round My Life find it’s place in the blogosphere. There has been progress in certain aress whilst others have been quieter but overall I would say that the statistics represented in this report are a good indicator of a blog which is developing a good core readership.

The first thing to note that Skirtingroundmylife gained 3,262 views in 2019. This represented an increase of six views from it’s 2018 total of 3,256. So with no massive increase or dramatic decline in post views and an average of eight views a day for the second successive year this has been a year of stability rather than growth. This I think was due to the fact I never promoted certain blogs and especially certainly poems anywhere near as much as I should and this is something I will work towards improving in 2020.

That said there is one area where has been noticeable growth is in the number of posts published which rose from 78 to 88 in the last twelve months. In contrast the number of both visitors to the site and comments on posts are both down with the later halving from 16 to 8, though there is better news when it came post likes which more than doubled from 36 to 74. This year also saw a new record for post views with Something Old Something New, a fashion post I wrote for LGBT Mardi Gla attracting 296 views.

Topics covered in the last twelve months included Bespoke Chocolates (yes they are a thing) Bisexuality, Bullying, Christmas, Coming Out, Concerts, Dancing , Dating, Death, Disability, Discrimination, Disruption (A topic on which co-wrote my first ever collaborative poem with my friend Emma Mooney), Equality, Family, Faith, Fashion, Kindness, Love, Letter Writing , Lesbian Weddings, Lingerie, Memories, Mental Health, Relationships, Role Models, Stereotypes, The Broga Frois, Taxation, Transition, Transhopia, Transport, Visibility, and last but not least Football,

This deserves a more detailed explanation than the other topics I’ve posted on in last year as I’ve covered both the men’s and women’s game. Though I think it has to be said that women’s football has taken over this blog in the later half of last year. This can be evidenced by the fact that there were poems not only for the Scotland team during and after the World Cup but also for the Under 19’s during their European Championships which we hosted , on individual games and for three Scotland players Erin Cuthbert, Lee Alexander, and Carly Girasoli , though Lee’s poem poem was written after a particularly memorable display for her club Glasgow City when her brilliance helped them qualify for the quarter finals of the UFEA Champions League for only the second time in their history.

2019 saw a slight dip in my global reach as visiting nations were slightly down from 38 in 2018 to 34 last year. The top five countries were UK , USA, Canada, Australia, and Ireland. With Spain, Hong Kong , Germany, France, and India, making up the top ten. There were also readers from countries including South Africa, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Turkey, Oman, Kenya , Algeria, and believe it or not The Bahamas. Yes readers my words reach glamorous places.

As all the statistics have now properly evaluated it is time to brimg this review to it’s conclusion but before I do so I just want thank all my readers. Whether you subscribe to the site or read the posts on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter it doesn’t really matter, the main thing is that you read them and find them enjoyable stimulating, thought provoking and maybe in some cases challenging. I really hope you’ll continue to do so as that’s what makes blogging so enjoyable for those us who put our opinions out there on the blogosphere for you to read. So all that remains is for me to wish you A Happy, Successful, and Peaceful New Year and I hope you’ll keep skirting round my life throughout 2020 and beyond .

Till next time

Gayle X