ClustrMaps and imaginings

I had been intrigued by the idea of blogging way before I started LittleAshCloud, but had never had the perseverance to follow through with anything more than an intrigue for the idea.
And now, a year and a bit later, I’m addicted.
I love going to a new place and having to absorb as much as possible, in the hopes of catching some essence of the place and being able to imbue it into a post. I love reading a post from six months prior, when it has recessed to the far corners of the mind, and being reminded of the experience again. I love looking up and researching facts and double checking on information, I learn so much. And I get to share photos only I have seen, which would otherwise be forgotten in the dark depths of a hard drive.

One of the things that got me started with blogging, was seeing the blog posts of an American lady, (not, I may add, an American lady five foot tall in blue- thank you Crosby, Stills and Nash, you may leave now) who had recently moved to South Africa and was discovering way more of Joburg than I knew was possible.
Places we’d heard about growing up, whose names were said in hushed whispers (a bit like Mordor from Lord of the Rings) places that were considered dangerous and one didn’t go to without a vigilant posse to back you up.
And here she was, some random yankee chick, (I mean this with no disrespect) talking about my city, the place I’d been born into and grown up in, yet I was the stranger. How could she? The audacity!

It was brilliant! Heather has a no nonsense way with words, and maybe because she is not biased with years of hushed whisperings, she has eyes that see what some of us ‘locals’ don’t try to.
Or maybe she’s just different.
She’s explored parts of Jozi I would never have thought of going to, and she manages to take you with in her posts. Her blog has dispelled a lot of the rumours, distortion and stigmatism the inner city was prone too and opened a lot of people’s eyes to the beauty that can be found in the CBD.
She has managed to put nearly every Jozi born blogger to shame, she’s more Jozi than any of us could ever claim to be, it’s in her blood now. I hope it stays that way, because Jozi needs her.

This post isn’t about Heather, or her blog 2Summers (although I do suggest you check it out) it’s actually about one of the coolest add-ons for a blog / website.

When I decided to push past the daunting thoughts about blogging and get my A into G, Heather was one of the first people I asked for advice from. I somehow didn’t have many local people I could pester with questions of what platform to use, how to set up and just generally how to be a blogger.

With a bit of research, the internet provided a lot of answers to my many questions, and it was here that I came across a great little add on called ClustrMaps.
You’ll see on the bottom right hand side of my  a little map of the world. If you click on the map, you’ll be taken to a page showing all the countries people see my blog from. This has to be the best imagination tool in the history of ever. I sit at my computer and read through the list, wondering who from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is reading my blog? Where is Saint Vincent and the Grenadines anyway? (Thank you Google and Wiki) What do they do there? What attracted them to a post? Did they like the post? These questions and imaginings go on and on.

Who from Italy is viewing LittleAshCloud? Can they make pasta? Have they been to Venice and taken a ride on a gondola? Do they have ties to the Mafia? Can they talk without the use of their hands?
And Kenya. Have they seen the great migration? Have they seen Kilimanjaro? Do they know their internet is like a gazillion times faster than ours?
What about the Philippines? Which one of the 7107 islands are they viewing the blog from?
And Chile, Armenia, French Guiana… The imagination runs wild.

So here I sit, entranced by one question. ‘Who are they”?