I first started writing these things over 12 years ago. I’m not quite sure why, but back then I think it was simply a way of putting my cartoons and drawings in front of people, and since I took up landscape drawing and then painting, it’s been useful to me at least.

I’ve got over 300 followers now, which makes me sound like a third-rate prophet. And I make no money from it either, it’s profit less. How does one measure success on this? I may have the loyal 300, but I doubt that they all bother to read my every word, and who can blame them. The other day I had around 250 views from China in one day. I suspect a bot; if not, what on earth would they make of my ramblings?

One of my most popular posts simply said that ‘Cows sleep standing up’, not exactly Shakespearean. I’ve recycled that a few times too, and make no apologies for featuring the drawing that went with it again.

One of the more pleasant things that I get from this is the occasional feedback from old friends, who I know read it. They know who they are. Thanks. I suppose it’s a sort of substitute for seeing them down the pub. I never ever got into going ‘down the pub ‘; it’s not my scene, and my old friends are scattered far and wide, so in a sense it does that. I also talk about them at times, which I enjoy, and they don’t seem to mind. There are also regulars who like my stuff, and it feels sometimes like they like it as soon as they read it. There’s Mike, and that Irish guy and a bloke in Norway, and not forgetting the History Professor in South Carolina, plus that local Welsh chap who had an allotment near me, Thanks all of you.

So, I came to writing a bit late in life, and as well as this I’ve done a few books. Sometimes writing and drawing, and other times just illustrating others’ golden words. There’s no money in that either! My most recent is ‘Rose Tinted’ written by Andrew Vincent, a local writer and former BBC journalist. It’s published on Amazon, but I’m not expecting to be buried in orders. I tend to buy a few myself and inflict them on friends and neighbours. I’ve done children’s books too, with writer Andy Harden. Now one of them ( there were three in the Henry Mouse series ) did very well for a local school when we printed it locally. Andy worked at the school as a teaching assistant. Done as a charity gesture by us, it made enough money for them to buy a defibrillator. It too, and the other two editions, are on Amazon.