Keywords, part 2: searched for this week...

Funny, but most people seem to arrive at my website by typing in some kind of West Wing related query. I don't know why that is, really - can anyone help me?

But more on that later. This week, people also searched for...

- "Claire Handscombe"! Yes, me! Someone in Thailand, no less. It must have been me they were looking for, because as far as I know I'm the only one. Yep, the only one in the world. And "I'm anticipating every joke you could make right now". (There was another one years ago, but she got married, or maybe she only appears on page 15 of Google... all the others are me in all my various incarnations though. Plus there are a lot of me with different names. French pen name, English pen name, plus all my different business names. Really I'm almost as ubiquitous as Google itself. But a lot less famous.) Wonder what that was about. The only thing more exciting is when someone googles my pen name.

- "Blog hog Brussels"- erm, what?

- "Is Machelen and Mechelen the same place?" A perfectly reasonable question in a nation which has two names for every town (Brussel/Bruxelles, Gent/Gand), some of which are nothing like each other (Mons/Bergen - actually it's more logical than it seems but I won't bore you with the etymology!). Machelen and Mechelen are in fact NOT the same place, as I found out just in time the first time I tried to go to Machelen, and realised just in time that it wasn't Mechelen, which is also known as Malines. Confused? Try living here for a few months... you ain't seen nothing yet.

- "I miss Brussels." Ah, that's nice. It is one of those places you become attached to for no logical reason.

- "Greatest of Claire blogspot" - well, dear readers, I'll let you be the judges of that.

Many, many people wanting to know about various variations on "Janel Moloney pregnant". Well, all I know now is that she has been - she may not be any more. If anyone finds out about the safe arrival of what will no doubt be a beautiful baby, feel free to let me know - I am quite excited for her! (feeling as I do that we would be best friends if only we could meet... ah, fate! What a terrible thing you are when you are not on our side!)

"Amy or Donna West Wing" - well, that is the 64,000 dollar question, isn't it? (does anyone know why 64, by the way?) My own opinion on the matter is well known, and I will defend it to the death, and have done on many occasions, threatening in fact to throw anyone who disagrees out of the Facebook group I have created (ahem) for the "unhealthily addicted"... And this despite my objection to the disproportionate number of blondes in the West Wing and the fact that they end up with all the hot men.

"Sweater Donna West Wing" - she goes through a lot of argyle post-Aaron Sorkin... I noticed that because I suddenly found myself buying a lot and it took me a while to realise why.

"necklace seen on West Wing" - a great quote is by one of the many eccentric and stupidly posh British people (they do it with blondes, they do with Brits: come on West Wing, I thought you were above that kind of stereotype!) - "CJ, your necklace is a monument to bourgeois taste"... he also later says something about "retribution for Eurodisney" which makes me chortle every time. I like the Brits on West Wing. But still. Just saying.

"have you ever been to dinner with Janel Moloney" someone was quite insistent with that one. Stop with the torture. Please.

Also, many, many clicks on "Bradley Whitford". And of course, "I love West Wing".

And with that, it's a long time past bed time. And I'm sure you all stopped reading a long time ago anyway...

Keywords and blogs

As if twitter, Facebook and all things West Wing related weren't taking up enough of the time I really ought to be giving to such things as working, getting to know people in Belgium, keeping in touch with people back home, getting my tax return filed on time (ahem) and getting my novel written, I have for several months now had another new addiction, and, inspired by Kat with a K's blog, I thought I'd share it with the world.

It's "stat counter" - a handy little device that shows me exactly where, exactly when, and exactly how many times people have clicked on my blog. Self-obsessed? Shamelessly so, but quite fun nonetheless.

It allows me to get very excited when, for example, someone from New York City reads my fan fic - with only eight million people in NYC, it's bound to be Janel Moloney, right? - or, as the other day, "Dallas" pops up - I imagine Bradley Whitford is rushing out between takes of his new TV show to check the latest update of my thrilling insights into all thing related to - him, mainly. (I promise I will write about other things soon. I really promise.)

It also shows me which keywords people have used to get to my site, and that for some reason is a source of endless fascination for me.

Just shy of a quarter of you reach me through - drum roll, this is going to be surprising, I'm sure - typing "Bradley Whitford". Next most popular (but a long way behind) is "Janel Moloney" but in the last few weeks I've also had a fair few people search "Bradley Whitford m(o)ustache", and you'd be surprised how many people google "Belgium" and "West Wing" in the same breath. Luckily for them I have a page devoted to answering just that query. Hopefully whoever keyed in "West Wing tractors Brussels" found it.

I seem to get "the third best job in the world" quite a lot too, which is odd to me. (It's mine, by the way - the other two you can probably guess if you have been paying any attention at all...)

The teacher in me gets frustrated, though, when people go to my page asking a question and I know from the page they have hit that they won't have had it answered. (Sadly, statcounter does not as yet provide me with an email address for every reader of my blog!)

Things like...

- What does "bound to happen" mean? (this one pops up with surprising regularity... that Josh and Donna scene is frustrating enough when you do understand what she says to him - I really feel for these people!)

It means that something is destined, definitely going to occur one day. Inevitable, you might say, which coincidentally is the title of the novel I'm currently working on.

- Is Good Friday a Bank Holiday in Brussels?

Nope. Which I find a little odd. Any excuse for a bank holiday (that's a public holiday to you guys across the pond) normally... We do get Easter Monday though, which surely would not have any significance whatsoever without the events of Good Friday, and as as it is seems to have very little except perhaps allowing us to recover from our over-eating of Easter eggs and the like. It's a little like getting Boxing Day off (which we don't technically over here, though a lot of offices are shut between Christmas and New Year anyway) without bothering with the whole 25th December nonsense. Still, it's hardly the most baffling thing about this quirky little country.

- Janel Moloney pregnant

Yes, she is, and it's actually quite ridiculous how happy I am for her.

- English lessons through Skype

Yes! Email me at languagetuition at gmail dot com if you are interested in flexible, personalised language lessons from the comfort of your own home. Advert over.

- Oboe Abu Dhabi

Erm, can't help you there. Sorry.

- Janel Moloney been seen in New York.

That one's just cruel. She does live in NYC, so it's not entirely surprising she should have been spotted there, but despite knowing what some of her hangouts are, did I see her when I was over there? No. I did not.

- What can't you study in Belgium?

Creative writing. The Francophone world seems united in its belief that these things can't be taught. And maybe they're right, but it would be nice to give it a try.

So there you go. This has been fun, so I may do it again.