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Erin

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Ed & Erin

In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Ed

Ed over at Little m Long a is a fellow nurse, although he gave all that stuff up a few years ago to concentrate on being a full time stay-at-home dad. To say I’m jealous would be an understatement. Saying that however I’m not sure I could cope with everything Ed does. He’s got five kids. Yes five. And the two youngest are twins.

How he has time to blog astounds me.

Ed used to write over at the blog Zoë’s Dad, but recently he’s shifted camps and set up home at Little m Long a (a reference to how you pronounce his last name). He was always a great blogger, but since moving he’s become even better. He has a lyrical and poetic flavour to his writing which is a joy to read.

Ed is one of the cornerstones of the little blogging community that I feel part of, and the fact he’s coming over all the way from America to join the walk is extremely exciting. And I know that his participation has been one of the things that’s spurred a few others to join too.

ed

Looking forward to meeting you Ed. Even if you do have rather dubious tastes in tie-dyed t-shirts

Erin

Erin from the blog The Fierce Beagle asked me to point out that she will be the second youngest person coming on the walk after Arjan. And that’s true. She is the second youngest, even if she doesn’t look it.

I’ve already waxed lyrical about how much I like Erin’s blog, so I don’t want to swell her head any more with my praise. I will just say The Fierce Beagle is a fantastic read and you really should have her in your blogroll.

Oh, and her site is one of the most nicely designed I’ve come across. I especially like the sparkly header.

Erin’s another one who’s coming over from America to join the walk. She’s even dragging her husband Noah with her, which is rather cool as he sounds like just my sort of guy (a geek). He’s a police officer too, just like T J Hooker. Very exciting.

I am trying very hard to resist making jokes about nightsticks, so I think I should probably leave it there.


If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

A Blog Recomendation

I read two types of blogs. The first type are blogs written by people that I like. These are bloggers with whom I feel I have developed (or am developing) a relationship. I am interested in what they say and the way that they say it. They comment on my blog, I comment on theirs. I tease them and call them names, and they tease me and call me names back. I read their stories about every day life with genuine interest and pleasure. And when I say “Congratulations!” or “You’re in my thoughts” I really mean it. They are my friends and are what keep me coming back to the blogosphere

Then they are the other types of blogs. These are the ones that are so well written and so funny they wouldn’t be out of place in a weekly newspaper column. Due to the quality of what these bloggers churn out they often (but not always) have hundreds of readers and commenters, and so the personal relationship between reader and writer is heavily watered down. There’s a very good chance that this person doesn’t even know who you are, that you’re just another face in the crowd. But that’s OK, the writing is so good that you’re happy to consider yourself a fan rather than a friend.

I suppose the difference between the two categories is similar to the one between a bunch of really clever and funny friends in the pub and watching Stephen Fry on the TV. If you had to chose between the two you’d go for your mates without hesitation because they give you so much more than simply entertainment. But it’s nice to have the facility to just sit back and watch a master at work now and again.

But there are a few bloggers that span both categories. People with whom I’ve developed a friendship, but that have the potential to become superstar bloggers if they put their mind to it. There isn’t a single blog in my google reader that isn’t written by a talented blogger (I tend to have high standards), but these people are beyond the pale. If they don’t produce at least one book in their lifetime then it will be a waste. Greg, Whit, Xbox – these are just three of fantastic and honest writers about whom my boundaries between friendship and fandom is deliciously blurred. And I have gushed sycophantically about them on previous posts.

And I would like to add Erin from Fierce Beagle to that list.

Blimey Erin’s good. I mean really good. For example today she did one of those “This is what my child is doing developmentally” posts. You know the kind – Dooce does them every month (or did back when I used to read her anyhow). But somehow Erin managed to make her development posts both interesting and funny. This is very hard to do, I know because I’ve tried and failed myself.

Just read this:

“And he’s very good at impersonations. For instance he can wag his finger and Shhh! at Cody in such a way that people can barely tell the difference between him and me, a differentiation that is further complicated by the fact that he frequently wears my slippers.”

That, ladies and gentlemen, is subtle comedy genius at it’s best. Not for Erin is the big, obvious, signposted gags. This woman is a crafstman.

In her day job Erin’s an editor, which goes some way to explaining her writing chops (although as far as I can make out all that editing involves is tipexing out spelling mistakes). She’s also the wife of Noah, a police officer, and writes extremely eloquently about the anxieties that having a husband on the thin blue line can provoke.

In short – go add her to your feedreader now. You won’t regret it.