An old work mate of mine used to mock our colleagues in the American office and their can do – no problemo attitude. I can hear him and his pseudo estuary accent on the phone to Washington even now; “Yes mate there is a problem, so spare me the hype and fix it.”

I only call this to mind because I was reminded this morning of another one of his little quips in the face of Americanisms, ‘people who hit the ground running usually fall flat on their face; any fool knows that you have to bend your knees when you hit the ground.’

“Bend your knees, bend your knees, bend your knees,” she said all the way to the ground. It was all her indoors can remember of her one and only parachute jump.

Okay so I am waffling, but I have a cascading to do list that is in freefall and why is it still dark? People even want to know about my Christmas plans! I knew I should have been a pagan.

Lots of comments this week, I am sorry I am slow in replying. I notice that it has been a while since some of our old friends have dropped by. They know who they are.

I have also noticed that several sites have taken to reblogging my posts. This might be why the traffic is shooting up. I noticed that around three hours ago A Voice passed the 11 millionth visit mark. I am not going to post on this (other than here in passing) I’ll wait until 15 or 20 million (should we get that far) to crow about it. I remember when I used to proudly announce 10,000 visitors (about a day’s worth now) before quickly having to only mark the 100,000 landmark. It is funny how perspectives change.

So a word to all those new blogs announced over at Blossom and Thorn, stick with it and you will get there. You don’t have to hit the ground running, it is a marathon, not a sprint.

Cherry Red has a selection of images in a round-up of free image galleries.

The Spank Statement has yet another play feature as has Richard Windsor (his black and white sailor picture above).

Other pictures are from: Able, All Things Spanking, Blossom and Thorn and Scarlet’s Real Magic.