Now here's a thing........

I have been keeping an eye on the stats page of this blog.

It's not vanity, just interest, as I'm sure the majority of visitors to this blog are not even remotely interested in the any of the content.

They are more likely attempting to strip-mine it for data that can be used for nefarious purposes: the use of spam-bots and the attempted planting of malware or links to pornographic sites springs immediately to mind.......

Perhaps this is just a feature of the modern internet and I should not concern myself too nearly with it.

However, a recent surge in the number of visits from Russia, Poland and the Ukraine has got me thinking.

Why???????

This week, 251 visits to 'The Last Post' alone, 95 from Russia and 92 from Ukraine.

In the last month, a total of 1859 visits from Russia, 319 from Poland and 139 from Ukraine.

Contrast this with 259 from the United Kingdom and 167 from the United States........

I certainly seem popular in the former Eastern Bloc........

And this is not a new phenomenon.

At the risk of sounding like I'm suffering from a good old-fashioned dose of Cold War Paranoia, I find this disturbing.

Is it just me?

Are there really that many Olegs and Olgas out there surfing the net in search of some vaguely boat-related light entertainment?

Or is something more sinister afoot?

Perhaps someone at GCHQ in Cheltenham could nip over to the Nissen hut that houses the Boaters' Blogs Monitoring Service this lunchtime and ask Neville to put his corned beef sandwich down, stop playing Freecell for a minute, and find out what the heck is going on?

Meanwhile, here's a few search key words to tickle the interest of our friends in the East.

Putin.

Megalomaniac.

Kleptocratic government.

Suppression of dissent.

Autocracy.

Pussy Riot.

And for good measure, here's some about his New Best Friend:

Trump.

Wazzock.

Puppet.

Presidential Inauguration.

Nuclear missile launch codes.

Private Fraser/Dad's Army/"We're all doomed."

That little lot should get them going.....

If this post now roars past the '500 visits' mark by Tuesday teatime, and more than 75% of those are from the former Soviet bloc, then I'll know I'm on to something.

What to do about it, other than dig a hole, get in it , then pull the hole in after me, I'm not entirely sure........

In the meantime, keep smiling, everyone.

:-)

I'm off to watch "A Beautiful Mind" again........