Well that was exciting wasn't it?

A sluggish start, an encouraging mid-match surge, before inspired play at the death sealed an in-the-end comfortable win for the opposition. It was very much like the recent King's Lynn vs Oldham Athletic FA Cup(TM) fixture, without the footbally bits inc. the booking of defender Charlie Defty.

We are officially the second best internet web log in the UK!!!

Booooo… but only second. And it is being first which counts. After all - everybody knows the name of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. But who can ever recall the second? (It was 'Buzz Aldrin').

At which point we proceed with the serious bit - you might want to skip this and come back on Monday when there will be a report about a dining table.

Serious bit begins

Of course, this isn't the second best internet web log in the UK. It's an impossible and ludicrous thing to try to judge or measure such a concept, I'd guess that the vast majority of UK sites had no idea whatsoever that nominations were going on (I certainly didn't), and I'd guess that most of these wouldn't have cared anyway. The voting system was intriguing, and the smaller sites never had a chance. I've always liked to think that this journal might be one of the better in its Ilk, but it's a fucking tiny Ilk I inhabit, I can tell you. And how do you compare an Ilk with an ilk?

So… why?

Just to remind the people that look at awards to tell them what to read, that there is a huge diversity of blogging in the UK. The 'personal sites' aren't necessarily the ones that need sit at the back like the embarrassing aunt, afraid to mix with the weightier stuff and looked down upon from the heights of punditry ("and some people just write about their cats!"). In fact lots of them are quite good.

So a creditable second can't be bad.

Those who took my initial words as 'yuk - political blogs are boring minge' got it wrong slightly. The point was that there is room enough for everyone. You'll actually find me at quite a few Places of that Persuasion, although sometimes I am hiding. In fact lots of them are quite good.

Booooo… I am revealed as Judas.

Jonny's Final Thoughts

I tend to leave the comments box unattended most of the time, but I was uncomfortable with the 'I've just read such-and-such blog!!! It's shit!!!' posts, whatever the context in which they were made. And I learnt an interesting lesson there - if I don't intervene and reply to comments that I'm not comfortable with the tone of, then they become inextricably linked with the voice of the (deep breath) JonnyB community. Shit!!! It is not my web log any more. It is ours. So I will try to be more chatty in future, unless I'm - y'know - really busy.

To the lady that left the (deleted) comment saying that she could cheat the poll: please - it's my reputation, not yours. Kids - cheating is wrong, and we don't want it here.

Thanks to my good friend Girlie Onetrack for her heavyweight support, and particularly for agreeing to remain my friend after I asked her to add a disclaimer to her endorsement post. And gratitude to everybody else who got behind an interesting campaign. I'll find you via the technorati thing and say proper thanks.

FINAL THING - and a non-negotiable. I don't have time to moderate comments. Please - no 'we should have won' sour grapes or muttered dissent etc. in the comments box. That's not my 'thing', and I'd be really pissed off. And we don't want that, seeing as I'm so important now. This weekend please use the comments box to promote the blogs you think other people might like to read. Cats, politics, political cats an' all.

Next week we get back to normal, with my important story about the table.