Friends have been writing to ask whether I am, in fact, still here. Yup.

I’ve been posting elsewhere — especially at The Map Room, but also at Ankylose This! and on the daily links del.icio.us thingy. Just not here. Partly because I’ve been sick and tired — literally — and the things that I would have said here would have required more psychic and physical effort: the ankylosing spondylitis has been misbehaving itself in recent weeks. So what I’ve been able to do has been limited; because The Map Room gets most of my traffic, I’ve given most of my posting priority to that project.

A few posts have been forming in my mind during that time, but they’re not the sort of thing you can toss off when you’re in pain and exhausted. I’ll try to give them a shot soon.

And of course I’m way behind on adding more material to the garter snake site.

One thing I try to tell myself is that it’s okay to fall behind on the personal projects if I’m in pain and can’t manage. My friends, family and readers are probably more understanding about this than I am.