I have been a bit surprised at the total number of visitors this little Whiting-related blog has generated. There have been more than 720 "pageviews" since I started it in early August. That's not a huge number for any website, but much more than one would expect, given the very small population of Whiting.
Looking more deeply into the site "analytics" - the data that is stored by the blog's host - yielded even more surprising numbers. Of the 720-plus visitors to the site, about 140 have originated from Russia and the Ukraine. One hundred and forty! That's about one-fifth of all visitors. (Other surprising international totals: 18 visitors from Indonesia, 14 from Japan, 9 from Germany, 6 from England, 4 from France, 3 from China and 1 from Canada. The remaining 500-plus were from the U.S.A.)
As a child of the Cold War and longtime watcher of James Bond movies, I am of course suspicious at any mention of the countries of the former Soviet Union. I had to think about this one for a while before realizing that the strange analytics figures were not evidence of approaching Russian invasion of the Champlain Valley but something more akin to a mistake.
It eventually dawned on me (I'm not as quick mentally as I used to be) that, in Russia and the Ukraine and much of the rest of world, "Whiting" is a common name for a small saltwater panfish. Our international visitors probably are not looking for a target of military conquest or international espionage but for a tasty lunch. They are likely as puzzled to find themselves at this site as I am to find them visiting.
(WELCOME! Whatever has brought you web-surfing to this blog and wherever you surf from, I hope you find it enjoyable. For those who reached the site by error, here's a nice recipe from the Food Network for Whiting with garlic and lemon.)
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