What's in a Name?

This has got to be one of the best headlines ever in my view. EmmaT seems to think so too. However, I think Skimble and Jess would be a little peeved if I did get a dog.

Namewise the past couple of days have been a little trying - Victoria's in agreement today. Blotanical has had one of its revamps (sigh) and as a consequence we've had to re-sign in with our user names. For most people it's not a problem as their name is more than 4 characters and there aren't that many duplicates even though membership's over 1,000 strong. However, I've had to leave go of VP in there and it's been quite a wrench. VP is me!

I've got very fond of her over the past year even though VP came about by accident. When I signed up for a blog, I was soon faced with a decision on what I was going to be called. Being totally naive in the ways of blogging and the internet, I was more than a little nervous about being my true self. Also Veg Plotting was a bit of a mouthful and I imagined people not wanting to type in my whole name when leaving comments, so it seemed sensible to shorten it to VP. It immediately reminded me of the hilarious cartoon strip Bill Tidy used to do for CAMRA called Keg Buster. The main character's name always got shortened to KB in the strip itself, so VP's also a bit of a homage to Bill Tidy's sense of humour and characterisation.

Having read Victoria's piece today, it's been great to see the speculation from others on what my new Blotanical name would be. It actually mirrors the thought process I went through. Veg Plotting? No, that's the blog, not me. VeePee? Better, but I might get a few jokes about the Pee bit! So, eventually I plumped for EmmaT's occasional name for me - Veep. It retains the quirkiness of VP and rhymes with beep. What could be better?

If only VP or Veep had been acceptable to Emma's revamped Indyblog - it's the full blown VegPlotting on there nowadays. Help - I'm in danger of developing a multiple personality in here!

Wiltshire Without

Click on View All Images if you'd like to see an enlarged version of this Slideshow.

Here's 42 pictures taken this year which haven't appeared on Veg Plotting. I hope you enjoy them. The show's called Wiltshire Without because all the shots were taken outside of this fair county. A lot of the parishes around here have two main components: a Within part - the central area, which is in turn surrounded by a Without one. This often extends well beyond the built up area.

Guess what the Wiltshire slideshow's called...

Wiltshire Within

Click on View All Images if you'd like to see an enlarged version of this Slideshow.

Here's the sister slideshow to Wiltshire Without! 31 photos taken in 2008 around Wiltshire and not posted over at Veg Plotting.