Bloggers reading this will know that it can be fun to keep an eye on your ‘blog stats’ – not in an obsessive-compulsive fashion, but to see where traffic is coming from.

I love the new feature that WordPress.com recently installed – a world map on the stats page that means I can see where you live! Not your house or anything, but the country in which you reside. It’s fascinating to see which corners of the world are actually visiting little old me via the blogosphere!

I also love seeing how visitors stumble across my blog. The stats page lists the search terms that Internet users around the globe have typed into search engines such as Google – leading people, usually by accident, to Circles in the Sand.

Some of the terms searched for are hilarious – here are a few recent examples:

‘Mum screaming’ Can’t think how this led to my blog!

‘Expats gone bad’ Ditto

‘Dubai women seeking house-cleaning naked male for job’ Sorry, next time search for Chippendales in Dubai – or try an agency

‘Toilet sign styles in Dubai’ Do I look like a lavatory? (BB’s toilet talk the culprit, me thinks)

‘Exotic hair shears’ Mmm, don’t own any of those

‘Sugar mommies in Dubai’ You’ve come to the wrong place, hon!

‘My housemaid in tape’ Eeee-uw!

Postscript: Dear Australia, I’m terribly sorry, but you disappeared when I downloaded the map. I don’t know why! It has just been pointed out to me that I have a reader in Sydney (yay!) so thanks to Aus too…