Visitors

I am intrigued by all the places my visitors come from. By the ones that ring a bell ("Sheffield - ooh, silver!", the ones from books and TV shows, the ones I never knew existed, and the ones that share their names with others around the world. I google some, and search for a connection. I like to pretend that my visitor from Beverley Hills is Tom Cruise, the one in Seattle is Bill Gates, and the one from Bangor, Maine is, of course, Stephen King.

I try to figure out how quaintly named towns got their names. Okay, so it's a bit obsessive-compulsive, but every now and then I love coming to this list and having fun with my imagination, wondering who you all are, what certain names mean, and I enjoy finding cities in different countries sharing the same names too.

I was never much of a geography student, but I have such fun with the world this way, so I thought I'd share it with you. Listed below are all the countries my readers are from. 

Have a look! See if your visits have got your city on my blog! See if there are other places that share the same name or sound the same. And google the ones that intrigue you. The world really needs to get smaller - we have far too many divisions and I like to think of this as a way of connecting, celebrating the similarities instead of putting up walls between our differences.
 
Thank you all for coming! I feel so honoured that my writing speaks to so many people across so many countries and cultures.

• Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan
• Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Hersegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burma (Myanmar)
• Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republi
• Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic
• Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia
• Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Polynesia
• Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guyana
• Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary
• Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy
• Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan
• Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg
• Macau , Macedonia MK, Malawi MW, Malaysia MY, Maldives MD, Malta MT, Martinique, Mauritius MU, Mexico MX, Moldova MD, Mongolia MN, Montenegro ME, Morocco MA, Mozambique MZ, Myanmar MM
• Namibia NA, Nepal NP, Netherlands NL, Netherlands Antilles AN, New Zealand NZ, Nicaragua NI, Nigeria NG, Northern Mariana Islands MP, Norway NO
• Oman OM
• Pakistan PK, Palestinian Territory, Panama PA, Paraguay PY, Peru PE, Philippines PH, Poland PL, Portugal PT, Puerto Rico PR
• Reunion, Romania RO, Russia RU
• Saint Kitts and Nevis KN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VG, San Marino SM, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles SC, Sierra Leone SL, Slovakia SK, Slovenia SI, South Africa ZA, South Korea KR, Spain ES, Sri Lanka LK, Sweden SE, Switzerland CH, Syria SY
• Taiwan TW, Tanzania TZ, Thailand TH, Trinidad and Tobago TT, Tunisia TN, Turkey TR, Turks and Caicos Islands TC
• Uganda UG, Ukraine UA, United Arab Emirates AE, United Kingdom UK, United States of America US, Uruguay UY, Uzbekistan UZ
• Venezuela VE, Vietnam VN
• Yemen YE
• Zimbabwe ZW