In the slow, dark days between Christmas and New Year, it is customary to reflect on the past year, plucking out whatever crumbs of comfort, or acorns of change may be found. So, in the spirit of grudging introspection, I’ve taken a look at the last year of the blog.

Painful though it is to admit it, it went rather well.

In figures – everything is up on last year

• About 332,500 page views in the year (not counting the team’s) (Something like 1,300,000 over the life of the blog)
• Averaging about 920 views a day
• 186 posts (One every 2 days on average)
• 1400 people getting posts via email
• 3500 followers on twitter (many of them real people!)

New looks and layout: 1 (and a bit) – and there at least there is a morsel of discomfort, with one gravely disappointed reader announcing in a heartfelt, if not hugely constructive, way that he “hated it”. I’ve made a few changes since then, but part of me rather hopes not to have softened the blow too much.

None of this would have been possible without the team of helpful elves (my apologies, I have been told that should read ‘dedicated, experienced and knowledgeable housing lawyers’) who write most of the posts and circulate information and updates behind the scenes. As editor, I can officially say they are all fabulous.

And of course, thank you to the commentors on and readers of the blog, who have made it feel like it is right at the centre of housing law.

And for next year? Well, we shall see. It is going to be a very busy one, I suspect.