Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.

(Please see UPDATE at end)

This quotation from Romeo and Juliet (Act 4, Scene 3) is my way of saying that this little blog, like all good things in life, is coming to an end. I have thought about stopping writing here on many occasions over the past five and a half years, but this thought has until now been a relatively fleeting sentiment; for the last few weeks, however, I have begun to look at blogging as more of a chore than a pleasure. One of the factors that kept me blogging in the early days was that there were still relatively few UK-based bloggers in 2002, when I began this blog, writing about current affairs, politics and 'gay issues'; this continued to be the case until two or so years ago. Since then there has been an 'explosion' of what might be called serious bloggers tackling a wide variety of issues and from all points of view.

For several years, until probably about a year and a half ago, there hardly seemed to be sufficient hours in the day for me to write about all that I felt needed to be covered; during the last eighteen months or so, though, the occasions when I have felt a burning need to offer the world my views on any given topic have become fewer and fewer and have usually been connected with elections here in the UK, or in parts of it, or on matters relating to homosexuality and in particular the attitudes of various religious denominations towards it. On some issues, too, I have begun to feel that my writings have become a little like a worn record, specially on topics that I feel strongly about. It is possible that there may be a national election here before the end of this year, but I doubt very much that I shall have the time to devote to covering it if it happens, for reasons (see also related blog) that are probably clear to those who have visited at all regularly, so rather than keeping this blog going in dribs and drabs, which is what I have been doing in reality for several months now, I have decided that it is better to call a definitive halt. As I mentioned earlier, there are now numerous UK-based bloggers writing from all sorts of points of view and a few write about things at least partly from my perspective on a variety of issues. In other words there is unlikely to be any shortage of commentary for those who seek it.

It is not absolutely impossible that I shall resurrect this blog after a period of dormancy, but I think it unlikely. I have mostly had fun writing here, though. Finally I would like to thank all those who have been kind enough to visit my blog from time to time or regularly and to those who have let me have their comments in response I offer an especial 'Thank you', even to those who have occasionally not been at all complimentary about what I have written; I have found all the interactions which my writings have provoked to be both interesting and stimulating. My very best wishes to all those who pass this way over coming days, weeks, months and years - I don't plan to delete this blog, simply to leave it in place as a record of one person having for five or so years been a blogger and who is now one no longer.

UPDATE: I just couldn't keep away! My blog was 'resurrected' on 21st November 2007 - you can read the 'reinaugural' post here.