First I got diagnosed with lung cancer, and that was bad. And then I started taking the pills, and that was good. The cancer got no worse, and I got better.
But now the side effects, if that’s what they are, are starting to pile up, the worst of these being a loss of appetite, and consequent loss of energy. So – to cut a long and medically very dreary and off-putting story short – the time has come for me to stop fretting at all about this little blog every day, and concentrate on writing stuff for Samizdata, of the sort that really matters to me, even if not necessarily mattering that much to anyone else.
I thought I’d be able to do daily stuff here, and go on making headway with the more serious stuff, but it hasn’t worked out that way, and something has to give. Basically I am now back staring death in the face, and there are still things I want to say of a Samizdata sort. Anything that gets in the way of that has to stop.
It’s not that everything here will necessarily stop, although it may well. I just don’t know. What I do know is that all of the limited energy that I have left has to be spent on saying what to me are big things, now. This Blog has been more about accumulating half-baked small thoughts, with a view to fully baked and bigger thoughts suggesting themselves to me in the fullness of time. But I now have no “fullness of time” that I can rely on. So, postings here will happen whenever they happen and when they’re no bother to do, which will not mean every day.
It was fun while it lasted. For me, and I hope for lots of you.
This news is a source of double sadness – sadness for you, having in mind the reason for your announcement, and entirely selfish sadness for myself, because I have found your blog to be a comfortable companion in a time of some personal difficulty, and I will miss my daily visits. For both of these reasons, I hope that you will feel well enough to post a thought and/or a photo from time to time.
I look forward to reading your Samizdata posts.
Brian,
I’ve been a reader of your for nearly two decades now, although a quieter one over the last decade. Your words, thoughts and photography have all been valuable to me — thank you for sharing them.
Best wishes to you in getting said what you want to say.
Brian,
I read your blog first thing every morning and have found it always amusing, often very enlightening and sometimes really quite beautiful. For me it has been just as great a contribution to what really matters in life as your political pieces. In its totality I think it forms a great piece of art – a real perspective on how a particular libertarian individual (you) observes the world day to day. All libertarian writers share their analytical politics. Very few have created art.
Alastair
Yes, it has been fun.
Unfortunately most of what I like to read on the internet (e.g.Samizdata & similar), though informative, has the effect of leaving me a little more annoyed and worked up about the subject than before I started.
This little blog is more soothing and has a nice mix.
There is a bit of ‘ angrily pointing out ‘ , but then there is a lot of ‘ what about this then ‘ which I often haven’t considered, probably never would, but find interesting all the same.
(white vans, ads on taxis, how to photograph faces, scooters, photoers, buildings, cars with round headlights, Straya … ).
I also find the writing style very engaging.
There is something in the way it rolls along, I’m not smart enough to explain what it is, and it doesn’t wear thin.
So thank you for your considerable effort over all these years, including the podcasts, it has been much appreciated and enjoyed.
(From Rob, very infrequent commenter and Strayan living in NZ )
The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on … I’ll miss your daily blog, but look forward to catching up with you on Samizdata.
This blog has certainly been fun for me, Brian. But I do very much enjoy your more serious stuff too, so I will look forward to it.
As fun as it have been reading this blog updates, I totally understand. Please concentrate on fighting a bigger battle.
best of health!