Recently in Personal Category

The customary security presence surrounding the buildings of Canary Wharf is also slightly larger than usual. But rather than their usual task of keeping out unwanted outsiders, the staff are primarily occupied today with moving on the credit crunch's most recent victims before they share their troubles with the waiting media.

Nevertheless, a few of those passing out from the high-rise office's glass doors did stop to explain the mood inside the building. Koen Thijsson was the first employee out the door. He was carrying his belongings in a cardboard box and said: "This is it. I think it's going to be all of us".

I'm a 30-ish writer and journalist. I have an eclectic set of hobbies and interests which may or may not become relevant to these pages. Really, I'm going to use this to vent opinion and thoughts on current events and general philosophies of life, possibly with a somewhat humorous bent, but we'll see. I already have a Livejournal for the more mundane, day-to-day stuff, you see, and fancied doing something a little different. Let's see if it works.

And so, One Man & His Blog was born, initially on Blogger, and then on Movable Type, which has remained the software underlying the site ever since. The eclectic set of hobbies and interests mostly have their own blogs, and I've given up on much of the current affairs stuff, as I was pretty useless at it. 

Through that half decade, the blog has focused on everything from photography, to architecture, to Lewisham life. It's also been through a huge number of design changes:

Now, I'm settled happily into a blogging/journalism intersection groove, as it's where my interest lies - and what my job is about. One Man & His Blog is more important than ever to me, because it's my outboard brain; where I think aloud about the issues that are upmost in my mind at work, articulate them, and share them. 

And I think it's fair to say that this blog has changed my life. I wouldn't be doing the job I'm doing now, if I hadn't started it. I would have missed making some great friends through blogging. It has already fundamentally changed this journalist's working life, and I'm seeing it happen to people I work with all the time. It's been five years well spent.

The fundamental thought process behind setting up this blog remains good for me: it's where I can explore what publishing means in the online age. And thus, I hope I'll still be here, on this blog, doing this stuff in five, 10 and 25 years' time.

Cheers!

Hey, there, my much-neglected but ever-beloved readers.

I've been having a quiet, and largely offline, Christmas with my family, and have been enjoying the break from all things bloggy. But I couldn't let 2007, the first year where my working life has been largely centred around blogging, pass without one last post.

First of all, thank you all for reading, linking and commenting. It's something of a cliché, but this blog really has changed my life and is continuing to do so all the time. Having a place where I can express ideas, discuss them and, yes, have them challenged is invaluable to me, especially as I try to communicate those ideas to other journalists. And the regulars here have been a huge part of that.

Thank you. I owe you all a drink. But, uh, not until I've paid off the Christmas debts, OK?

In the meantime, you can catch me guest posting on Deep Muck Big Rake and experimenting with a more essayist style of blogging over on Coffee & Complexity. And then you can catch me back here with my agenda for 2008 tomorrow.

In the meantime, a very Happy Hogmanay and a Fantastic New Year to everyone who has shared the last year's journey with me here on this blog. May 2008 bring you every happiness.

The problem with having a job where you help other people blog, is that is leaves you too little time to blog yourself…

However. I'm enjoying a quiet little catch-up with my RSS feeds in a Starbucks located, in a slightly sinister manner, just off the A3 in the middle of nowhere.

It's been almost literally a life-saver, though, as I was dangerously close to nodding off at the wheel while on the drive back to London.

However, now that I'm well-caffeinated and my blog addiction is fed, I can set off for sunny Lewisham with a somewhat larger chance of making it home alive…