And now, the end is near…..

I’m typing this out on my iPhone, tapping at images on a screen, connected to a 4G network and my wife is beside me on the bus into work.

Apart from work, none of that would have made sense to me in March 2000, when I wrote my first entry here. My wife, Caffy, also started here around the same time. And we met through here, moved to be with each other, got married, bought a house and lived happily ever after.

We’re just one of the thousands of stories that arose from this place. I haven’t written here on a regular basis since we began seeing each other, which is over 11 years now, but I usually managed one or two entries a year.

We met lovely people from here and continue a lot of those friendships in one form or another on Facebook or Twitter. But I outgrew this place; I associated it with being sad and single. That’s not to generalise, it’s literally just my own image of writing on OD.

I lived at home when I started, with no internet. I’d use college computers to check email and OD was another time thief with which I could avoid college. I also used Internet cafés a lot, some of my best work was done on greasy keyboards in Aihua, a Chinese internet cafe/restaurant down Cathedral Street in Dublin.

But mostly I remember the lonely. I will miss my favourites and hope to see them on Prosebox. I will try and write there, some day. I won’t name everyone because I’ll forget someone, but suffice is to say if I’ve met you more once through here, I probably liked you a lot.

Except for pandora, who I only met once yet like a lot.

Shit, I named someone. And Lindsey, she’s lovely too. And Rebecca, Ina, Emma, Ailish and Caroline. And Roisin and Robyn – but I never met them. Wow, I know a lot of women from here.

Most importantly, I met Catherine. I liked her and that unlike this place, we won’t ever end. So that’s OD’s legacy for me.

j X