It’s five years to the day since I left Blackwell, replaced by a machine. At the time, it was the end of an era, but there were already seeds of change. As I put it in my ‘friends only’ post that day: after seven years one of the favourite and perennial characters finally gets the girl. How can the writers end it there?

Well, the scriptwriters didn’t leave it there. They’d already started weaving in a new character and a new storyline, and as everyone now knows, with Emma, the series went from strength to strength. Some other characters returned on a regular basis, others have popped up in supporting roles, and others have been consigned to the bottom draw of the earlier series. Five years ago I didn’t know that I would now be married for almost three, and five years ago, the idea of Indy publishing the book written during those seven previous years, was not a serious proposition. Where I wonder will my life be taken in next five years?

Life is for living, and you never quite no what it has planned for you.