This just happened to catch my eye while I was saving the images I once put on this website from the greedy paws of Photobucket...

The last diary I put up here will be 10 years old in a few months. There's a certain irony in it that it covered citizen participation (or lack thereof) at the EU level. A few weeks after writing that diary my wife discovered she was pregnant of our first child, the rest is history. It took me nearly 8 years to realise that time for blogging (or writing in general) was gone and not coming back any time soon.

Although I don't think the original European ideals have lessened for the younger generation (if anything, the war in Ukraine has brought these back to the fore) the online media usage has incontrovertibly shifted to different, faster platforms, and even while typing this comment I see how the ET platform is no longer a competitive match compared to Substack or Discord platforms.

Of course I'd much rather see the site return to its former glory, but imo an influx of more active bloggers and a technical upgrade would be a prerequisite. If all things must end - to cherish this place and keep treasuring the good times (and remember a few of the bad times), I can also support putting the website moving into read mode and keep it as a bastion of knowledge.