Those of you that still tried to check in from time to time will have noticed this blog disappearing and reappearing almost at will. The answer for that one is very simple. ISP bandwidth. That is to say, the site was so popular with feed aggregators and bots that my daily bandwidth of 250 MB was being exceeded. This meant my site was being archived by my ISP practically on a daily basis, with a stern note for me to ‘fix’ whatever was using up all my bandwidth.

To be frank, I didn’t have the time to mess about with the configuration of my webspace, so after the third or fourth successive archiving, I thought bollocks to it, and left the site in the ether. This almost exactly co-incided with the news from a friend that my identity was actively being sought. As you may know, I never really started out anonymous anyway, so my identity is known to lots of people, and it was with that in mind that I had always sought to ensure that I didn’t break any rules with my posts. That in itself was quite restrictive in what I could post about, which sort of defeated the object of the blog - which was to tell it like it is, not to tell it so that it won’t get me into trouble.

In addition to the technical and indirect pressure from professional standards, I’ve had a very big year. My mum died, which hit me hard, and then I was married a few months later which again was difficult (not the being married bit, but the fact that my mum never survived to see it, despite her determination to do so). A long fantastic honeymoon and a summer of hard work all conspired with the aforementioned issues to lead me to realise that my blogging days were done. I have so much else going on in my life now that blogs don’t feature, and the 20 or so excellent blogs that I used to read have even been removed from my feed reader.

I did however find an interesting post on the Blues and Two’s blog from April this year. So familiar to my situation in the past that I could have written it myself. It was only upon reading it again and my being struck that it was so terribly familiar that I realised it was written by me - at least the first two paragraphs of it - back in September 2007. Not quite sure why B&T felt the need to shamelessly copy and paste a post of mine onto their blog, but I suppose I should be flattered.

So, here I am, posting my final message, getting closure on an enjoyable couple of years blogging (and the online diary too for that that knew me before my blogging days). The site will (disciplinary hearings notwithstanding) remain for posterity, though posting will be locked down (it will also save me from the thousands of spam I receive every week). Thanks to everyone that sent me their best wishes whilst I was away from the blog. One final reason why Another Constable won’t ever be back… to top off my busy year, I also got promoted! Another reason to reconsider my position on posting to a far from anonymous blog. Another Constable is dead, long live Another Sergeant