Goodbye, Thank grumpy it's Friday...

Cheerio!

Thank grumpy it's Friday is no more.

After 291 columns (292 if you count the potentially libellous one that didn't get published), 145500 words, and 6 years, my days of writing 500 words a week for publication in The Mail have come to an end.

In case you hadn't guessed, this is the big news I've been mentioning for a couple of months now.

Having found myself, with increasing regularity, sat in front of a blank screen with the submission deadline screaming at me, I spent the latter part of last years worried I was drying up. This also got me questioning if I was actually any good any more.

With little in the way of feedback from either the paper, or it's readers, I finally decided I'd call it a day at the end of the year, and sent an email to the paper explaining at the start of November. Column 289 would be my last outing.

The reply was somewhat startling. They were just about to offer me a full page. Not just in the Mail. In the News & Star too, which covers the north and west of Cumbria.

Ooo. Validation. What to do?

I thought about it a lot. Chatted to a few people. Consulted Mrs G. I even tried a Twitter poll (42% said "Never stop - I love you", 50% "Keep going - you're OKish").

I still couldn't decide.

Eventually, I started being a bit more positive. I have ideas all the time and thoughts about things in the news etc. I'm just poor at remembering them. What if I (and this is shocking) WROTE THEM DOWN?!!!

So here we are. Jenwis Hamilbutton was killed off during Big Blogger. Thank grumpy it's Friday has ended.

The lure of a page to express my innermost weirdness, in two papers, was too much. I'm giving it a go. The paper wanted to badge me as "Cumbria's grumpiest columnist", but as I'm actually only grumpy 99.7% of the time, that didn't seem appropriate.

So now Fridays will be accompanied by "A wry look at the week".

Apologies to the 8% on Twitter who voted "Stop. For God's sake".

New title. New photo (thanks, Jenna!). 2 papers. 3 topics. A whole page. 1000 words per week.

Eek...

And here's the first outing from The Mail, with an initial teaser on page 2. Looks like the decision to go with "A wry look..." was too late for this edition. I'm presuming the same layout will apply in the News & Star, but I haven't got a copy yet.

I think I might be a little bit proud...

Malaysian Grand Prix - Vettel hot, but not bothered

Malaysia. It's always hot, and it always rains. Except the 2nd part is no longer true (unless you count the drizzly bit around lap 14). Saturday's qualifying session had highlighted the fact that Red Bull and McLaren seemed well matched on pace, but also that Ferrari were struggling. Whilst Vettel bagged another pole, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Button, Alonso was only 5th, and Massa 7th, with Nick Heidfeld an excellent 6th on the grid between the two red cars. At this point, I would like to break momentarily for a small rant: How many times do I have to say Heidfeld is good? Why wasn't he given a top drive years ago? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU BLIND!!!?? Ahem. The Hispanias somehow managed to a) turn up b) remember to bring cars c) get both of them on the track d) actually get both of them within 107%. Pretty remarkable really. Oh, and it didn't rain. Race day looked a more likely candidate for a drop of the wet stuff. The start was exciting, with

Senna bags Willy drive?

The great thing about F1 rumours is that they change every 5 minutes. Just last week it was looking like Barrichello might be back in at Williams, as new engines, tech staff and a general reshuffle would mean they needed someone who actually knew what they were doing in an F1 car. Which rules out Maldonado, obviously. Now it looks like Senna might be about to get a seat with the team where his Uncle lost his life. I'm sure Bruno's mum must be delighted. I don't hold with all this superstitious mumbo-jumbo though, and with the extraordinary level of safety in modern F1 cars, Bruno should be pretty safe. There is one significant problem with Williams signing him though - and this is going to be a bit unpopular I suspect - Bruno isn't very good. Yes, he put in a couple of reasonable performances with Renault, but Nick Heidfeld (ah... Nick and his lovely beard...) would have been able to do likewise, has he not been dropped. And then they dropped Senna too. Thi

I know I'll regret this...

For @Feisty_Onion @BroughtonLass @LizWestmorland Me... before the grumpiness set in. Have a great weekend.

grumpyf1

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