Never
Thursday, August 28th, 2008The final week of my Independent fishing column. For a moment, I was tempted to bury a hidden message in it (but a little more subtle than the first letter of successive sentences) but in the end, I decided that would be a little petty.
Nothing to do with the quality (or so the sports editor claims), it’s just that the bean-counters have been rootling in the undergrowth and found they can save a few more quids by bumping me off. I guess that when you’re a bean-counter, you count small beans as well.
Because I’ve written for the paper since it started (22 years) and must be the longest-serving columnist, you would have thought that the gods would at least have invited me for a drink. No luck. Not even a gold watch in the shape of a fish. Rather makes me wish I hadn’t turned down the Mail.
I’m rather hoping the paper will be swamped with Angry of Hampstead letter (“I’m never buying the paper again…”) but fishermen are notoriously apathetic. Both Angling Times and Angler’s Mail ran stories about the Indy killing the column. I got a few calls, but their letters pages weren’t exactly swamped with threats of violence against Independent News & Media.
One plus is that I’ve never signed over full rights, so I’ve got hundreds (say, 50 x 22 years) of columns that I’ll turn into one book. Maybe two or three. It’s my idea of a book. Just write an intro, put them in a vague sort of order, and there’s a book.
Curtis has also suggested that I continue the column online. Seems a good idea, running it through the Classic Angling website. We’ll suck it and see.
Then again, maybe the Economist or the Wall Street Journal will come a-courting and offer me shedloads of money.
And maybe fish will fly.