Hello there.

I’ve been away for a while. Not ‘in prison’ away, or ‘overseas’ away, just away. It’s something I have to do every now and then, maybe once a year. This time around, the need to not be here – to not be anywhere – was a lot stronger than it has been for a long time. Read between the lines if you like. You may be right. You may be wrong.

It’s very easy to disappear from the social media sphere. Stop posting on a blog and the hits fall more quickly than you’d imagine. Don’t tweet for a while; nobody notices. Facebook’s a little different: the people on your friends list might not notice you’ve not posted a cute kitten picture for a few weeks, or you’ve not ‘liked’ one of their doubtless pithy observations on life. Facebook itself, though, won’t let you go. Facebook is like a needy ex. Facebook will keep sending you emails, telling you how you were talked about, that you’ve had messages and notifications because it’s so really important that you sign in and check everything out.

I avoided Facebook for two weeks. It sent me an email every five hours. It was stalking, pure and simple. I should have notified the police.

Disappearing from the real world's not quite as easy, but it's still no effort to become as isolated as you wish to be. Don't answer the phone. Don't call your friends. Only do the things you need to do to stay alive, whatever 'alive' means to you. Everybody has other people to be concerned about, and in a few weeks you're re-classified as 'Whatever happened to...' or 'I must get back in touch with...'

For a while, I was willing, no, deliberately working towards becoming as separate as possible from the rest of the world. There were reasons, but that's not for here.

It’s time to start the long process of coming back. There are no promises; this post may be the only one for a while. There again, it may be the first in a flood of the buggers.

Let’s see, shall we?