Happy Christmas to readers of the International Herald Tribune

OK, I'm off now for a Christmas break from all my writing, including this blog.

It's been a fascinating month for me, learning about blogging, the blogosphere, and more about the International Herald Tribune.

I had been meaning to experiment with blogging for a long time, and this is the experiment, with over 80 posts in a month, in what one other blogger described as a 'somewhat obsessive manner'.

Clearly I can't keep up this pace - I don't have the time.

Nor am I even sure I want to keep blogging at all.

After all, all the observations I have made on this blog are ones that I would mostly make anyway, and not spend anytime having to write them up, for the benefit of who knows who: anyone?

I know the blog is being read by some people at the IHT, many of them senior, but they're not voting on my little polls to show they've been for a visit. Nor are they posting or emailing me (with three honourable exceptions - thanks to you!)

Nor am I being paid.

So what is the point?

I'll come back to that question in the New Year but for now I am signing off (temporarily or permanently - come back in January to find out).

I'll leave you with one of those all so popular lists that MSM love to publish at this time of year:

IHT Journalist of the Year: James Kanter
Best Section: Technology (last Thursday's Personal Tech page just one of many outstanding examples of the section and a great End User column by Victoria Shannon on a mobile phone gadget that measures your carbon imprint)
Best Columnist: Paul Krugman
Best IHT Attribute of the Year: Spotting the stories and then following them up
Best Balls-up: Calling Istanbul the capital of Turkey

Happy Christmas to everyone at the IHT, and its readers, but especially those pulling down the Christmas holiday shifts. We appreciate it and keep up the good work.

It's a fantastic newspaper that deserves to be what it aspires to be: The World's Daily Newspaper.

Finally, one last thought for the powers that be at the IHT: if it wants to succeed it has to succeed online, and to do that, it needs to create a real sense of community amongst its readers.

This blog is an example of the sort of thing that www.iht.com maybe needs - an online reader ombudsman featured on the home page.

You know where to find me...and besides, if I do carry this thing on, it would be helpful to have a copy editor knocking the Britishisms out of me.

My appeal for a job is tongue in cheek, but as an IHT reader I'd love to be able to read this blog myself and not have to spend the time writing it.

Happy Christmas one and all.