This is my 1000th post here, and an appropriate place to try not to crow that I'm among some fine company on The Times' 100 Best Blogs list. I couldn't have kept this place going (to the relief of a few, I suspect) without help from various people who mostly know who they are, who convinced me I was a half-decent writer in the first place, and stopped me having to get a real job (with some help from Incapacity Benefit and Jobseekers Allowance, and bar a some mercifully brief spells of washing-up, subediting and audio-typing), and to whom I am quite ridiculously grateful, even if it doesn't always appear so.