I spent a large chunk of 2016 waiting for inspiration.

I wanted a thunderbolt, the full-on lightbulb, the air punch. I longed to shout eureka!

What I got was a gradually longer and longer list of domain names that I’d bought, got excited about and which then led me to a “what was I thinking?” bubble-burst.

“You absolute ****ing ****er!! Are you ****ing blind?? Get off your ****ing phone!!” etc etc.

I’m not much of a swearer, honest, except behind the wheel when other drivers’ sheer stupidity never fails to irk me.

September 23rd 1996. Armed with a Nokia 1610 brick and a very fancy Sony cassette dictaphone, I was ready for my first day as a newspaper reporter.

We had no email, no internet and if the fax machine went kaput close to deadline, panic and sometimes tears erupted in the newsroom.