NOTHING lasts for ever, and in the case of a column that’s surely a good thing. Style tends to become jaded, opinions repeated, the whole thing that little bit too familiar.

So this is the last time I will have my picture at the top of this page on a Tuesday morning, a practice which began in 2006 – is it really so long ago? – when I was asked to fill in for the regular incumbent.

I wasn’t very happy with the result, so was slightly surprised when the established columnist said he wanted a break and suggested I “fill in”. The rest is history, as they say.

Since then I’ve written about weird weather, witnessing a war zone (Afghanistan), trying and failing to give blood, encountering first man on the Moon Neil Armstrong at York Railway Station, why I didn’t vote for a police and crime commissioner, Nelson Mandela’s legacy of trust and a whole range of local issues.

My personal favourite wasn’t an orthodox opinion piece, but one where I sought to adopt the voice of the original Sherlock Holmes commenting on the antics of his latest television incarnation. However, that probably could only really appeal to those familiar with the Conan Doyle books.

My columns have provoked differing reactions. Some people have wanted me to be shut up on certain issues long before now; sometimes I’ve been surprised at the level of support my comments received.

It’s dangerous to take either criticism or praise too seriously. One week someone called me the best writer working for this publication, which boosted my self-regard, but I got my deserved comeuppance the following week when a comment on my next column described it as “the product of a diseased mind” – which I thought was a bit unfair but also quite liked, in a funny sort of way.

I have to admit that most of the time I tried not to take criticism too much to heart, and took more notice of comments made by people who put their name to them than those made anonymously through our website – partly because it was suggested to me that the real reason my predecessor gave up writing his column was due to the debilitating effect of trying to cope with apparently endless internet carping.

The one criticism which really did infuriate me was when a local politician tried to twist my words and attacked me for something I hadn’t actually said. Whether this was deliberate or due to an inability to comprehend fairly simple English I really don’t know.

One of the impressions I get from comments on columns generally, not just my own, is quite a lot of readers fancy their own creative writing abilities. Indeed, some of them clearly think they would do a much better job than the actual columnists.

That may or may not be so, but you won’t be surprised if I suggest putting a column together is not as easy as it probably seems.

How I did it varied; sometimes I was so struck by ideas and topics that I could write the pieces in good time, sometimes I wrote them virtually on the deadline.

On occasion I would write the whole thing well in advance and then carefully sift through the arguments and edit them. At other times I’d write out a draft, then scrap the whole thing and do it again, whether on the same topic or a new one.

Sometimes the carefully prepared pieces worked the best; sometimes those driven by a rush of adrenalin were the ones that hit the spot.

Will I miss it? Some days, definitely not. But when something stirs my feelings or inspires my imagination, or perhaps when a telling phrase slips into my head and I want to share it, then yes, I certainly will miss it. Whether anyone else will is, of course, quite another matter.