Draining the Pond

Oh, hell-o.  Yes, you caught us.  We were just taking down the bunting, folding up the chairs and putting the tables away.  The tea and coffee-making area also needs a wash-down, so if you want to lend a hand, don’t be shy.  There’s a plate of cookies/biscuits on the counter; they may be a bit stale, but help yourself.

No, we were not planning to sneak away without telling you.  We just wanted to clean up a bit before inviting you to come by so we could say our farewells and you could take us to the pub for a celebratory drink.  You were planning to buy us a drink, weren’t you?  I mean, it is kinda traditional, and this is an occasion of sorts, and, uh, well, we just assumed…okay, we’ll buy.

(At the pub, somewhere between the first drink and the “I love you, man!” stage)

Who could have guessed that a long-distance collaboration would last for three whole years!  I think that’s some kind of record.

We started Pond Parleys after our National Radio debut in January 2009 with the intention of pro-actively leveraging our 15-minute of fame into a performance-based marketing initiative with the mission objective of monetizing our deliverables because that is the sort of pseudo-business bollocks people spoke back then, but that was never the real reason (good thing, too, because it was never the actual result); we just wanted to have fun.

And we did.

We covered topics ranging from gun control, patriotism and government corruption to discussions on accents and the proper way to make a sandwich.  And along the way we had a bunfight over a green bean casserole, of all things. 

But fun as it was, all things must end and we wanted to go before we heard the embarrassed shuffling of feet and the impatient jingle of car keys.  Like MASH and Cheers (and unlike Happy Days and the Rocky Movies) we thought we’d go while the going was still good, and before we were pushed.

Don’t be sad; we’re only closing Pond Parleys, we’re not going to disappear.  Toni is still blogging at Expat Mum and Mike is still posting his perennial Postcards From Across the Pond (now celebrating its 10-year anniversary—that’s like 187 in blog-years).  Come and visit us there; don’t be a stranger.  I love you, man!

We'll leave you now with this final message: