Life has a funny way of serving up the unexpected. On Monday I was reading positive feedback from readers about the previous day’s column. Two days later I was on the phone to Dave The Rave, fulfilling a long-held promise that he would be the first to know that the next Stickman weekly column – that is this one – would be the last. What happened?

Many independent, owner-operated, Thailand-centric expat websites have come and gone over the years. Many have been garbage. Some have been good. A few have been very good. The best were run by those who got out and about themselves, observed with their own eyes, had decent analytical skills and perhaps most importantly, made the effort to engage readers. MangoSauce stood out. BangkokBadBoy had its moments. Morally Diminished had potential.

This week the majority owner said that he would struggle to pay me for the rest of the year. The money is not the end of the world and I won’t go hungry, but I have to ask myself: is it worth continuing with it if I am not being at least partially rewarded for all the time it takes to put the column tog

I am not sure what will happen next. The site will most likely stay online but there is a serious conversation that has to be had, copyright and contract issues that need to be discussed and I just don’t know what will come of it.

There is no grand finale column. Maybe I’ll save that for a book. Or maybe this is the end of Stickman entirely and I’ll never write another word as “Stick” after today.

To everyone who has tuned in over the years, whether you’ve been with me since the beginning or have been but an occasional visitor, thank you for being part of the Stickman community.