Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

On 31 July, Technorati tracked its 50 millionth blog. The blogosphere, as David Sifry notes, is doubling in size every 200 days. But it's a revolving door, this blogosphere, and although the growth is celebrated, less time is spent on those who exit the building, as it were. Today, we honour one blogger who has decided to say good night and good luck. With regret, our blogroll on the left below here no longer contains a link to Gavin's Blog. Moving on to "pastures new", he is. He will be with us in spirit, however:

"But for now, I will be happy with tracking the development of blogging and how it may affect the media, specifically in Ireland. And I would also hope that with the increasing volume of blogs in Ireland, that the sense of community that has existed will still pervade, no matter how large the number of bloggers, or indeed their audience."

To give thanks for all the great posts, Rainy Day "commissioned" the celebrated Private Eye poet E.J. Thribb (17) to compose a work in Gavin's honour. And here it is:

"In Memoriam
GAVIN'S BLOG

So. Farewell then
Gavin's Blog
Voice of Ireland.

It would appear that
You have given up

But have you?
Asked Keith's mum.

We have been
Here before

Have we not?

But then. Does
Anyone really give up?

Blogging.

This is the question.

E.J. Thribb (17)

To make up for the loss of Gavin, Rainy Day has expanded the blogroll to include, among others, Austin Bay, Michael J. Totten, Global Guerrillas, EU Serf and Armavirumque.