Although this is a rather self indulgent and sentimental topic, I will start it anyway.

After almost 2 years my innings is up. I am leaving Coping.

I have one day left until I move to London, and even though I will come back from time to time, it seems as though my days as a regular here are up.

One day in early 1998 I typed Blur into Yahoo, and it came up with a link to a site called "Blur Chat", I entered under the name of Damon Albarn and said hello to all my fans. No one bought it and I was told to fuck off. I then became Eddy.

I found Coping from a link coming from Blur Chat. In my first post, I posted a rant about the greatness of Britpop on Garden Central, I got some replies ranging from, "Here Here" to "What magazine did you get that from??", and from then I have coming to Coping since, more or less everyday.

I was thinking how shit the internet would be for us all if Coping would close down. We are an anonymous community who at the end of the day love each other. Coping is the internet equivalent of "the Old School Tie", and even though we don't know each other and many have never seen each other, in the real world Copers are an extended family and I am sure we would all look out for each other. I have made enemies here, but if I met them in real life, I would treat them as a friend, because they are part of my community. Just think, if you are a regular, what this place really means, and realise that it is a significant part of your life, even though it is only electronic entertainment.

Credits- For the people of Coping and Blur Chat: Andromeda, Shaunée, Rents, God (Andy), Butter Gal, Skrooie, Chut, Shifty, Loony Boy, Big Brett, Inertia (Nersh), Hospital, Leda, Jen, Thomas Williams, RSP, Out Of Order, Chris, chris, Stereopop, Indigo, Joe and Ian, Beavis and Butthead, Gargamel, Camden, Lucky, Si, Jamie, Toby, Vicki (Tich), Bree, Essex Dog, Luke (Jugs), Kacy, Occifer, Scratch, Faye, Nide, Open Romantic, Pantsy, Magic Star, Larry, Ryan, Bea, Twig, Krebs, Colin Tea, Caz, Tam, all those in Toowoomba, and all those little pricks in Kettering who littered Blur Chat for a while.

If I have excluded names, I am sorry.

But of all the people I have mentioned, some/most I have never talked to or coversed with and will be surprised at being mentioned, but I still know that you exist, and you have respect for being one of us. Some I have abused, some piss me off, but still, I wanna just say cheers for all the good times. You are the real peeps, and may we always have controversy, outrage and talk complete bollocks on here, even though we are here for one common reason, the best band in the world: Blur.

So when I'm in London, anyone who is interested in a get together just leave a message here, and we will get out on the Lash. Even have a gathering of past and present Copers- on the Lash.

Apologies for being a sentimental old bastard, and not saying "fuck" a lot, but it had to said, here on Coping, that this is a great place and we are lucky that we have it, cheers to everyone who has built and maintained it, perhaps you can give back some of the hours that we have spent in here one day.

Everyone keep it real, and let Coping live for many moons to come.

Much love to you all, (especially the birds wif big jugs.)

And those who never guessed my real identity, you'll never know.

J

Goodbye.

By Scratch Attack on Monday, March 5, 2001 - 03:18 pm:

Do you have a beard ?

Are you Steve Vai ?

By indigo on Monday, March 5, 2001 - 05:36 pm:

aaahhhhh *sob sob*
Eddy, you've touched me! (please remove all traces of sarcasm from your mind). Have a great time in London, we'll be thinking of you!

By Toby on Monday, March 5, 2001 - 05:54 pm:

No lie or bollox, I'm a bit choked up right now.
I believe this calls for a moment of silent reflection:


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What magazine did you get that from??

By evil_eye on Monday, March 5, 2001 - 06:39 pm:

good idea eddy...the first place you should visit is camden and the pubs...get totally pissed and realise getting pissed here is exactly the same as getting pissed where you used to live but costs more....hoorah

By chris on Monday, March 5, 2001 - 11:07 pm:

lmao. crazy shit man. keep it uop

By chut on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 12:39 am:

That was rather sad, actually, good luck Eddy. Everybody seems to be getting real lives these days. The nearest I get is the Channel 4 programme of the same name.

By Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 03:50 am:

I don't understand why he can't be a part of Coping in London. Have they no internet in London?

I suppose I won't bother going down there to steal computers.

By the way Eddy, Leisure Noise was probably the third best CD I ever liberated off somebody.

By morgan on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 08:59 am:

bye to eddy.. and enjoy London.

By Bree on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 02:21 pm:

Marie said you're a prostitute.

By Marie on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 02:33 pm:

Bree said you're a prostitute.

By Bea on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 03:05 pm:

Bye Eddy!!!!
I hope I'll get you now more times in msn, now you'll be in my time zone (btw, get a computer FAST!)

*hugs* and long talks about F1 and Blur

By Skrooie on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 06:06 pm:

Bye Eddy, you've been a top laugh and somewhat of a rarity here on the message board : A Coper who talks sense.

Hahah, but seriously, it's been fun knowing you and hopefully I'll bump into you sometime in London for a bit of a drinkipoo.

Faece out, y'all.

By Fried~Butter~Person on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 06:25 pm:

Oh HELL yeah, Eddy was, is and always shall be a bloody good, honest New Zealander/future National Hero, with a DAMNED lotta common sense. An angry young punqué rockeur and a feisty lout with an outlet for his honest, no~BULL masculine tendencies (ala dirty~realism): and that outlet had a Name, and boy, do we ever know THAT name. Right? RIGHT? From now on, however, that name will be London. He didn't give a shit or for that matter feel ANY emotion whatsoever about landing in that damn joint ~ and FOR THE FIRST TIME ~ but that means SHIT to Eddy, 'coz he will follow his nose 'til he comes upon the seductive scent of Common Sense Central ... AKA Earl's Court.

By kacy on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 04:46 am:

Cheers Eddy!! Be sure also to thank us all in the liner notes of your first album as a successful popstar...or maybe you ARE a successful popstar. Hmm...we may never know.

By L on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 05:17 am:

By The Occifer on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 05:49 am:

Auf Weidersehen, Eddy.

AA = Alcoholics Anonymous
BB = ?
CC = Cubic Centimetres
DD = a bra size

By Lucky on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 07:42 am:

Bysey bye Eddy. And CHEERS CHEERS CHEERS for making me notice the Pixies! La La I Love you.

By BakeSale on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 03:12 pm:

Much as it pains me to say this....BB = Big Brett.

By Lucky on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 04:35 pm:

I almost said that, but I didn't. Oh yes. I have mastered the art of self-control. Yay. Perhaps I should make myself finish my French homework before this wave of discipline fades away.

Damn there it goes.

By indigo on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 09:20 pm:

bye bye!

By nathallie on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 10:41 pm:

bye eddy, and i hope you find many a sexy shirt to replace the one you almost lost... have lots of fun!
love,
nat.

By The Occifer on Thursday, March 8, 2001 - 03:42 am:

........................................OBITUARY!!!!!1....................................

As the closest and most loving member of Eddy's throng of mates and big-jugged birds, I feel it is my duty as well as my honour to provide him with his very own Obituary.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that Eddy was a good, solid New Zealander with a damned lot of common sense. Actually, if I may, I'll take back the last part of that sentence, for Eddy had not only an inordinate amount of common sense, but lashings and lashings of sense and wisdom of the most UNcommon varieties. Oh how terrible it must have been for Eddy to roam this earth, filled as it is with plebs of lowly intelligence and frustratingly incorrect spelling and grammar. Oh how he must've gritted his teeth in his daily encounters with us artists and poets when he truly knew that it all was bullshit/bollocks that deserved to be spat upon from a great height!

But I am digressing from my major point: the fact that Eddy was a good, solid New Zealander with a damned lot of common sense. If we are to remember Eddy for anything, I stress ANYTHING, then it must be this... Who can question the wisdom in suppressing your feelings?! Not I! Who can query the practicality in feeling NOTHING!!? Not I! Who can argue that becoming an emotionless animal is not the way of the future??! Once more, not I! Eddy was a model of the future that we must look to if we are to survive as human beings on this harsh planet. Why, if you dont feel anything, you'll never get hurt! Disappointment wont exist, for you never even had an appointment in the first place!

Now, dear Copers, I must ask you all to stand and join me in a song.

Ready? 1, 2, 3...

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye-ye!!
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye-ye!

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye-ye!!
I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie-ie!

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye-ye!!
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly-ye!

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

GOODBYE!!

*the end*

By Butter~Person. on Thursday, March 8, 2001 - 10:14 am:

That beautiful, tender poem at the end of your obituary sounds like it could be sung to the tune of that song in the Academy~Award winning Julie Andrews masterpiece, The Sound Of Music. (Okay, so I know how to post pix, but not italics.) Couldn't have put it better myself, Occifer~Person. But Skrooie could. What was it he said? Eddie was that Rare Thing (colon) A Coper who talked sense.
Let's face it ~ that said it ALL!!1 Nope, there's no beating that Skrooie. Never was. Unless you were Eddie. It's just too much to deal with that I've gotta refer to him in the past tense... ~fade out to the diagetic sound of tears on my pillow~

By peter on Thursday, March 8, 2001 - 10:15 am:

yes goodbye, we surely appreciated that load of intelligent comments from the Occifer.

By misogynist on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 05:32 am:

Frankly I dont give a shit

By TobyZ on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 02:27 am:

I can't let Eddy's eloquent goodbye end on that note, so:

And I feel the light
In the night and in the day
And I feel the light
When the sky's just mud and grey
And I feel the light
When you tell me it's OK
Cos you're so great and I love you


Not "love" like that, by you knows what I mean.