Belle de Jour hangs up blogging boots

GAMING HARDWARE is rather like sex; people like to make out like it's complicated, and whole journals get written on it, but in the end its nothing more than a means to an experience.

Saw A today. She came around to spend the weekend so we could have some 'us' time, and brought some cake. I think she resents my interaction with MM and CC, I seem to spend a lot of time keeping them happy. I tell her it's just work, but it seems like she really didn't want to do much except kiss and cuddle. Maybe they're getting in the way of her happiness. Who knows, but it appears they're definitely getting in the way of my satisfaction.

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"You can stop reading that bloody BdJ for a start."

I'm generally the kind of guy that will suffer in silence. If she really wanted me to stop reading the musings of a Guardian-award-winning call-girl blogger, I probably would. Maybe I wouldn't, perhaps I'd put on my best blanking face and lie through my teeth like so many PR types. It's not like she checks my machine ( God knows what she'd find if she did). I'm not sure why I would feel guilty.

No, correction, I am certain why - because there is definitely something addictive about reading the intimate details of someone else's life, especially when it seems so much more exciting (and, to be honest, sexually explicit) than ones own. It's not cheating, but perhaps if the mind is already half way there, it might as well be.

Regardless, it seems BdJ has decided to hang her stilettos up, blog-wise. Washed her writing stockings one last time. Given her blogging fingers a rest ( God knows, RSI must be a double hazard for a blogging call girl. Do you think she'd get her digits insured, like some of those pro-gamers? In fact, if gaming hardware is like sex, does that make journalists the whores of the tech world? It's not an uncommon phrase amongst those party to the occasional industry shindig).

Suffice to say, no more BdJ for me, and A can be happy in the knowledge that high-class hookers are no longer part of my daily routine. You can continue to check out the BdJ blog, since she promises to keep it updated with new book news. Small consolation.

Smart, sex-savvy, fantastic writer. Why are all the best ones taken? µ