It has been a roller-coaster year for media and marketing, and like all good things it eventually comes to an end.
As you know, Louise is convinced that it's been the use of long words throughout the year that has set the tone for this column.
She is certain that it has separated our readers from those of the other daily paper, which we used to refer to as the ''small paper'' until we changed the size of our business section - very wisely I thought - to the same size as the small paper.
I suppose now the difference between us and them is the continued use of these long words - and of course the fact that our readers understand them.
So Louise insists I tell you that this is the penultimate column for the year before we head off into what the Americans call the holiday season. But the year shouldn't finish without proper recognition of the media and marketing people who have been its stars.
It seems a long time ago but the year began with predictions of a recession as dark as that of the 1930s.
A complete meltdown of our media and marketing world might have been realised. We will, in our final column next week, therefore announce our 10 heroes of the year. They will be the 10 people in media and marketing who have shone throughout the toughest year in a decade.
To slip into the slang that Louise so hates for a minute, they are the 10 Australians who "get it" - 10 Australians from different sectors of the industry who have made a difference for themselves, their companies and Australia.
They are the ones who had vision and the courage of their convictions - a bit like Charlie, who said the downturn would be moderate and even picked its recovery before all the experts.
Our hero has been Charlie. We reckon he "got it" and yet has always remained humble. History has many such heroes. Rugby league has Clive Churchill, and the Clive Churchill medal named in his honour.
In our world, it's Charlie. So next week we will announce the winner of the inaugural Charlies.
The Charlies will recognise those in our industry who deserve our praise. These will be good-news stories. We will leave it to others to pick the losers - and there are enough of them.
The winners will receive a commissioned trophy produced in good old Aussie bronze. The panel of judges, who will remain anonymous of course, will now retire for a week and await the drum roll.
Trying to influence the judges will get you nowhere, and letters to the editor will always be ignored, certainly by him.
But don't let that stop you writing because Charlie, as you know, reads everything. So there it is. Next week: the Charlies.
Just seven sleeps to go.
