Shafi only has i(s) for me

Shavi, my local newsagent owner, has one set aside for me every morning.

This guy’s good. Despite my paper-hopping over the past year, from Herald to Mail to Telegraph to Times, it didn’t take long for him to latch on that the ‘i’ had become my rag of choice. Monitored me, so he did.

Truth be told, I’ve still to establish if Shavi is definitely his name. I think it is, but I don’t use it to his face yet. I’m going to ask him soon.

We normally talk about the weather; a news headline; the fact he gets up at 4am; or about how I feel most tired on Thursday mornings.

Anyway, he stashes a daily copy of the i for me. My side of the bargain is to keep him sweet with the exact money for payment, or as close to that as I can manage. (The look on his face when I took in a tenner one morning showed me loose change is like lots of sons to him)

You see, that’s the beauty of the i – it only costs me 20p. If I don’t get a proper chance to devour it, I’ve hardly wasted money. A bit like buying a Chomp and not eating it. That said, I reckon I absorb at least 10p of it each day.

An offshoot of The Independent, it has just celebrated its first birthday. Describing itself as “the essential daily briefing”, pages two and three comprise of a matrix-like arrangement of succinct news story summaries, which are then expanded on further inside.

The same format exists in the sport section. James Lawton and Sam Wallace comprehensively front that impressive department.

There’s comment, letters and features too, while the likes of Stefano Hatfield (executive editor) and Simon Kelner usually have daily columns that ‘read short’.

“Ah, but we’ve got the Metro, and it's FREE!” I hear some of you exclaim. The Metro reminds me of Onslow from Keeping Up Appearances.

So, why not have a look at the i for yourselves? Just 20p or five for a pound. Let me know if you rate it.

I'm off to bed.

ZZZzzz ZZZzzz ZZZzzz ZZZzzz

His name is ‘Shafi’ by the way – asked him this morning. He spelt it for me too, so you can quote me on that.

p.s. I've got a big box of Chomps needing eaten if anyone is interested.