So how was your 2022 and what are your hopes for 2023?
2022
HIGH 1
In 2020, my 95 y.o. uncle died leaving me and my sister a tiny dilapidated cottage and beautiful area of riverfront land in rural Ireland. While hardly Downton Abbey, the place has been in my family for almost 200 years and since I spent many my childhood holidays there has huge emotional significance for me.
The fly in the ointment?
Before he passed away, my uncle sold about 0.6 hectares of forested land at the back of the main plot to a pair of chancers – a rich entitled Z-list celeb and her oleaginous husband – who had “befriended” him.
Having paid my uncle rock bottom rates for the site knowing full well development there was expressly prohibited, the pair wasted no time in illegally erecting two huge sheds. The first is easily adaptable into a house, while the second destroys the view from the tiny cottage where my Dad and his four brothers and sisters were born and raised.
The fact that I eventually learned that the pair had used lockdown to remove all of my uncle’s tools from his shed and build a jetty on land he’d left to me and my sister merely made my latest victory all the sweeter.
HIGH 2
After almost nine years of searching high and low, finally finding an Irish Water Spaniel and making a fair amount of progress in my efforts to train the bloody stubborn beast. There are few pleasures in life lovelier than being able to let your dogs off the leash and watching them run wild and free across the fields and down the river shoreline.
LOWS
Huge, sadly seemingly intractable family problems resulting from the ongoing planning disputes above.
2023
HOPES (MICRO)
That the neighbours retreat to their side of the boundary and leave me and the beautiful scenery they are so intent on despoiling the fuck alone.
HOPES (MACRO)
Impossible, I know, but surely the people of Russia, China and the US can come to their collective senses and replace Putin, Xi and Trump with someone at least vaguely savoury.
I do hope you have a full legal victory and turf those bastards out! We are plagued here by nearby illegal developments that have sprung up without any respect for the laws – combine that with apparently spineless planning authorities and the result is a general reduction in any common consideration of others as regards the despoiling of countryside. It’s not a modern disease, but one would have hoped that after all these years the law existed with at least sufficient teeth to curb the vandalism. But the legal stick it seems is not, at least in England, equal to the carrot as perceived by the greedy exploiters. I wish you complete success in your search for justice for the land and those who have grown upon it.
I want to hear more about your uncle’s house! You started by describing this as a “high”, so I was expecting a final twist in your story where this Z-list celeb was turfed out of the area and had to tear down the sheds! Hope it gets sorted.
I don’t really go into much personal stuff on here so sorry if my highs and lows are a bit elliptical. My high of 2022 has just been a newfound sense of acceptance of myself and my place in the world. I’m 50 next year and finally getting a sense of that feeling of contentment in middle age that I have heard so much about, and I’m happy with the people, animals, books and music in my life. My low is probably work: for no particular reason I have come to loathe my job in 2022 and feel like I have been treading water for years, but with an accompanying pessimism that going through the hassle of finding another job would make anything any better. I think I am just fed up working!
Arthur may I steal your “Low” word for word as you have summed up my situation precisely
Your username makes me think you are actually someone I work with??? You’re not, are you? That would be hilarious, if we were both posting on here under false names complaining about our jobs, when it turns out we work in the same office!
Quick check #1: Do you work in Glasgow and does “Hoops” refer to Celtic?
Quick check #2: Do you work for an insurance company?
Ooh this is like The Shop Around the Corner …
Just hope one of you is not the other one’s boss and you’re not each other’s reason to complain.
Alas much as I respect Glasgow’s finest, my name is (predictably) a Steely Dan reference- this is the Afterword after all, and I work for an IT company rather than an insurance company
It’s been a return to pretty much normal, as for many of of us. The only significant difference to my life before and after the pandemic is that WFH is here to stay. I know from other discussions here that it doesn’t suit everyone, but I’m strongly introverted and enjoy my own company. For me at least it’s a rare silver lining to the last difficult couple of years.
The Light and I have still not had Covid so far as we know, which is all the more remarkable as she’s frontline in a major NHS hospital. Some of her colleagues have been infected three times. We’re either very lucky or have been asymptomatic, though I know three people who currently have their first dose of the lurgy.
Gigs and holidays are back to normal too. In spring we had to wear masks in airports and on flights, by summer it was only on the bus from Venice Marco Polo to Piazalle Roma, and a few weeks ago on a trip to Krakow for the Christmas market it was, ‘Covid? What’s Covid?’ A scan of my calendar show that we’re back to about two shows of various sorts a month, but not many of them have been that great. I think we’ll be more choosy in 2023.
Covid, and some other ailments common to the elderly, took my father at the start of the year. We were never close and the loss wasn’t upsetting in any way, but returning to the town where I spent my teens for the first time in decades laid some ghosts to rest. The Light’s father died a few months later, and frankly it’s the best thing to happen to her for years. Being as charitable as I can about the deceased, he treated her appallingly. He did at least make provision for her in his will, which raises some exciting opportunities once probate is sorted out. Per ardua ad astra.
“The only significant difference to my life before and after the pandemic is that WFH is here to stay. I know from other discussions here that it doesn’t suit everyone, but I’m strongly introverted and enjoy my own company. For me at least it’s a rare silver lining to the last difficult couple of years.”
I echo that. I now work from home three days a week, and it’s always a relief after starting the week with two days in the office. I think on balance I need both; the office is good just to have that face time with people, but back at home I feel I can finally step back and take control of things better.
See my blessing/curse below. I’m not that introverted, and Before Covid would routinely spend days in the office without speaking to anyone (my role is self-contained). Physically (dodgy guts), WFH suits me, but I’m beginning to think for the good of my Mental Health I need to go in more regularly – I managed two afternoons in 2022.
I’ve only been in for team meetings, which are rare (3 or 4 since the first lockdown). I couldn’t help but notice that everyone had so much to say to each other at the last one that we struggled to fit the agenda into the time allowed, and thought we would all benefit from being in the same room more often, but once every couple of months would do it. For my actual work suits my job as well as my personality.
I work in a lab mostly so have been at work pretty much the whole time, sometimes with 2 or 3 others, sometimes more, sometimes less. The management have now decreed everybody (who is vaccinated) needs to come in at least 2 or 3 days a week, thats the whole company
There has been a similar decree for those who work for the government in the city (by far the biggest employer), many are against this based on reading the online reaction. But it is not just about seeing people and “water cooler” conversations but also saving public transport in the city as well as many restaurants/coffee shops that rely on a steady trade from workers. Also huge offices in downtown locations remaining mostly empty. It’s a complicated issue that I don’t think anyone expected
What’s the story with all those companies that used to regularly switch their office locations, to have a big expense to set against their tax liability?
There were lucrative knock-ons from that for the construction industry.
I imagine there are a lot of empty office blocks now, with no interested buyers.
Not that many public works projects either, except for a few really big ones for really big companies.Housing seems to be what the construction industry relies on now. Glad I’m retired from all of that.
My year was a bit better than 2021, but still not very satisfying. I’ve got into a rut and need to do something about it.
Finances are surprisingly stable, probably due to (a:) the money HM Govt. are currently chucking the way of us pensioners and (b:) the fact that I’m still out and about less than before lockdown.
As far as UK politics are concerned, I think the bottom of the barrel was reached and given a good scraping in 2022. Short of bursting through it into unknown Nether Regions, things can only get better.
Socially, there are encouraging signs that the Libertarian spell has been broken and people are taking notice of things as they actually are, rather than what the Mail, Sun etc. would have them believe.
Violent crime and lack of opportunity are concerns, particularly amongst the young. I would not like to be a parent of someone coming into their teens right now.
A Vauxhall Astra is hard work?You should have gone with the Micra, mate
@vulpes-vulpes
Cheers, V.V.
Despite much apathy and antagonism from various other members of my family here, am determined to see this through.
The neighbors’ lack of respect for the land they bought and the place they bought it in truly beggars belief. “Why would you care about the place, John, you just inherited it”, the woman told me when I confronted her about her stealing land to build their jetty.
If nothing else, my efforts are costing the gruesome twosome a great deal of money in terms of belatedly sourcing the various reports that should have formed the basis for their planning application at the very outset.
Cost them considerably more if the council does its job and makes them pull their eyesores down and make good the environmental damage they caused in building them to begin with.
Remember you mentioned in the past that you used to visit the west of Ireland some time. If you ever get over this way again, PM me and I’ll be happy to show you the place.
@jaygee
We’d love to come see. We’ve been unable to cross the sea for a few years due to a combination of the obvious – Covid – and the personal; an ageing Jack Russell – far too old at 19 to put into kennels, far too frail to subject to the crossing from Pembroke to Rosslare, and frankly far too old to enjoy himself even once he’d made it across. But a little while ago now he’s gone on to chase sky-rabbits, and his place has been taken by a young hooligan called Alfie. Alfie will take ferry crossings in his stride, so once again we have the possibility of returning to our favourite haunts out to the west of Galway. We are always up for exploring north or south from there; you can be sure that if we do manage to escape we’ll give you a yell before we leave. Mine’s a Slane or a Tullamore, what’ll you have?
Roscommon is just up the road from West Galway, VV. So I think we can settle in at Coffey’s Bar (Best Pub in Connaught) for a few jars after taking a trudge around my late uncle’s small holding – a truly wondrous place it is, too
You know I had to look – is this the place? Looks perfect for a relaxed lunch.
That’s the one! Lunch choices are somewhat limited, although Sarah’s selection of Tayto crisps is to die for.
Highs: Four months of sea-swimming pretty much every day; not a sniffle of cold or flu much less Covid; stable MRI results; all “work” now online; Italian citizenship; ‘Apatosaurus in Burnt Sienna’; lost my phone but got it returned by kind chap; trip to UK (Cambridge); new bed; running the Afterword end of year poll and all the gratitude and respect that comes with the job.
Lows: Extreme Right Wing/Trumpian government winning Italian election; various celebrity deaths (no real ones in my life this year, thankfully); getting told off; losing my favourite winter jacket (not yet found); losing my Macbook charger (not yet found, might be in the pocket of my favourite winter jacket); dullsville UK wedding.
@Gary
You’re losing it, Gary, mate.
Hey, @jaygee, I was just about to write you a message as I just came across the message you sent me with a clip of the 1930 AQotWF. Thanks! Same ending as the book, iirc. I can’t remember how he dies in the new version (looking forward to second viewing sometime) but I know John Boy Walton gets shot while drawing a bird, cos I just checked.
I do tend to lose things with alarming regularity, but I remind myself that the vast majority of things are exactly where they should be. The lost things are a small, albeit high-profile, minority overall.
@Gary
Could have been worse for John Boy, who could have been on his way to the store to work to earn the exact same amount as he needed to buy art supplies to draw the bird
Also afflicted with fairly regular “CRAFT” moments, I share your pain re losing thing, G.
@Gary
Thank you for choosing “Apatosaurus in Burnt Sienna”* as one of your highlights. If in some small way I have contributed to your well being this year then my life has been worthwhile.
* though I always thought it as a tribute to René Magritte.
This seems as good a place as any to announce that 2023 sees me identify as Dave Ross. I was going to do a joke Dave Amitri entry on the obituary page but thought better of it. It just feels right, Dave Amitri’s work is done. Hopes are that the sertraline continues to do it’s job, Putin drops dead and the world just becomes a fairer place. A Pelican West reissue in February followed by a one off Haircut 100 gig in May gives me music to look forward to. There’s lots more too if only my head could recognise it. Hopefully this place continues to thrive and survive.
Nice one, Dave. Good luck to you.
Goodbye Dave, Hello Dave.
May your revised nomenclature be as engaging as the last
(I’m sure it will be, the bloke pressing the keyboard remains the same)
Wow! This feels like a big change. What has Justin Currie done to offend you??
I went the opposite way some years ago. I used to post on here under my real name, but changed it to a fictional one (yes, I know, hard to believe this name is fictional) when I started getting worried my secret life as a music geek was too visible.
I don’t think Currie has done anything to offend him. It’s probably just that as he ages he finds himself listening less and less to Del Amitri, more and more to Diana Ross.
Dave is dead. Long live Dave. You’re our wife now etc
High: On 26th December 2022 I completed my first year sober. I am never proud of myself, (Irish Catholic upbringing,) but I fucking am proud of this. 50 years on the grog, and to just stop, takes some doing. Reasons? Various – I’m ten years older than my wife and realised, over the past few years, that I need to be healthy if we’re to have a long retirement together. When I retired in 2020, I soon realised that drinking became too easy and increasingly desirable. It also affected some drugs I have to take so it seemed stupid to continue to ignore that.
Low: My mate Tony died at Easter, after two years with severe dementia. The onset was so quick and vicious that it was terrible to see. A blessed relief? Of course, but that doesn’t make the huge hole he left any easier to fill. I asked his widow, who spent Christmas with her daughter’s family and dogs, how it had been. “Quiet,” she said, “It’s not the same without the King of Christmas.”
2023: More of my blog, which I love doing, and a hope that someone might pick it up for a book or two.
Congratulations on the sobriety
Seconded. No mean feat, taking one day at a time for 365 days in succession. Keep going.
Here’s hoping your blog goes from strength to strength.
Thanks @Tiggerlion
Thirded. I’ve been on the wagon for over a decade, with an annual glass of bubbly on Xmas day, and after a while you notice the health benefits. And stop wanting to drink again / thinking about it at all.
Thanks, @fentonsteve.
Thanks @dai
Applauds to your achievement Niall.
And even bigger applauds to your blog – look forward to it every Friday (even if there are a few too many “now luxury flats” for my liking)
Thanks, @Rigid-Digit. Your support has been a great help and your feedback is always brilliant.
I thought 2022 was marginally less awful than 2020 and 2021 generally
Highs
Back to gigs and some really great ones, back to more normal travel (3 memorable trips) and I still have a job, one I don’t love, but I don’t hate it either. Didn’t get Covid
Lows
Turned 60 (actually not terrible), Welsh rugby results, Champions League final. However the biggest low has been dealing with my teenage daughter’s depression, anxiety and probable ADHD. This culminated in her leaving her high school mid term after months of sporadic non attendance and anguish (in November) and starting at a new special school that, fingers crossed, seems to be suiting her better. We will see what 2023 brings and hopefully it can move to the “high” column
Fingers crossed for her. And you, dai.
Thank you
Highs..
Self, Mrs Nog and the 4 Nogkids, whom we have shared ownership of are all in decent nick and employed / pretending to study somewhere..
I’m doing some teaching which puts beer in the fridge, but isn’t too onerous..I get to walk a fair bit and try to visit the swimming pool at least 5 days a week to knock out 60 lengths whilst listening to the Word podcasts.. .. Plenty of gigs, books and tv consumed.Still running a football club which operates 40 teams for 500 plus kids.. I’m blessed, but – I hope – not smug about it all.
Lows ..
A difficult-to-shake-off sense that I’ve lived through this country at its best and that our kids will grow up with a worse health service and fewer opportunities in a country which is increasingly being viewed as unimportant and pitied by our nearest neighbours.
I’m increasingly frustrated by the lack of vision and short-termery which our political system imposes on the many big problems which face us.. We seem to be unable to move beyond a 4/5 year system which churns out small people to fail to tackle huge problems
.
Might just be being slightly self-indulgently introspective here and just need to hit the mince pies and shut the fuck up.
Happy New Year to one and all..
HNY, dear friend.
@nogbad I share your sentiments about the state of this country and like you am disillusioned with the scant prospects of any improvement in the foreseeable.
Not sure what your kids would think of you ‘owning them’ though.
My son and daughter would both rail at that.
I’ll start with the low which then seamlessly segues like Uncle Albert to Admiral Halsey into the high. In the back end of 2021 I suffered, not for the first time, with a flare up of a previously diagnosed disc problem in my neck. This causes pain and numbness down shoulder into my left arm and hand. Previous episodes have settled down after a few weeks or so. This one didn’t and continued through 2022. I tried physio, chiropractic and even paid privately to have an MRI and subsequent injection in my neck which cost me c. £2k and did precisely fuck all (my NHS referral took about 9 months to come through – hence the decision to go private). Finally out of desparation, having been told that surgery – very risky surgery – was my only option, I went to see an acupuncturist in September. The real Chinese deal not the western version. I told her that I had no expectations that it would help. After the first session I had a severe reaction and my arm felt like it was on fire for about 3 days and I though I’d made a big mistake. On the fourth day that pain disappeared as did almost miraculously the original pain. Three months later I’m left with some numbness in my left forefinger (not great for a guitarist but I can live with that); but it was the most remarkable medical experience Ive ever had. Im now an acupuncture evangelist.
My other, albeit small, high was finally completing and releasing the latest Feedback File album ‘Summerland’ which whilst hardly anyone has heard, received an amazing review on Pennyblackmusic and also some plays on the Mystery Train radio show (recommended btw – very AW friendly). Those small affirmations made my Christmas.
Ignoring my own personal/family circumstances, my hopes (and fears) are all focussed around the very grave situation on the planet – the climate and environmental issues and lack of action in particular is causing me genuine distress. Could it be that finally, given the increasing incidences of extreme weather, just maybe some concerted action might come about but I won’t hold my breath.
That’s great regarding acupuncture. I had it once to deal with alcohol addiction, I still drink but nothing like I used to, I wondered if that was part of it
I think if my arm felt like it was on fire I’d have great difficulty raising a pint to my lips.
Probably true, except the needles went into my ear.
In 2010, I broke my leg badly, had an operation and suffered a DVT and a PE. I had both pain from the fracture, despite a plate and the pins, and post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS).
I went to acupuncture once. It burned. I drove home from my Saturday morning appointment and went straight to bed, sleeping through until the next day. The fracture pain and stiffness disappeared. I still have PTS, not helped by a recurrence of the DVT a few years ago. Still. One heck of a result.
For the record, I *believe* in western medicine.
So do I @Tiggerlion but these days feel
It’s horses for courses and mix and match. What was really frustrating was that when I finally had my NHS referral a few weeks ago the consultant could not have been less interested in my acupuncture experience. When I said why not refer people with pain for this treatment he said because we can’t prove that it works! Im thinking you don’t need to – there are 000’s of patients who will tell you it does. Plus there is no risk – unlike with drugs.
Well, there is hepatitis…
The local NHS physios do use acupuncture for back pain primarily, but other musculoskeletal disorders too.
Part of the problem is that dummy acupuncture is tricky, so proper randomised double-blind trials are difficult to organise. There are plenty of comparative studies, of course, but 90% are in Chinese.
Highs
The rediscovery of live music in small venues. I really can’t be doing with bigger venues now, partly due to cost, (some are getting completely obscene) partly due to the crowd idiot quotient and partly due to a crushing over reliance on past glory. Another year and another tired version of Echo and The Bunnymen playing Ocean Rain at the Albert Hall? Again? Yawn. Think I’ll pass.
20 year old Son finally settling at uni and once again being the happy kid he was. Massive relief.
A recent significant improvement in the marital situation…why we didn’t just sit down and be really frank before I just do not know.
Lows
God I wish I could retire. I’m 55, am highly experienced in my job (education) and can easily deal with pretty much everything but the unreasonable demands just increase year on year.
My Dad’s post covid deafness. After about 2 years of major illness the poor old thing got covid in late November and it has completely wiped out any remaining hearing he had. He adores his family and his frustration at not being so able to engage is palpable.
As a hearing impaired person of the deaf as fuck variety myself, I recommend the app LiveTranscribe. I find it very useful.
Gary, many thanks, I will definitely look into this.
2022 has been a roller coaster ride for me. It started with returning to work after a month off with stress and over work to a more focussed role dispensing badly needed wisdom and best practice. I took the decision to stay rather than finish my notice period and leave, which was a good move as the business was almost immediately purchased triggering a nice bonus payout from the incentive scheme. Nonetheless it’s the big 65 in March and I’ve pressed the button and retire in mid February.
My mum died in April which wasn’t unexpected (she had numerous health issues, mostly lifestyle related) but was still a surprise as it was all over in 10 days. We had a difficult relationship but she was still my mum…so pretty traumatic in a confused way.
The boy had a lousy lockdown and his ambition to do medicine went down the can due to the number of deferred entries from the previous year. 16% of new applicants got an offer this year. However his backup was doing BioMed at Brighton which he is loving. Phew.
Someone very close to me has inoperable cancer though hormone treatment is holding it at bay. I’m blessing every day. I had a battery of tests as it got my Dad too – I had to write to my GP longhand as getting an appointment by the usual routes appears to be impossible but as ever once I was in the service was great and happily I seem to be in rude health.
I’m excited about 2023 as retiring feels like an opportunity to really get stuck into the things I want to do and see the people I want to see rather than the daily grind of work – not awful, just dull and mildly irritating, like a bit of grit in your shoe on a long walk.
I’m not optimistic about the state of the world or our country, sadly. I’ve retreated into coping with our hopeless government by thinking surely our supine electorate will wake up and throw them out. I did hear one commentator predicting reasonable odds on Johnson waiting till the game looks up and getting back in as Tory leader! Then who knows. If that happens I’m off. As for the rest of the world I can’t see anywhere making a better fist of things and many are worse. I feel for the young people. What a fking mess we’ve made of things.
Sorry to hear about your mum @Twang
Regarding stress, I didn’t mention it in my post but I had a mini breakdown at work almost a year ago in January. I think I mentioned it here, basically started yelling at my boss and ended up in tears. Have tried to work less and not get so involved in it since.
I also look forward to retirement, but looks like I have another 7 years to go until I am 67 and that is pretty dependent on property prices, the stock market and remaining in full time employment. Good luck with yours!
Thanks @dai, that was basically me in November 2021. I basically quit and immediately signed myself off for a month. I think working remotely all the time builds up the pressure on people as there’s no office rhythm to let some of the steam out. Much as I hate commuting I have come to the conclusion that some office life is probably healthy. Anyway, only 6 weeks to go!
Very sorry to hear of your Mum’s passing. Love and vibes.
Thanks Rob. She lived life on her terms and wouldn’t have had it any other way so I have to respect the choices she made, hugely irresponsible as they invariably were. Mind you she made it to 86 so not a bad innings.
Good words, Twang.
Harry Patch made it to 111.
His recipe for long life? “Whiskey and wild women!”
@Twang embrace retirement – it’s brilliant. Yes you need stuff to keep the noggin ticking over but that will come. But the sheer joy of waking up with nothing to do, and no responsibilities, is euphoric. Sorry about your Mum and about your mental health issues. You’ll find that retirement helps a lot. When I had my third breakdown, in 2018, I was prescribed a mild dose of Citalopram, daily, and have never looked back. Give me a shout if you want a chat.
Cheers Niall. I suspect my brain cells will tick over more when I’m retired – what I’m doing at work is so easy the challenge is remaining motivated to actually get on with it.
I’ve PM’d
Got it.
There are other ways into medicine for your son. The first two years of medical school are basically the same as a BioMed.
I look forward to your retirement. You should tour a band and if anyone could be a professional podcast host, it’s you.
Happy New Year!
What Tiggs says is true, but, on a jaundiced note, medicine ain’t what it was as a career, and he may be better off not sacrificing himself on an altar of hope and subsequent disillusion. I see very little current evidence of happy medics, at any stage of their career, except wizened old retainers like myself, counting down the days to stopping or the end of the NHS, whichsoever comes first.
Shush.
In a few years, we are going to need more young doctors. Don’t put him off.
We’re going to need Sons and Daughters as well. And Neighbours.
…Cell Block H has quite enough prisoners. however
One hell of a weird/bewildering sometimes extremely heavy and yet often a truly/strangely wonderful karmic trip in wild seas indeed. Now is the beach and 2023 is the island at last.
Peace.
Crack open a coconut and stretch out on the sand Rob. Take in a spot of rock pooling. I have a decent rum I can send over, if that’s your thing too. Watch the surf for a bobbing bottle.
Careful now, it might be from Sting.
The low leads to a high, so that’s got to be good, hasn’t it?
I had been plagued with an intractable bad back for the best part of a year. I could function, but was unable to stand for longer than 5 minutes. This came to a head when I was sent straight to A&E from an MRI scan. I was not a good patient. I spent four awful days and nights with the words ‘risk of paralysis’ rattling round my head, wondering whether I had to scale back my expectations for the rest of my life. I wept when I was discharged; three days later I was setting up on the Warwick Folk Festival campsite. The sense of release was better than any drug.
Basically, I had been wandering around with a slipped disc for a year, working, cycling, dancing (a bit). I diligently did my exercises – boy, did I have an incentive.
The high came six weeks later when, suddenly, at Shrewsbury, I found the restriction had gone. I didn’t have to sit out a single dance all night. I celebrated this by proceeding straight from the dancefloor to the bar, there to stand for hours, not minutes, singing my heart out. And then I did it all over again the next night. The disc had returned to its rightful home.
A few other highs are worth mentioning, including watching a mountain stage of the Tour de France, a couple of miles from the stage finish.
I am becoming ever more embedded in my favourite festivals, with a possibility of getting my own stage appearance at one of them next year, while I got my first ‘Artists Comp’ at another this summer.
Above all, closer to home, I got to be support act for my favourite musician of all time – Andy Cutting. I don’t mind saying that I knocked it out of the park with seven choice songs, delivered with passion and joy. My work on this planet is done; it won’t get much better than that.
Excellent Cat. Well done! Any video out there?
It’s notable that recording rarely happens in the folk venues I frequent. I may be getting a bit Pseud’s Corner when I say that it suits me to enjoy the moment, rather than have it recorded. I also suspect that any permanent record might deflate my memory of how good it was!
Oh, sorry, you were asking about the video of my MRI scan?
Top report from the front of the back ache wars! I know how it felt, and I’m glad you found your way through.
MIL died in January, just shy of her 98th birthday but her mind checked out years before. My dad had a couple more mini strokes in the summer and we thought he’d be gone in a couple of weeks but he’ll be 94 in January.
I’m looking to retire or seriously slow down in 2 years when the warehouse lease is up. I’ll be 60 then and I’ve already had enough. Body is rebelling against anything too heavy and I just don’t enjoy it any more plus my youngest will be almost done at uni by then so we’ll know where we are financially. I may have to keep doing something but all the big, heavy shit will have to go.
Low: screaming match with a bloke in a Mercedes at the end of a miserable week in Manchester.
High: my daughter’s 15 second video about an office worker bear who is tipped over the edge and slaughters everyone in his office. Dark but funny. She’s doing animation next year and we have high hopes for her.
Happy new year everyone
Well, I’m still upright, as are my parents and family, and have successfully avoided The Vid (as no-one is calling it)
“All things happen for a reason” – and that reason is usually my own damn-foll decision.
In September 2021, after 20+ years in Project Management, I thought it was time for a change an went into IT admin. Professionally and Mentally unrewarding (and just a bit dull).
12 months of doubting my own ability at EVERYTHING, I’m now back in Project Management.
Just being in an environment of respect and belief does wonders.
So that is a Low turned into a High
No real Lows (apart from the one above which is now resolved), but I am 53 next year and now becoming aware of aches and pains I never gave a second thought to before (back, knees, feet) and relatively regular attacks of indigestion.
My sedate, unhealthy lifestyle (including drinking and smoking) just may need an overhaul.
Then again with old(er) age comes greater wisdom (apparently), and whilst it’s now taking longer to wash my face it takes less time to dry my hair.
2023? Who knows, but I’m not sure we’ll seeing anything of a recovery or a return to pre-pandemic comfort, certainty and opportunity (at least not soon anyway).
All we can do is be stoic and philosophical and keep on keeping on
Been alright ta. Worked too hard, consequently got physically out of condition in the second half of the year, so it’s back in the saddle now (already started. Discovered I can still quite comfortably leg-press 220kg so evidently the strength hasn’t entirely disappeared). Just about work-life balance, now. If I routinely work 60 hours a week, I don’t run or lift and spend less time in nature, and that’s not ideal.
So 2023 is about bringing the average week down by a good 10 hours, and hitting my former running times again. I’m pretty fast for a big novice, when I’m in shape, and I love the feeling of a morning 10k. Time to get it back.
I would like that too. Peaked about 5 years ago for 5k and 10k times, and a slow decline since. Will take a lot of work/application though. Having my daughter with me full time makes it more of a challenge as I need or be cooking dinner or something when I would normally run
Nice to hear from other runners @dai and @hedgepig. Remember every run is a good run if you’re not injured! I managed the Birmingham Half Marathon and Bristol 10k this year, so hoping at least to maintain one of each this year. There is a great-looking Wolvo to Brum half along the canals, but as it’s in July I worry about the temperature. More modestly, aiming in 2022 to get back to a sub-29:00 parkrun, as at my best a few years ago was 27:80, currently 29:45.
I haven’t run in nearly 2 months but my best 5K this year was around 33 minutes, my PB is under 27, will never be there again I imagine, but my goal for 2023 is 30 and a 10K under 65, PB is around 58 at my peak
My 5k/10k PBs are 20:36 / 42:29 respectively but right now I struggle to do 5k under 30 mins. Or at all.
Not convinced the curry I just ate or the booze I just necked is going to help in this regard. 😉
Running is a harsh mistress. I reckon to maintain I need to run twice a week, and for every one missed it takes two to recover. 20:36 is a great time, around what my son as a willowy teenager was doing.
Last year I did “Couch to 5K” in the spring after winter off, will probably do the same next year. Winter running is difficult here, I have done it a few times throughout the season, but just don’t have the motivation to go out on slippery streets in sub zero temperatures right now. So will concentrate on some weight loss Jan to March and maybe take up swimming again
Funny old year, 2022. Started at the tail end of that black dog, Bastard, coming back for a 2nd lick. But bit him back, returning to work late January. I could still do it and it felt good. I am, repeat slowly, good enough. Then I discovered, painfully, the pleasure of a sizeable gallstone. Cue fat free diet and a stone shed, and surgery, an amazingly swift 4-5/12 later. Just about healed but still avoiding most the foods I adore.
I can see the light at the end of the work tunnel and drop a day in March, ahead a final year. Home life has had its bumps; mainly to do with the declining health of the wife. She got PIP awarded just before Xmas, a welcome unwelcome, if you catch my drift. Thank the Being for wild swimming, which has kept us sane, trips to Snowdonia and the Lakes have guaranteed total immersion on a regular basis, as have local reservoirs, rivers and quarries.
My love of music has become driven by my emergent writing jag. From the odd ‘night out with’ here, I have just celebrated 7 and 5 years respectively on a couple of blog sites, Starmaker Machine and Cover Me. And having had a short spell writing for Folk Radio UK, I have now settled down with At The Barrier, who are much less demanding in house style, and give me carte blanche to drivel on ad nauseam about the discs and DLs they send me. Yes, unpaid, except Cover Me, and thus taking bread out the mouths etc of proper journalists but thems the breaks. I enjoy it.
Hoping to continue trips to various folk festivals about the UK. Having got to Skye Live in ‘22, Hebcelt, in Stornaway, or Orkney, guess, would be good for ‘23.
Slowly accumulating meat world mingles with posters here, which has been good and enjoyable, and looking forward to meeting a couple more at a John Cale concert soon. (Am I alone in simultaneously ever relishing my solitude and, oddly, beginning to quite enjoy limited contact with humankind?)
Best wishes to all, and better health for all, in a better world than 2022 has gifted us all.
Oh, and fuck Putin!
A year in which my wife and I considered parting ways and I lived alone for 6 months *should* have been a low. However, on the path to reconciliation, it’s brought with it an appreciation for life, and for the interconnectedness of all things, and an acceptance of the present, in ways that had hitherto escaped me as hippy-drippy nonsense.
Thankfully, no one had health scares, and our kids remained safe and loved, so things were ‘OK’ by any objective measure, but I faced so many *perceived* fears and realised they were all just mind-stuff. I’m left with a deeper sense of calm and a better understanding of the thusness of the world, rather than a perceived narrative or ideal that I’m anxious to deviate from.
Not that I would recommend it, mind.
Happy New Year, all here. It is a good place.
How uplifting, @DanP.
A mixed bag of a year, to be honest.
We started the year with a positive, which was a trip to Tasmania. The *waves arms* northernish bit up by past Launceston, all Air BnB, and we loved it. Sharon got in her hiking, did some distillieries, including a fantastic one man operation, and walked on beaches. Spent 3 months back in the States, most of it with Son and Heir. It’s the longest prolonged time I’ve had with him, and that was a Good Thing. Trip to Adelaide with Sharon and In-Laws also good. S&H Got a full academic scholarship to his University which has saved me a lot – and I mean a LOT- of money, so we’re happy about that.
The upside of the Bad Thing is consolidating what you already knew about your wife and how much of a Good Egg she is..
Life in Alice continues to be Life in Alice, for all its goods and bads. We’re trying to extend out tour so we can retire, which means I’m spending off time looking at communities along the Continental Divide Trail and looking at houses. There are worse of spending my time.
And then there was The Bad Thing, which is…Very Bad. I’ll apologize for my language, but a significant part of my brain function is fucked, and erratically so, which a real bummer. Two situations, one day fine, the other is very definitely not. SHaron has been great, and keeps reassuring me that we’ll work it out, and not to worry, which in all fairness is all she can say.
My GP on Base is new, and has been great by being…honest. “It might not be PCS, it might be something else, and I’m telling you to get a scan.” *Simon burbles a bit* “Yes. You would probably be better accepting this as your future baseline. If you get better, see that as a bonus, but accept that your future may be about behaviour modification and coping strategies. It’s either PCS, vascular malformation after the punch, or both”. No-one else has been that honest, so kudos for that.
In summary, some good, a lot bad. On balance, though, I’m better off than a lot of people. OK, so I don’t have my health. And my brain’s screwed. And, yeah, that thing’s wrong as well. But I have a great relationship with a supportive wife. Some people have to wlak their walk alone.
HIGHS
I came back to Oz in mid-February after a stint in Blighty. In my absence Mrs thep had sold our house in Brisbane, moved lock, stock and barrel to a rental in Murwillumbah, NSW, and bought a house there to renovate, all in the space of 2 months. She doesn’t hang about, that woman. None of this was a surprise, obviously – I’m usually consulted on the big stuff – but still quite a surprise to find myself living in a completely new town, even one that I knew and liked. But my 14 years with her have been one surprise after another anyway. The reno was finally finished about a month ago, or finished enough for us to move in, anyway, and it’s turned out just the way we hoped. The whole thing is designed to make an old Pom fusspot as comfortable as possible – louvre windows throughout = permanent cross-breezes, ceiling fans in every room, screens on every door and window, aircon in the man cave. Take that, bastard mozzies.
And Northern New South Wales is just wonderful. Some of it is almost English in its greenness and lushness, with red volcanic soil, rainforests, rivers (more on them later), loads of great places to eat and drink, lots of laid-back live music places, etc etc. Plenty of remnant hippies dotted about, and the hills are alive with Hair Krishnas. Of course we’re not far from Byron Bay, which is home to more self-regarding tosspots per acre than anywhere outside California, but you can’t have everything.
LOWS
This year’s once-in-a-thousand-years floods also arrived in February and again a few weeks later. We were lucky that both our rental and our new house were both about flood level, but it was still grim. So much suffering, people lost everything, even saw their houses floating away. Landslips saw many roads sliding down hillsides, cutting off outlying villages for days or even weeks. Many are still homeless and waiting for insurance payouts ten months later; many weren’t insured because they couldn’t afford it. The upside was the way the community came together to help out. There’s still a place open, staffed by volunteers, where the hard-up can get free food, clothes, bedding, furniture etc. And Murwillumbah wasn’t even the worst affected – have a look for Lismore floods on YT if interested.
My health took a turn for the worse this year, though I survived the two doses of COVID. COPD is incurable, I may die of it or with it, who knows, so it’s a question of management. I should do more exercise, but exercising with fucked lungs in an Australian summer is not the best. So it goes. Mustn’t grumble eh? At least my other two life-threatening conditions seem to be leaving me be.
Other lows are of a global nature mentioned by others – Putin and his Special Operation, Brexit and its ills, Tory governments, and a general surfeit of arsebaskets, fucktrumpets and just plain cunts. Dog rot the lot of them. Bah.
Hopes for 2023: they all come under the heading of fewer things to get outraged about, please.
Strange 2022 – the lows: I lost my mum and my brother in law.
The highs- a fabulous 3 week trip on Roure 66 with our daughter and her boyfriend Really enjoyable but the realisation that If we think we are fucked in the UK it’s not a patch on the State of the nation in good old US of A. The homeless situation in California is a national stain and the number of drugged up Zombies out there is frightening.
Later we went on the Outlaw Country west cruise from LA – highlights included Dave Alvin and Steve Earle but neither hold a candle to Lucinda Willians second set where she was at her imperious best. On her day no-one comes near her. I get to see her twice more in 2023 and am looking forward to her autobiography in Aoril as I expect her to be candid (understatenent).
2023 will be my last full year of working- I have a new Ocean director I have to report to. We get on fine on a personal level but he interferes slightly more than his predecessor and frankly it irritates me. I have been with the company 35 years this July and it is both long enough for me to know how to do my Job and also to call it a day and let soneone else take over the reins and endure the corporate crap that is creeping in and which I cannot abide.
In 2023 I hope there is no more talk of Covid which I managed to escape the clutches of despite my wife getting it at least twice. My attitude to it was cavalier to say the least and am pretty glad normality has resumed.
Another reason I need to quit work is that it is getting in the way of my social life. I get 26 days holiday per year and need to book 29 days in 2023 to cover things we have booked.
My wife and I recently joined a fitness/body transformation club that has been hugely beneficial to us both. Lots of weights,cardio; sit ups, squats etc. Hard work but enjoyable. I have lost 5 lbs but a lot of body fat transferred to muscle which gives the appearance of having lost more.
Hopes for 2023? That our World leaders stop their macho bullshit and talk to each other and that Springsteen delivers an ace gig in Rome in May as I suspect it might be last chance I get to see him.
My year began with a death and has ended with a death. That’s just about the only kind of a rough symmetry the year has had. It’s been simultaneously just another year of me marking time, ticking the days and months off and brief bouts of disorientingly weird events. Nothing major just odd.
So no big highs to report as my days tend towards routine. I still awake too damn early and start the day with a brush or a pencil in my hand. In the afternoons I read or listen to music. I’m usually retired for the day by 9:00 pm. Everyday is much the same as the one that preceeded it. I have no complaints about the nuts and bolts of my life. It is what it is.
The low points have again been the same this year as I have become reluctantly accustomed to in previous years. A lack of company weighs heavily upon me I doubt I spend anymore than what would amount to half a day a year in the company of others. That isn’t healthy believe me, it has an unpleasant effect upon one’s understanding of others. I often think I have lost any grace I may once of had with people. That is a personal sadness and it has led me to much unproductive soul searching. Again though it is what it is.
I shall no doubt spend 2023 painting. It’s all I have.
I pray that the longtime sun shines upon you all throughout 2023 and that the gods don’t turn their heads away from you.
Happy New Year one and all.
“I often think I have lost any grace I may once of had with people.”
I believe that you may be wrong about that, Peter: I have the evidence in my inbox; and hanging on my wall.
I had no evidence of a loss of grace that when we met in August.
We shall meet again next year and I shall persuade the Retropathic one to join us.
Up for that, if we are not Walesward for the watter before then!!
Thanks chaps. Most kind of you.
That sounds like a merry meeting.
You are more than welcome to join us Cat if you can make it.
Keep me posted, I could be around… Would love to come.
I would like to do that. Just give me plenty of notice!
It would be splendid to have you both there too.
I’ll discuss it with the Retropathic one as I hope to see him next week.
🙏✌️
I’m pretty free after 10th Feb.
HIGHS
After a touch-and-go first year at Uni, stuck in a hall of residence, my daughter’s second year has been a delight; living in a shared house with good friends has transformed her. Better to be an unhappy parent than have an unhappy child.
After (coming up to) 20 years doing it, I’m liking the psychotherapy trade more than ever, and am always doing and on the lookout for further development.
I’ve always exercised, too much at times, which has resulted in various injuries, but I’m accepting the notion of working around said issues, and love what I’m doing now. Apparently I went to the gym 194 times in 2022 which, given what comes up in the Lows below, is good going. My average time on each visit was 16 minutes which feels good and to the point. The groups of young ‘uns seem to be spending longer filming themselves than I do exercising.
LOWS
I had my right index finger amputated in March, the result of necrotising fasciitis brought about by cat saliva getting into a tiny cut. Nine months on, I’ve had a second op, which has tidied up the remaining bit of knuckle so that it’s almost unnoticeable, the lack of finger. That second op was a quality NHS experience, contrasting with the original scenario which demonstrated the fragmented state of the organisation.
My ADHD could be included in both Highs and Lows. I appreciate that it’s appeared fashionable as a diagnosis this past year, and there’s a reasonable point of view that would say it’s actually a natural response to the nervous system bashing engendered by the online world, but man alive I have to be on top of my game when it comes to organisation. There’s not a week goes by when I don’t have to shell out money on clinical rooms that I haven’t actually needed but have failed to cancel in time. On a more existential level, when I’m not focused on an activity, be it work, exercise, or other activities, my sense of self can vanish. That’s a glib sounding way of expressing something huge. It’s why I have a bunch of non-negotiable daily actions, from exercise and meditation to tai chi and breath work that keep sufficient semblance of it going. The upside of the ADHD is the heightened joy that can ensue from connection with others and with activities; the downside is it gets forgotten (a psychoanalyst called Kohut called this ‘self object deficit) and/or there’s a disorienting sense of loss. Another upside is working therapeutically with others with variants thereof (and there’s a whole load of comorbidity going on). Maybe there’ll come a day when I opt for meds, though so far, I’m not overly impressed by what I’ve seen. We shall see. My partner is understanding, but it’s all work in progress.
HOPES
I really do hope that some constructive dialogue ensues regarding Gender Identity. The lack of it could scupper my profession.
Nobody died, but my 83-y-o FIL is becoming a part-time job of work.
Managed to avoid Covid again. Five doses of vaccine helped, no doubt.
Work still very busy but not the “running up a down escalator” levels of 2021.
After a lifetime of want, 10 years of planning, 6 months of construction, I finally got my soundproofed sanctuary in the garage. Trouble is, I spent so long in the doing/decorating, I’ve barely had time for listening to music this year.
WFH from purpose-built office in the garage: both a blessing and a curse. The blessings: no commute and immediate access to a loo (both causes of anxiety pre-lockdown due to chronic dodgy guts). The curses: I work too much, I rarely leave, I almost never see anyone apart from immediate family face to face. I do miss the ‘bumping into people in the corridor’ aspect of the office, but not enough to actually go there.
After nearly three years of lockdown/shielding/WFH I’ve noticed I get anxious about leaving the comforts of home. I’m not agoraphobic, but I won’t go anywhere indoors where I could catch covid, and I take more loo stops on journeys than I used to (one or two stops on the journey to Lincoln, whereas I could do it in two hours without stops Before Covid). I fear I am developing bad habits, so I’ve started seeing someone (ironically, over Zoom).
And, because I work too many hours, I don’t get much listening time. I have to spend my evenings on the sofa watching crime drama with Mrs F, otherwise she wouldn’t see me at all.
In other news, I had my first experience of ‘rain through the ceiling’ and a visit from the Emergency Plumber on the 27th. Turns out the berk who fitted the shower used ordinary screws, which rusted through after a decade. When I scrubbed the moldy sealant, the whole thing came away from the wall. Cue mains-pressure water spraying in every direction.
On reflection 2022 has been a pretty good year with lots to be thankful for. I started using EMDR as part of my practice in January. For those that don’t know EMDR is a type of psychotherapy used mainly for trauma and PTSD, which I have had some amazing results with and lots of patients recovering/getting better from their past traumas. As such work is going well and I’m feeling pretty motivated right now, which is just as well as I have another 20 years until I retire. Still only going in three days a week and until December I was cycling/getting the train rather than driving.
In other news we didn’t go to any gigs, but we did go to a new festival called Stowaway, which was probably the most middle class shin dig I’ve ever been to. Yoga and gong baths in the woods? Even End of the Road wouldn’t do that! It was great to be there and doing normal festival things again. I’ve been selling some of my old records, which has funded the purchase of loads of new records (and a new turntable). It’s not been half as much hassle as I thought it would be so far. At home Mini Paws has declared that she’s gay, pretty brave of her particularly at school. I’m now trying to find a nice ‘Proud Dad’ T shirt for next years Pride festivals.
On the down side I really struggled with the weather in summer when it was too damned hot. Not got to see as much of some of my friends as I would like (I seem to have pissed off my friend’s wife, which has put a stop to some of usual get togethers). It doesn’t feel like I have much to complain about, all told.
Next year we’ve tickets already for End of the Road and for the England/Ireland test match at Lords. Need to focus on my health a bit more, lose a bit of weight and the like. Hoping to drastically cut back the drinking to once a month, so that it’s something to look forward to rather than just a weekly habit.
HIGHS
As if the arrival of a granddaughter (December 30, 2021 – so doesn’t count…) wasn’t enough, the (relatively) new son-in-law turned out to be fabulous enrichment to the family. Not only wasn’t he scared off by our record collection or the resident sense of humour (like previous boy- and girlfriends), he continues to be a funny, affectionate and caring guy & all around diamond geezer (despite being an Ultravox fan). And he brought his Greek-Irish cooking skills into our German-British-Moroccan kitchen.
Music-wise it was heartwarming to see how The Nits (Best Band In The World) coped with the loss of their studio, headquarter and archive: after the devastating news (»This morning The Werf burned down. Everything is gone, except us.«) there was a crowdfunding event within a week which paid for new instruments and equipment, and they were touring a new album in sold-out theatres in autumn. Long may they run.
LOWS
Apart from the World in general apparently going crazy (we now have a »Green« Government in Germany which openly sells weapons to war zones, and lobbies for more Atomic Power Plants, whodathunkit!), people like me in media and publishing business are getting used to projects being cancelled left and right, even if several people have already been encouraged (and paid!) for half a dozen years. Funny that the ones carrying on are always rooted in mid/late-seventies alternative and punk culture. And as a side note – for the 13th time the Grammy committee has managed to once again ignore a nomination for one of the projects I was involved in. There goes the red carpet.
A belated Merry Christmas to you all. I didn’t want to start a new thread on this (my apologies to the wonderful Jaygee), but in terms of how 2022 has been, I was just wondering….has anyone been ill this Christmas? I live in the north west, where it seems that every household has had someone with a cold/cough far more severe than they’ve ever had before. I’ve been rough since Christmas Day, and I can honestly say: it’s the worst cold I’ve ever had x5. A hacking cough that permits, at best, ten-minute sleeps, chest pain, bile, sinus pain, etc.
My 79-year-old dad has come down with it, and one does tend to worry.
Many on this forum will be dealing with far worse issues than this, so please forgive my indulgence – just take care of yourselves.
Yes! Me, eldest daughter, two adult grandchildren – all resident in different households but all together on Christmas Day. Matches your list of symptoms almost exactly. I cracked yesterday and saw a GP for a week’s antibiotics. His comment? Respiratory complaints and infections up by about 30% in the last two weeks. He suggested a bran-tub arrangement in the practice foyer, filled with packs of amoxicillin capsules – and let the patients help themselves to a pack on the way out…I THINK he was jesting…
Yep, second time with it. Started Wednesday last week and still have it. Feel like you’re getting better then it returns.
Well, THAT’S something to look forward to…
I’ve been immunosuppressed for years so have long avoided people with coughs and colds. This year, perhaps because of lack of Covid restrictions (or they’ve simply forgotten how ‘flu is transmitted) I have observed a fair bit of people being “reckless” – turning up to the office with stinking germs and a Lemsip, going to the pub and coughing over everyone.
I’ve also heard of several superspreader events, such as my employer’s Christmas party. Really pleased I didn’t (as usual) go.
There’s my hope for 2023: for people to become more considerate of others.
You don’t bloody want much, do ya?
Like the swimsuit round, I’d really like World Peace.
I’d really like you to put your clothes back on.
I am sorry to disappoint. It is very cold.
Are those……..GOOSEPIMPLES??
Like bullets. Hang your coat on ’em.
Oh, my…
I’ll second that, having sat through the Panto at the Bristol Hippodrome recently with some stupid woman coughing vigourously onto my neck all the way through.
I haven’t had the cough badly, but was one of many at Covent Garden who were doing my best to hold it in until there was applause in a break of Tosca, and did so more successfully than many. I remember seeing La Boheme there a couple of years ago when there was a similar bug going around. Every time Mimi coughed there was a sympathetic echo all around the auditorium.
Oh no she didn’t!
@Twang
Look behind you!
@Hamlet – yes, it’s claimed 2 of the 3 residents in my house, not helped by a call to 111 who refused to dispense antibiotics resulting in coughing fits so severe that it induced panic attacks because it was so difficult to breathe. After 2 weeks the are signs it’s abating.
Not this year but I had something very similar Christmas 2019 which I have put down to Covid, before it was known to be here as I spent a couple of months in a West End tourist destination. No tests then so I can’t be sure but it took 6 weeks to get over.
I’m not sure that anything in 2023 will rival Greta Thunberg’s total annihilation of Andrew Tate (kick boxer – social media influencer – complete and utter twat) on… erm… social media.
Currently talking to the Romanian authorities! Beat that, 2023.
Amusingly, the loathsome Tate had his collar felt as a result of his choice of delivertpy service.
Not sure about capital punishment laws in Romania, but he might well be in for a topping
Knowing the current Romanian government, he’ll probably be their Secretary of State for Equality and Diversity by this time tomorrow.
I mentor a 20-something Romanian chap at work. Most of my “guidance” begins with “You can’t say that in the UK nowdays”
To which this noble son of the south could justly retort, “I refer the right honourable gentleman to the comments section of every UK local news site, ever. At least I leave Romanians alone”
Best tweet I’ve ever seen – Thunberg today – “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes”.
Superb!!
Every year on this thread I talk about the Parabola of Weightlessness, the carefree glide that those of us who are lucky enough to have lived uneventfully for nearly six decades can enjoy before the inevitable intervention of gravity drags us towards the end of that arc. I’ve been up here since my early 40s I reckon, so a good 15 years of personal, emotional, financial, work, social, physical lightness.
I’m kind of feeling gravity’s pull now. Bored and uninspired at work, but rather fond of the income; tired and fat, but rather fond of the food and wine; love my friends, but can’t be arsed any more to seek out new ones; and perhaps most significantly, starting to think in terms of legacy rather than future achievements. It’s age, lads, it creeps up on you and suddenly one day you find yourself looking down at your unlaced shoe and thinking, fuck it, I’m not bending all the way down there to fix that.
So yeah bit of a late mid-life crisis this year, which has both been ameliorated and exacerbated by some minor theatrical success. Yes, it’s nice to see my writing recognised but… why the fuck did it take me 40 years to get round to it?
So from tomorrow it’s about changing the things you can control – fitness, booze, job – and concentrating on the stuff that makes you happy, and learning some new tricks, in that way that only old dogs can.
Yay! Vote Corbyn!
Voters in Islington will soon get the opportunity to do just that, without the indignity of also voting Labour.
To all of the Afterword, whether you post here or not, I send this wish in the spirit of acceptance (grumbling or otherwise) and tolerance (lip-biting or not) that generally pervades this fine virtual space; may the wider world take a leaf from our little book and learn to grow up and think a bit more about how to make the world we share a tad better each day rather than a mite more bitter:
Happy New Year! 😎🤡🤖
Well, I think we’re all agreed that we’re better than everyone else. I don’t expect anything to change in that respect. 😏
This thread makes me think of @hannah. HNY – if you still check in from time to time.
Seconded. And, indeed, Happy New Year to all Afterworders past and present. This place continues to be a pleasure to be part of.