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The best thing you’ve done this year

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2020 eah? Didn’t quite go the way any of us had hoped. But I am sure that some good has come out of this year. Whilst having a run at lunchtime (that’s new for 2020) I thought about some of the things that have worked out for me this year, and I wonder if anyone else has any accomplishment that they feel particularly pleased about?

So, what’s the best thing (or things) you’ve done this year? This is the place for a humble brag, boast or a something that you’re really proud of. Fill your boots and feel proud that something went right this year.

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Comments

  1. I have three to report-
    1. My wife and I relaid the flooring in the conservatory. Never done that before and surprisingly it looks pretty good.
    2. I gave my work colleagues the flu jab. I’ve gone back and done some nursing stuff this year to help out. Quite enjoyed sticking a needle in my boss.
    3. Walked Mini Paws to school everyday this year. There were games, daft conversations and we burned a few calories. Non-socially distanced parents nattering at the school gates was a bit of a pain, but hey ho.

  2. A project I’ve worked on was nominated for a Grammy (not for my contribution, unfortunately). So I’m virtually pondering over dresses to wear at the obviously online-only red carpet “bash” in L.A.

  3. I interviewed a young lady for a teainee job. She said that she had been denied jobs because she is dyslexic
    I gave her the job because I thought that was a ridiculous reason not to give someone a job.
    It turned out to be a good choice – she is doing just fine and is a popular member of the team

  4. Publishing a book of the blog I wrote every day during my lockdown. Getting the proof copy almost made me as happy as Liverpool winning the Premiership.

    I didn’t sell many copies on Amazon, but gave away over 1,800 free, that gave me a wonderful excitement that people around the world could be reading it.

  5. Lost a couple of stone and kept it off. Rediscovered cycling and exercise because it makes me feel good. Not sure if I want to go back to my old life. I may sell most of the kit in the summer and just do some live streaming part time. Early days……

    • Similar for me. Lost 2 stone and in reality one and a half to go to be even vaguely mid table. I’ve proved I can do it though. And I’m wearing clothes I never thought I would again.
      With grateful thanks to Mrs bobness of course, who does all the cooking.

    • Your posts this year have touched me- I can’t imagine losing my livelihood as you have. I hope that you can do some live feeds (I was hoping someone would contact the might biscuit about such things). In the meantime I wish you all the best with the delivery work (my mate is in the same situation with no need for a arena projectionist required. All the best.

      • @stevieblunder mainly a lifestyle change brought on by the collapse of my usual work industry. I used to spend a lot of nights in hotels so I don’t eat restaurant food anything like as much as I did. I eat better when at home and don’t really snack between meals which I used to do through boredom. There’s also the aforementioned exercise. In the summer, I got out on my bike for at least half an hour a day and I was doing the Amazon work which added about 15k steps to my day, a lot of them actual steps dispute to where I was delivering. I’ve slipped a bit over Christmas and my back has been bad for a couple of days but nothing I can’t correct. I’ve got a cross trainer in the garage with a screen in front of it so I can watch a series. I do a half hour most days and it really helps my arthritic knees.
        In short: eat better, move more and find something you like doing.

  6. Not sure it is the best thing but I never worked harder than in 2020, my work required me to be on site most of the time, one of only 5. Had about 5 deadlines to meet which I pretty much did through lots of extra hours, weekend working etc.

    Because of Covid my daughter spent way more time with me than she ever has since I split up with her mother, so extra caring for her with all the work stuff going on was something of an achievement.

    Installed a new light switch in the bathroom, saving about $100 that an electrician would have charged!

    • Happy days when it comes to lights and plug sockets. I took a photo of the switch I changed (in case of emergencies) and I was proud of that, as you should be. Are Canadian electrics any different? I suspect they are.

      • 110V so any shocks are less likely to be fatal! Changing the switch was easy, main problem was finding the right switch to disable relevant power to the other side of the switch.

  7. Before the plague there was another pestilence that blighted the little bit of land I call home here in Spain. Over the years wild boar had been increasing both in number and irritation value. It had become impossible to establish a vegetable garden, and it was routine to wake to bomb-sized craters around the house. The final straw came in May, when I discovered that a dry stone wall I’d built over many weeks had been demolished overnight. This was a wall about ten metres from the kitchen door. I felt under siege.

    Don’t get me wrong. I love natural history. It’s the main reason I live where I do. But the wild boar were taking the piss. And besides these aren’t true wild boar. Trail cams have revealed a motley collection of piggy hybrids. Domestic pigs round here are so loosely penned that they can easily gain a sneaky fuck with the wild beasts outside, resulting in all kinds of boar/pig hooligans.

    I knew a strong fence was needed but the terrain was steep and awkward, and involved navigating drainage ditches. It also needed to be long – about 400 metres – to protect all the important bits around the house. I’d considered a conventional wire fence, but the boar are notorious at finding and establishing weak spots. I needed something better. So I started doing a bit of research on electric fences and their effectiveness against boar. I eventually settled on about 100 wooden posts, spaced four metres apart, and four conducting lines of rope, spaced at 20, 40, 60, and 80 centimetres above the ground. The electricity comes from a solar powered 2 Joule charger and I set it so that the fence reads around 10000V.

    A few days after the fence was turned on, so to speak, I awoke around 7.30 in the morning to horrible screaming from somewhere on the land down below. On investigation, I found a spot where the bottom line had been snapped. A tussock of singed boar hair was stuck to the broken strand.

    As I have discovered, the great thing about electric fences is that they are easy to repair. You just join the broken ends back together with metal connectors. Not that I’ve needed to do many repairs. Since that incident, the boar have stayed away. In fact they seem to have changed their routine altogether and are digging the dirt elsewhere.

    Since July, the area around the house has been a wonderful sanctuary, and I have been filled with a glorious sense of achievement. I know this kind of thing is a breeze for a farmer, but I was completely intimidated by the prospect of building this fence, and felt bleak about its chances of success. But there it is. Now I can focus, without hindrance, on all the landscaping projects around the house without worrying about whether they will still be standing in the morning.

  8. 1. Like @davebigpicture above I’ve lost a couple of stone, though the last 4 days may have changed that.
    2. Settled in nicely at work. After the redundancy in 2019 (what a blessing in disguise that was) I’ve really enjoyed the year at work. I learnt 8 different rounds plus bits of others, its been incredibly hard work but really rewarding. And only one dog attack with 20 stitches, so I’ll always have a scar to remind me of Royal Mail.
    3. Spend more time with my wife than ever before and we agreed that this has been probably our best ever year together, even after 32 years It’s still good and getting better. It’s the outside world that’s been rubbish.
    4. And we’ve lost both our cats this year, both 19 and massively missed. But we’ve got a new kitten, Oliver who is the soppiest loveliest ball of black and white fur you could ever meet. We are having a great time showing him his new world.

    • I hope that your Christmas tree has survived Oliver. We had a new kitten in August (Star) and she loves to climb.

      Great news about the job. I can imagine it helps with the footsteps each day. Still in shorts at this time of the year?

  9. Finally fixed up my flat a fair bit – threw out old ugly/damaged furniture and bought new that not only looks better but also have room for all of my stuff that previously was piling up everywhere or stored in boxes. Got the wall of photograps and photo art in place, after years of talking about it. Also decorated my kitchen door by painting vines and flowers around its edges, it makes me smile every time I look at it and was worth the aches and pain that painting it gave me…

    The pandemic turned me into my mum’s librarian, since she couldn’t visit an actual library. I’ve hauled a ton of books to her, she’s a fast reader unfortunately (for me and my arms) – but we’ve had a lot of interesting conversations about literature this year, and about events in her life that certain books have reminded her of.

    And I finally did what I’ve always wanted to do, since my childhood: keep a reading journal where I document the books I buy and the books I read, and review them. I’ve started a couple of times before, after reading some extraordinary book that I just had to write down my thoughts on, but I haven’t kept it up before. This time I’ve kept it up all year long, and plan to go on until I can’t hold a pen anymore. Still kicking myself about not doing it sooner, but better late than never!

  11. 1. After 2 to 3 years of suffering chronic lack of mobility I finally had a hip replacement this year. The first 8 weeks were awful, but I can now see that my surgeon was right when he said it would change my life for the better. I’m chuffed with myself for overcoming my morbid fear of hospitals and going through with it.
    2. I am taking early retirement in January. Just holding out for that vaccine now so that life can begin again.

  13. Mmm, this year has been shite on so many levels it’s difficult to pick good bits out, but I’ll refer you to a conversation I had with my very sweet 10 year old son a week or so ago. He came through and said “dad, this year has been rubbish, I’ll be glad when it’s done”.

    So I told him that there have been some good bits and asked him what his highlight to the year was. Without a second thought, “beating Sheffield Wednesday for the first time since I’ve been born”. I can understand that one. We also agreed on staying up thanks to an injury time winner in the last game of the season, away at a team who could have clinched promotion, with us having been in the relegation zone since the previous September. Surely that’s a record that nobody will ever come close to beating, 13 months in the relegation zone, but not going down.

    But I told him my favourite thing of the year is the change in my daughter. At the beginning of the year she wasn’t attending schools, was in with a bad crowd, with drugs, drink and overage manipulative boys involved, was on an ASBO warning, we had the police, social services and the school involved and were desperate for it all to stop. She is now at a new school, attending and doing really well, she has made new (nice) friends and has a best friend for the first time since her previous best friend was murdered by his dad about 5 years ago, there are no more arguments at home, she has a plan for attending college after her GCSEs and she is a pleasure to be around.

    I split up with my wife of 20 years in the summer. It was my daughter who caught her, drunk as usual, flirting on the phone with her ex-boyfriend from when she was 19 or 20 (midlife crisis or what!!). She was in tears when she came down to tell me and then when I asked my wife about it the next morning (I didn’t like approaching her when she was drunk) she initially tried lying to me, before coming clean and then said she wanted to separate. I thought we were trying to work through the problems to save the marriage, but found out that when my wife was supposedly on the way to Southport for the weekend at her mate’s, she was actually on her way to South Wales for a dirty weekend with the ex (didn’t turn out to be everything she expected it to be – shame!), and that was that.

    My poor daughter blames herself. “If I hadn’t told you about the phone call…” but I’ve reassured her it is nothing to do with that and she’s not to blame in the slightest. Anyway, the wife left and after a couple of days I started to notice big changes. We’d always disagreed about our approach to parenting. She was too inconsistent and her parenting when drunk, which sadly was far too often, was appalling. I decided to take a different approach with my daughter, and no longer had anyone contradicting or undermining me. And it has worked. As I say, the change with her is nothing short of staggering. She, of course, deserves most of the credit, but I now have the best relationship I’ve had with her since she was a toddler. In the 3 months or so since the wife left we have had one minor argument, where she called me a dickhead and stomped off to her room. But, and this is the amazing thing, as it has never happened before, she came back down 10 minutes later and apologised. She’s a headstrong 15 year old. Arguments are to be expected, but that’s the only one.

    I’ve had a lovely Christmas with the kids and the words my daughter wrote in my card almost made me cry. In a nice way that is, as some of the things she used to call me at the beginning of the year also made me want to cry! But my part in this – parenting as I think she should be parented, being supportive, encouraging, trying to set a good example, being calm, fair, no raised voices, listening to her, rewarding good behaviour and, since the wife is no longer here, involving her in decisions, particularly with regard to the new house we are having to move to – that’s the best thing I’ve done this year. And I’m so, so proud of the way she’s responded and the way she has turned her life around. It’s the first time, for a very long time, that I haven’t felt like I was a failure as a parent.

    Beating Sheffield Wednesday is a close second though.

    And when I asked my son what the worst bits have been he did that thing where he looks over his glasses as if I’m stupid. “The pandemic and mum being a cheater, ‘nuff said”

    • As this and previous post have shown you and your kids have been through a hell of a time this year, but it seems you have met it all with admirably positive and constructive responses. It also looks like there are better days ahead for you and yours, and I sincerely hope so. You deserve them.

      • Thanks. I’m suffering for the nice time with the kids now though, as I’m sat waiting for some tablets to kick in, so I can go back to bed, as I’ve got terrible neck pain going up into my head. I’ve let my lad take over the living room for a few days with his new PlayStation. I made the mistake of playing FIFA with him and he found my total lack of ability highly amusing. I can’t feel the buttons so I have to keep looking down, by which time I’ve lost the ball. I don’t know what the buttons do anyway, so my little players are flying all over the pitch. He thought it was hilarious till we had a game as England (we play on the same team against the computer) and I got Harry Kane sent off by flying in totally unnecessarily when I was just trying to make him run faster. “Oh, dad! He’s our best player!” Anyway, he wants another game and another and another…

        I stopped when I could see I was aggravating one of the blisters on my thumb (I picked a casserole lid up by the metal handle a few days ago, forgetting I’d just got it out of the oven, but fortunately I realised quickly enough to let go and got it straight under the tap, so it could have been worse). But I didn’t think about the strain it was putting on my neck. My neck has now reminded me…

      • Can’t see tonight’s match being on a par with our great battles of the early 80s. We’ve got a few inches of snow on the lawn, so I imagine your groundsman has had some work to do, and by the sound of it half your team are laid up with COVID.

        • I think it’s a free hit for Barnsley tbh. I have no idea why this game went ahead but it could turn out to be season defining game for us. Barnsley look very good at the time of writing

          • Agree about beating Wednesday. I went to college and lived in Rotherham for about 7 years late 70s – early 80s and there were some cracking matches at Oakwell and particularly at Millmor. I got a good kicking in Rotherham bus station in December 1980 after our 1-0 win in the FA cup, it came right in the middle of Rotherham’s unbeaten league run. College was fun that year, being the only Barnsley fan in the midst of so many Millers, they had the last laugh finishing as champions but at least we were promoted as runners-up.

            • I seem to remember sitting in my dad’s van after the Cup win, waiting for his mates to make their way back, and listening to the draw for the next round. They used to do the draws on a Monday lunchtime, but maybe this predates this, cos I’m sure I remember telling my dad’s mates who we’d got in the next round.

              We had some cracking days in Rotherham around that time, the 4-2 being the obvious one. I always pictured Banger’s third as being like Trevor Sinclair’s goal until the video re-emerged many years later and we saw it wasn’t really an overhead kick at all. Me and my dad stopped going to Rotherham after we nearly got crushed that time when they let us outside but then blocked the lane further up. That might have been that Cup game, come to think of it. We were very near the front, so we didn’t get the worst of it, but those in the middle 10-20 yards behind us had no chance.

              I next went there for a County Cup game in about 1987. We lost 2-1. Me and my mate were about to get a kicking walking back to the station. There was a group of their lads walking behind us, issuing the threats. We were only about 17 and soft as shite. I was a really fast runner though, so I had no doubt I could have got away, but my mate wasn’t, so if we decided to run for it, he’d have got a beating. For once, my loyalty overcame my cowardice and it was repaid pretty quickly, when we turned a corner to be met by 4 bobbies! We decided to stop for a chat with them whilst our would be attackers walked past disgruntled! I’ve always been lucky, unlike you seem to have been, none more so than Birmingham away in the play offs. Getting back to the station that day was the scariest walk since the Warriors had to get back to Coney Island!

              • I could never understand all that stuff then, I understand it even less now.

                For Millwall and Chelsea away games I used to just go on the home terrace, it saved so much trouble, especially after the game. My memory is that it was also invariably cheaper.

                Saw a particularly moderate game on the home end at Stamford Bridge one Boxing Day, and worked out I was eating turkey in North-East London at about the time I’d have been sitting on the tube at Earls Court if I’d gone on the away end… and without “stress: considerable.”

    • Paul, being a good parent is not just the best thing you’ve done this year, it’s the best in a lifetime. I wish I achieve half as much.

      Good luck to you. Best wishes for 2021.

      • I totally concur. Again it is very heartening to see you ‘on the other side’ as it were Paul. I wish you and your family all the best for 2021. Oh, and I hope that your sportball team does well too.

  14. 1) Sought help when I became overloaded at work. I’ve been having CBT most of the Autumn and was forced to take time off (only a short time, but it was time off) for stress. I’ve also stepped back from my position at work a bit and re-evaluated (and finally realised and accepted) what I’m good at and what I’m no good at. Guilt at not thinking I’ve been doing a good job has made me over commit for a number of years, and that has been more damaging to me than anything I’ve ever done. I’m finally learning (at 43!) how to organise myself properly and how to live better and not get stressed.

    2) Joining a Quiz team. Yes, everyone has been Zoom quizzing over lockdown, but I’ve finally stepped up and, after years of wondering whether I should, have joined a team in the Quiz League of London. It’s all online (which swung it, pre lockdown, I could never really justify going up to the smoke after work for a quiz) and is great not only as a bit of a different thing to do, but for mindfulness as well.

    • Big advocate of CBT, sounds like it’s working for you and I hope that it continues to do so. It’s hard to change habits of a lifetime. The quiz thing sounds cool, too. Never knew that that was a thing.

      • Very much so. OQL (the Online Quiz League) is just about to start a new season, so if you’re interested it’s worth looking them up – you might be able to register as a solo person and then get put into a team, but I’m not sure exactly how they work.

        CBT is really interesting. I need to knuckle down and act on what I’ve learned, but just talking about stuff during the sessions was valuable, and made me realise some of the things I’ve been doing wrong for years.

  15. I started learning Spanish after years of just saying I want to learn Spanish. That and not having to commute have been some of the better things this year. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo, todos!

  16. Tricky. Not a year crammed with highlights to chose from really. The best thing is probably not travelling for work. Some weeks I’d be 15 hours on trains, which is a lot of time to get back all of a sudden. Since March I’ve sat and watched the garden grow and die from my little shed office. A walk at lunchtime, a cycle ride on a summer evening, and still more desk time than before. Long may it last.

    In March we started rehearsals for a play I wrote and produced which I had booked for 60 shows between April and September, from Adelaide to Edinburgh. Nine months later, we’ve done two. I had to decide whether to ask for deposits back from shut down venues that couldn’t pay their bills, and decided to let some of them hang on to it. I also had to see the professional cast right as they’d got nothing else coming in. Not sure my wife is that impressed by my loss-making style of theatrical production, but I do at least have a poster on the shed wall for the show that never was. Looks like my brief contribution to The Arts will have been as a patron rather than an impresario.

    • Being an NHS worker myself I won’t bleat on about how proud we all are of the work you do (but we are). Here’s to a better 2021. What chances that ‘end of the road’ will be on this year?

  18. Not much really. 15th Wedding Anniversary Holiday – Cancelled, 50th Birthday week of doing proper F**k All – Cancelled. Gigs – Cancelled. Lazy Weekends in Pubs and Restaurants – Cancelled (apart from a brief respite in summer months)
    But … I did buy a new car.
    Biggest achievement: not going absolutely tonto while in lock down. Initially concerned, but the black cloud stayed away.
    Just hoping to get back to some element of normality soon – really looking forward to seeing people in 3D (and this from a grumpy part-time misanthrope!)

  19. Keeping my sanity and helping my mum keep hers has probably been my biggest achievement of the year.

    Lockdown started almost to the day one year on from us losing my sister to cancer. I know I was still struggling with bereavement, despite plenty of counselling, and my mum wasn’t in great shape either. She can’t be doing with having nothing to do and no one to see so lockdown had the potential to do her some damage. However, with a bit of encouragement from me, she has kept herself occupied for most of the year. FaceTime has been a godsend and thank goodness that she’s pretty tech savvy for a now 83 year old and able to take to things like that like a duck to water. Hopefully she gets vaccinated in the next few weeks which should cheer her up.

    I feel really fortunate to have continued working as normal, albeit from home, and the complete lack of opportunity to go out and spend any money has done wonders for the mortgage which is going to be paid off early next year.

  20. I turned 50, appeared in a book*, and went on the wireless (local station, round-table record review show). Also, I had a proper birthday party.

    Well, I had a proper birthday gig – three bands in a hall. I did the rigging and soundchecks (that’s the way I like it). My partner in musical crime mixed the gig (Mrs F told me I wasn’t allowed to hide from the guests). Too loud to talk to anyone (that’s the way I like it). I was compere (public speaking is not something which comes naturally) and even told a couple of jokes. And I sat in on bass for one song, unrehearsed – having learned my bit by playing along with a CD, in order to surprise Mrs F, who’d never seen me perform (my last band split about 2 weeks before we met). I had the fear, and a reminder of why I stopped performing 25 years earlier (i.e. I’m crap).

    I booked the venue (capacity: 100) thinking I’d never fill it. In the end I had to turn down performers (I do a lot of favours) and operate a guest list to keep numbers below the fire limit. I could have filled it two or three times over.

    It made me realise that even someone as dull as me gathers a lot of friends if you live in one place for 35 years.

    Two weeks later, we were in lockdown.

    (*) again – my broken nose was is a medical text book c. 1993.

      • Very much so. The cafe is still open, but only for takeaways, and is very much the heart of the community – I miss the place nearly as much as the people. And I miss the lunchtime equipment collection/return at the local hi-fi shop.

        My friend runs the cafe with his wife, and it’s been my home from home. So much so that someone once came to visit me but forgot my address. So he popped into the cafe to ask if anyone knew where I lived. “No need, it’s a Saturday afternoon, he’ll be here in a bit”. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, in I walked…

  21. Joined my first band in 17 years. Had 2 stints in different bands in my younger years, when i was 21-24, later when i was 29-31 and now after 17 years i have the desire back. Not the best time to join a new band with covid but we’ve managed half a dozen rehearsals and sound surprisingly decent. Have about 16/17 covers learnt, aiming to do some gigs in 2021. My wife and kids have never seen me play, im loving it and pleased i finally pushed myself. I’ll take it as my small win for this year. Although have gone from owning 1 bass to a total of 4, now back to 3. Sold one to that blond bloke in the Nescafe Azera launderette ad. Finding buying basses almost as addictive as buying records. I must stop. 3 will have to do.

  22. Started a new band which, in the interests of perversity, we’ve named Picasso’s Ear. Whilst our students were in lockdown, I tapped a fellow simpatico teacher to see if he wanted to strum an occasional acoustic guitar at lunch time, or whenever our respective departments were getting angsty and we needed some fresh air. Went so well we decided to branch out and make an electric band: Chris reverted to drums, I decided to buy some new kit (Re-stringed the Rickenbackers, a couple of new Vox AC15s and some effects). I drafted a mate on proper actual lead guitar and Chris drafted his brother in law on bass; at 48, Greg’s has never been in a band before, so he’s like a dog with two dicks. We’ve spent the year developing a repertoire of late 80s smart pop (Tears for Fears, Talking Heads, Police, Elvis Costello) and, at the risk of appearing immodest, we’re quite good. Not much scope for gigs at the moment but it’s a buzz developing the band ‘in secret’, ready to play once Sydney gigs start opening up again.

  23. Not a great deal.

    Sharon and I found out that we could coexist in a lock down environment, which was nice.
    The big things were both small and large. I had my first beer with my son just prior to moving, which seemed to be a milestone moment. My ex, in a rare moment of taste, was a painting for him of our two beer bottles.
    I got accepted to Warwick Business School to do an MBA, and was awarded a scholarship.
    And we finally moved to Alice after a lot of stress and moving around. We have not been here very long, but all the signs seem to be that our three years here will be excellent. The scenery is spectacular, and the pace of life is just right for us. Very, very glad we made the move.

  25. Appropriately you mentioned running…..well that’s been my good thing this year. 56, overweight, terribly unfit, sedentary job, foodie….all the ingredients for a shit old age, so…. Did the couch-to-5k thing back at the start of lockdown in March and just kept going. Run 3/4 times a week – usually 6k as it’s the only flat bit of road round here! Lost over 2st in weight and feel so much better for it. Still eating more than I probably should, but Christmas has been tricky on that front…

    • That’s great. I got to 5K once but I generally do between a mile and a mile and a mile and a half four times a week. I need a bit more time to run a bit further, but getting up early to run doesn’t suit me. Perhaps I should run after work.

      • I’m the polar opposite; if I haven’t got up and out running by 7.30am, it ‘ain’t happening!! The bonus has been it was dead easy to answer the ‘what do you want for Christmas’ question – just more running clobber.

  26. Went back to work at the beginning of August to my part – time job as a wedding registrar which I’d taken on to boost my work pension until I could receive my state pension. I’d intended to finish at the end of September and take a couple of holidays before the year’s end, that of course didn’t pan out.
    I did one day but just didn’t feel safe meeting people indoors maskless and due to my ongoing health issues I handed my notice in.
    Finally got my state pension this December hurrah.

  27. Well, it wasn’t the best year to go into retail after a 20+ year break. I’ve sort of opened a record and book shop in so far as I’ve taken increasing amounts of space in one of those “antiques” centres that have sprung up around the country in recent years.

    It’s pretty straightforward – you pile your stuff in, hopefully sell it and the owners take the money at the front desk and pay you at the end of every month minus rent and a small commission. The good thing is you don’t have to be there – I usually go in two half days a week to tidy things up and put out more stock and that’s it.

    Several people said just do Discogs/Ebay/Amazon/Abebooks but I’ve been doing “logistics and fulfilment” – ie packing and taking stuff to the post office – for my son’s vintage clothing sideline for a long while and it’s really dull.

    I started small just before Christmas 2019 with half a dozen boxes of vinyl and then after the first lockdown, as other dealers around me decided to move on, gradually increased my floorspace to what is now a sizeable plot. There are about 2500 vinyl albums in there and I recently brought in some bookshop style bookshelves – a snip at £75 for 10 six-footers from the local auction – that are now almost full with a mix of fiction/non-fiction.

    Over the years, via my son, I’ve picked up some knowledge on the current state of the vintage clothing market so there’s a few rails of stuff in there – including my rather fetching “winter collection” of sheepskin jackets. While we’re on the subject – never throw away pre-2000 band tour shirts…they are worth silly money now.

    Vinyl sales are strong – I tend to be cheaper than most second hand places and cover a wide range of styles with a decent mix of specialist/civilian music. And I’ve got a friendly bunch of soul/jazz/funk heads who regularly come in and spend. Plus I’ve bought a couple of collections – dad rock in the main – to keep the crates refreshed.

    It’s been all good up to now – even with the second lockdown. Have to say though the current situation is a little worrying. Hitchin in Herts, where the antiques centre is located, jumped from tier 2 to 4 before Christmas and the immediate future looks a little bleak with a lengthy potential shutdown looming. Still I could pull it all out with a month’s notice – and then do Discogs/Abebooks etc..

    Appreciate other independent retailers don’t have this kind of flexibility and I really feel for those who’ve put their heart and hard earned cash into creating new retail/food offerings. I was in Bedford the other week and what used to be a pretty vibrant town centre looked almost hollowed out – M&S went earlier this year along with Beales department store and now Debenhams and those strange shops like Peacocks and Bon Marche that are probably owned by some offshore private equity house were also covered in “closing down” signs. All very sad – and it’s hard to see how some of these town centres will survive. Good to see local indie Slide Records looking busy though and the wondrous Eagle bookshop/gallery has recently moved into new enlarged premises so some hope for the future.

    Despite the lockdown setbacks, it’s been a positive and enjoyable experience. Back in the 1990s I had a great little book and record shop tucked away in a lovely glass-topped Victorian arcade in Hull’s old town. It was a cultural rather than a commercial success – a gathering point for various oddballs who never spent any money and the occasional passing soul and jazz buyer. Always had a hankering to recreate something similar so pleased to have done it.

    • Well done for keeping it up through the ins and outs of lock down. Sounds like Bedford town centre is much the same as Northampton town centre. At least it has the river (when it’s not flooding).

  28. Nothing to raise the eyebrows. My wife was very ill in the autumn of 2019 and though much improved is still in recovery. She can’t walk as far as she was once able or move very easily. I’ve become better at being generally more helpful, which for a selfish unthinking lazy twat like me it’s about bloody time.

    I’ve played guitar for a couple of decades now but as a lazy twat as noted already when I realised early on it was difficult and I had no real knack for it I simply didn’t practise properly. I fell into happy but aimless strumming of basic chords and easy riffs. I’ve owned 3 or 4 guitars in my time and thought they were perfectly good. This summer I treated myself to a new one, a cheap Telecaster bought untested from Thomann in Germany. It arrived and it was an immediate revelation. In short it fits my hand superbly and feels so good to play. None of my others felt the same at all. As a result if not my actual playing has improved my attitude has. I realised I could play riffs and noodle licks eternally but hardly ever played songs end to end. Now my Telecaster and I play songs. The spare room has recently witnessed Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak’, The Shadows’ ‘FBI’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’ and The Eagles ‘Life In The Fast Lane’. Played along to the record start to finish. The absolute joy of it.

    It’s Status Quo’s ‘In My Chair’ next.

    Be still your beating hearts.

  30. I haven’t learnt nearly so many songs as I should have this year, but I have achieved a first. While I sing quite a few songs in French, all for the benefit of dancers, this year I learnt and performed my first song in Breton; just a shame that no-one has had a chance to dance to it yet.

      • Well it’s certainly with Celtic roots, but to my ears it’s not that close. I learnt it from a breton friend, so I assume that I am getting the pronunciation, but it doesn’t sound that close to the Welsh I can hear 50 or 60 miles from my home. Sometimes, the words on the page look unpronounceable, but actually come out sounding quite French.

        Mercifully, there’s a lot of tra la la in it.

    • That’s a pretty impressive picture, well done. I was complaining earlier that the camera on my phone is rubbish (or I’m a rubbish photographer) and I miss using an actual camera. What did you use?

      • Thank you. It’s a Cannon Powershot bridge camera, but most of the hard work was done with a free editing programme called Picasa on a desktop. Picasa seems to have been discontinued, but I like it and found an archived version to download last time I needed to.

  34. Art in various forms helped me get through the year. I did Inktober for the second time, and found it great fun again. Making time every day to do some drawing and finish something – whatever “finish” means – helped speed up the improvements in my primitive skritches. A friend bought one of my drawings, which was a thrill.

    I also spent time doing more home recordings – all available on Bandcamp, Pay What You Like – https://tomrafferty1.bandcamp.com/ – some of them are in line with the kind of din I have made before, others are new areas for me.

    And The Primevals managed to get 2 albums out this year – the first was recorded last year with final mixing done in January, and the second one was all written and recorded from August to December. https://primevals.bandcamp.com/album/new-trip

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