Treacle was
rather restless last night, and when she is restless, so is everyone else. I
managed to put up with her fidgeting, and got up shortly before the alarm was
due to go off.
Over a bowl
of rather yukky muesli I watched an episode of “Bottom” (in which our
heroes had spent four thousand pounds on a weekend trip to Doncaster), then
I sparked up the lap-top to see what I’d missed on-line overnight. I hadn’t
missed much.
It seemed
darker than usual as I walked to my car and drove off to work. The roads were
certainly quieter than they have been. As I drove the pundits on the radio were
running article after article about Winston Churchill. Today's guest editor
would seem to be fixated on the chap. Whilst it was all rather interesting, I
prefer it when there is a variety of topics on the radio. After a while you
soon get bored with the same old drivel (I certainly do).
Having a few
minutes spare I took a ten-minute diversion for geo-purposes. Usually there is
a meet-up on New Year's Eve. This year there wasn't for the simple reason that
no one had organised one. So I got my New Year's Eve geo-souvenir for acting
suspiciously round a village sign in Sandling. As I took my little
geo-diversion it became apparent that my phone had upgraded itself overnight.
The driving directions were given in a different voice to what it has used in
the past, and the distances were given in metric units rather than imperial. I
wonder how I turn it back? Personally I'd like it to use metres and miles, but
I don't think that's an option.
With a few
minutes spare I stopped off at Aldi for a look-see. I got some of their
granola. I didn't get any of their muesli. I don't like their muesli; it is
like sawdust. I do like Alpen. Trouble is, it ain't cheap. Aldi didn’t have any
Alpen, so it was all academic anyway.
Whilst I was
in Aldi I got a combination ice-scraper/snow-sweeper for the car as it was in
the cheapo-bargain section. It only cost three quid. I suspect it may well
collapse on its first usage. We shall see.
Work was
work; as the day went on I felt more and more tired and washed out. I seriously
considered giving the evening’s party a miss; I was glad I didn’t. Maria put on
a wonderful spread, we watched “Mama Mia II”, we did the New Year
grapes. We had a really good evening.
We came home
rather late and found Fudge was stuck on the window sill. He’d got on there to
look for us and couldn’t get back.
And that’s it
for another year. I see a lot of people have been posting on Facebook saying
what a crappy year it was…
One of my
many cringeworthy talents is that I never let the fact that I am incredibly bad
at karaoke stop me from having a go. One of my more memorable numbers is my
rendition of Belinda Carlisle’s “Total Eclipse of the Fart” which I’ve
been howling it since it was first released. One of the lines in the song
struck a chord when I first howled it some thirty-five years ago: “every now
and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by”.
In my blacker moments I do worry that the best of all the years have gone by.
But for all thirty-four of those years I had no cause for concern. Despite losing
father-in-law Frank, this year has certainly been one of the better ones.
- We revived the traditions that is Dover Beer Festival and our summer garden party.
- I organised a boat trip out to the wartime sea-forts in the Thames estuary.
- We had some incredibly good walks including a twenty-mile one across the Sussex Downs.
- I had a very good weekend on a European road trip visiting all sorts of place including the French geo-mega.
- We had a wonderful holiday in the New Forest.
- The Snow Dogs came to Ashford.
- We had afternoon tea with my mum and dad (they’d never done it before)
- I caught my biggest fish ever (so far)
- We had a really good pre-Christmas dinner with friends in Brenchley, and an incredible Boxing Day tribal get-together.
- My little girl has opened a corner shop in Margate.
- And all-new “Star Trek” came back to the telly.
I
wonder what next year has in store?
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