2014

I'm writing this on the Sunday evening prior to returning to work on January 6th. I'm a bit apprehensive about the New Year as there's a new storage heater waiting to be fitted, and my bathroom is going to be re-done on Jan 13th. I'm hoping that it all goes ok and that further hassles do not arise.

Apart from my amazing US and Paris trips, the last three years have been sheer hell. I've lost nearly everything - my wife, my house, 58% of my pension, and a lot of money besides. Winter is a very hard time when you're stuck on your own in a Studio Flat without friends. I'm not a practical man and find many aspects of living alone frightening. I will probably need to resort to Valium to get through the winter.

However over the last few months I have found a bit of the old "bounce" returning. I want to find one or two social things to get involved in, and will be having some golf lessons in the Spring. I do need to do something about all the CDs I've got in the place - there are simply too many for a one-room flat. I plan to have a comprehensive "spring-clean" done on the place and then maybe have a Cleaner in for a few hours a week to get the place a bit better. I do have the occasional cleaning spurt but what with a full-time job and my natural laziness I really do not keep up.

Most of my music listening at the moment derives from my September US trip. In particularly I'm really into Minneapolis bands like The Replacements and Husker Du. In the mid-eighties these were probably the best bands in the world. It was such an experience to stay in Minneapolis and drive round Minnesota. The weather was nice and sunny then, especially when I visited Duluth - but it will be very wintry at the moment.

So what do I want to happen this year ? Basically I just want to do my best at work and look for something to change in my personal life. The isolated life I've been living for the last three years is grinding me down.