I could look at previous blog posts and there may be a time when I will rely on them and/or take pleasure looking back but for now I still prefer to trust my memory.
Labour were still in government. I couldn't have imagined that the Tories were about to grab power that they will retain until at least 2024, maybe even longer. I'd grown increasingly dissatisfied with the policies of Blair/Brown, the Iraq war and PFI's spring immediately to mind.
My dad died in 2008. Little was I to know things were about to get much worse in early 2010 when my mam, a true giant of a human being died after a short and traumatic illness. With the benefit of hindsight there's no doubt she'd been suffering in silence for a long time. I take consolation from the fact her relatively swift demise meant she lived her life pretty much to the end. Being genuinely proud of your parents is a blessing and I was and still are a very proud son.
I had a debilitating bad back for most of the year and I became addicted to the opiate drug, tramadol. Work was particularly shit after I took an ill-advised temporary promotion. That promotion fucked up my work/life balance for at least 5 years.
On the positive side I got into live music again thanks locally to The Kids are Solid Gold and I attended my first EOTR. The headliners were Explosions in the Sky, The Fleet Foxes and The Hold Steady. More notable to me were the opening acts on the Garden Stage each day, Mumford and Sons, The Leisure Society and Whispertown 2000 all played TKASG shows around the same time in the Boro.
So 2019 - I've had a bloody bad back again (for the last 5 months and counting) although it hasn't stopped me doing much. I was thrilled to go to EOTR again after a 6 year absence with 2 of my best friends Sylvia and Lucy. Big yaay for that one. I also went to the Radio 1 Big Weekend show in Stewart Park in the Boro. No comment on the music but it was a great Boro day as was Twisterella (see previous write up). The Spooker Rekkids Attic shows were a constant delight, especially Goodbye Loona from Nuremberg. Other stand out shows were Kitty Daisy and Lewis and A Certain Ratio and a rare away fixture in Leeds to see AA Bondy.
Supporting Boro continues to be a challenge. We narrowly missed out on the play-off's last season and we've continued to spiral downwards this season. We're currently just above the relegation zone in the Championship but there are enough green shoots to give me confidence that we'll be ok.
The cricket's been great. I finally got to see England win the World Cup win in the the most breathtaking and dramatic finish imaginable and I was at Durham when Ben Stokes and Mark Wood paraded the trophy.
Arguably the end to the 3rd Ashes test at Headingly was even more dramatic, certainly to students and lovers of test cricket and me, Mike, Chris, Lore, Ian and Alex were only bloody well there to se it, weren't we!!
Shoes off if you love Ben Stokes!
Context in cricket is everything and England winning the test kept the Ashes series alive, which was the part of the reason it was so exciting. Alas a draw in the final test meant we failed to win back the Ashes. Close but no cigar.
Further down my pecking order of importance, me and Sham went on holiday to Jamaica again (3rd time) and a cruise around the Caribbean with day trips to Havana, the Caymen Islands and the Mexican Island of Cozumel. Hail Shamila for indulging me. We also visited Glasgow later in the year which was also surprisingly brilliant.
The election result was absolutely gutting, so much more so than 2010, 2015 or 2017. The UK is at a Girlfriend in a Coma moment. I hope I'm wrong but in my head this time I I know its serious. I'm still grieving and still trying to work out exactly what went wrong. It's very lazy to simply blame Brexit and/or Jeremy Corbyn, there was more to it than that. I might start talking about it in the New Year but for now I'd just say that apart from anything else there was an inability of huge swathes of the electorate to critically analyse the bombardment of news/adverts/and opinions we were being fed or decipher facts from lies.
So we move on, it's now out of my hands and to be honest I just want to stop fretting about it
Work's been strangely ok, that's not to say I ever enjoy going. As I've often said there's never been a day in 41 and a half years when I'd rather have driven/walked past the office and done something more interesting instead but maybe I've found peace and contentment very late in my career. Our office is closing in September 2020 and I'll be moving to Peterlee. I should be sad or more angry. I don't fancy driving up and down the A19 but hey ho. I'll be in the closing straight of my career and I think I can manage.
I've only got 18 months to do and I'm trying hard not to wish that time away. It's not easy ................
Going to try and do a couple of more posts this year.
Adios amigos.
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