As the close of 2011 is upon us, I thought I would use this blog to reflect the highs and lows of this year. If you have read my book, you may have come across an entry where I make my New Year’s Resolution for 2011. It was “To Have a Fabulous Year”, and in parts it has, indeed, been fabulous. But it also had some extremely difficult times. So that I can end on a high, I shall start with the lows:
The Lows (in no particular order)
Being made redundant in February
Being made redundant in November
A cousin dying
Having a job I was offered almost disappear to the extent that I thought it no longer existed
Having to make a choice in May between two jobs that I wanted
Reading ‘Frenchman’s Creek’ by Daphne du Maurier
Getting wetter than I imagined was possible whilst wearing a woollen suit
A very disappointing batch of redcurrant wine
Not being able to make a decent noise from a recently aquired early twentieth-century French bassoon
The Highs
Seeing my book in print
Playing Handel’s ‘Water Music’ on a platform floating in a swimming pool
My book signing event
Writing for ‘Home Farmer Magazine’
Being conducted by Paul Daniel (no, not the magician) for a CD recording
Going back to Brooke North, and being so welcomed
Getting a new, exciting job right at the end of the year
Reading ‘The Lacuna’ by Barbara Kingsolver
Seeing ‘Carmen’ with my wife, my older brother and my sister
Having my feet nibbled by fish
Appearing on Radio Leeds, and in the Yorkshire Post, and in the Leeds Guide in a fortnight of media tartery
Spending three months working for West Yorkshire Police
Rydal Hall – as ever
Experimenting with more flavours of wine than I have ever done before (rose petal, peapod, gooseberry & elderflower, crab apple & strawberry, crab apple & blackcurrant, quince)
Playing in ‘The Armed Man’ in Manchester (particularly the 20 second silence at the end followed by a standing ovation).
So, there you have it. 2011 – a rather extreme curate’s egg of a year. I would quite like a quieter and less dramatic 2012, please.