2016 - Fiddling While Rome Burned?

I'm in a  reflective mood, which I suppose is understandable on New Year's Eve, and contemplating the fact that while I had a good year personally all around me the world seemed to be going to hell in a handcart. Regular readers will know that this blog is more or less a politics free zone, but I was as surprised and shocked as anyone else at the results of the Brexit vote and the American Presidential election. I don't do Doomsday Scenarios, because if there's one thing that life has taught me it's that whatever happens the world keeps turning and people keep carrying on, dealing with whatever the politicians and financiers throw at them. The struggle to carry on is sometimes easier, sometimes harder, and I mention it as a tribute to the power of the human spirit rather than because I think governments should have an agenda, such as an austerity, that actually hits the poor of society a damn sight harder than it hits the rich. When I was younger I thought politicians were grown ups who knew what they were doing and were in control.  I'm no longer that naïve.

 

That said, I can't help but celebrate the year that I've had.  I moan about how much we've been away, and I did get very sick of the sight of the A9, but mostly our trips south this year were undertaken for pleasant purposes. And we had great holidays. Oz was fantastic, it was wonderful to go to Canada and meet our second grandson for the first time, and brief visits to York, Sussex and Stockholm (twice) were all good. We had no major work done on the house (which was good for the nerves and the bank account) bar the redecorating of the living room, for which I was away, so even that had only a positive impact on me. Project 60 saw me accomplish no fewer than twenty two new things, which varied from the huge and amazing, like travelling on The Ghan, to the everyday and mundane, like baking bread and buying boots. Our elder son managed to move to Toronto and the family are enjoying life there much more than they did down in the south west of Ontario, where our daughter in law had been studying. Our younger son is feeling his way towards what he should be doing next. which is a positive thing. We saw the Canadian family not once but twice this year and I saw my sister twice as well. I met some new friends,  and strengthened ties with some old ones. We saw some fabulous opera.  We were and are all healthy, something which I am aware cannot be said for all my friends and their families sadly.

 

There were some lowlights of course. Hitting 60. Alan Rickman dying before I had a chance to see him on stage. Deteriorating relationship with my Ph D supervisor. Becoming a casualty of NHS rationing ( eyes again ). Not managing to lose half my body weight!

 

But overall - a good year. Tomorrow I shall look forward to what 2017 might bring; meanwhile - Happy Hogmanay!