I suppose most people think over the past year on this date, and then tomorrow look forward to the next.
2013 seems to have been very busy, lots and lots of music, wonderful times with friends, lots of sunshine, family, lots of writing, visits to new places, meeting new people, pubs and beer, undertaking new enterprises…
Music: –
- together with good friends I was lucky enough to see the Mavericks four times, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Plymouth, and to actually meet and talk to them… They brought out a fabulous new CD ‘In Time’, which I have played and replayed… but as I have two copies plus an LP I’m not worried about it wearing out
- The Black Diamond Express – a fabulous, fabulous band from Scotland; I was lucky enough not only to listen to them live, but to drink with them afterwards, and I love their CD!
- Icelandic music – my son bought me two Sigur Ros CDs, I have ordered the new CD by Ásgeir, an amazing young singer and composer, and I have ordered a CD by John Grant, who is not Icelandic but now lives there
- I am waiting for Simon Lynge’s new CD, he is a talented young singer from Greenland
- Kevin Montgomery now has on-line gigs, where he streams straight from someone’s house and gives a concert!
Friends:-
- I have been able to get together lots of times with my Dutch friend Elly! We hardly stop talking and laughing when we are together, apart from when we are enjoying music, taking photos, eating, drinking…. just being together! We went and stayed in the Netherlands with her and it was lovely to meet her family again, and then her daughter came over on a visit with her… and we went to see the mavericks!
- My Coventry friends and fellow Mavericks fans… lovely to meet up with them throughout the year, a memorable stay in the Midland Hotel in Manchester, and a wonderful day out at the BBC Good Food show
- Book club – so many laughs, so much gossip about so much not to do with books, shared wine, shared nibbles, shared fun… oh and a few books I enjoyed! And i am lucky to be in another book club too, no wine, but plenty of interesting chat, laughs, cheese straws… oh and talk about books!
- English conversation group – the idea is to engage people whose first language is not English in chat and conversation… and more! I have made some lovely friends, and look forward to seeing them all again in the New Year
- Old friends – friends from my childhood, especially the talented artist Frankie Partridge, friends from school, including another talented artist and singer, Ros Cuthbert, friends from my student days including Andrew Simpson, historian and author of two books about Chorlton-cum-Hardy, our friends from when I was eighteen, who now live only 40 minutes away from us in Devon
- My many on-line friends who I have met in different ways and who have been so encouraging, funny, helpful, supportive… and many more positive adjectives!
Sunshine:-
- What a summer! Lots of home-grown fruit and vegetables, lots of meals outside, lots of open windows with warm fresh air streaming in!
Family:-
- Meeting cousins in Glasgow who I hadn’t seen for over ten years
- The family Easter holiday in chilly Devon
- A family wedding
- a new family holiday in Sandsend, Yorkshire
- dear cousins coming to stay
- the family Christmas party, plus a jolly jaunt with my dear cousin to Radwinter in Essex
- numerous phone calls, emails, cards and letters… and a new contact with a very distant cousin, met through family tree research!
I’m sure there are other things I have done over the year, things I’ve enjoyed which for some reason seem to have drifted out of my mind!
Lois Elsden 