New Years Eve Reflections

Well, what a year 2014 proved to be, more to the point, where did it go?  It’s so weird, some things seem like they were only yesterday, and then others seem like a million years away!

The one thing that blighted  2014, until July, was the announcement of redundancies at work, it was awful.  I found the whole process unbearable and so withdrew, taking no part in applying for any of the new positions created, until almost the very last week of term, when after many weeks of being gently persuaded constantly badgered and nagged by my best friend Sarah that she couldn’t do her “new job” without me, I finally applied for the one part time Admin post that hadn’t been filled, still admittedly with reservations.  Then in September I began working my new hours, 8.30 – 1.30.  It took a lot of getting used to, not only the shorter hours but the drastic cut in wages, but I had a job.

However by mid October I had adjusted and discovered that by leaving work at 1.30 it gave me almost another day to play with (if that makes sense?)…….no more rushing home to get the tea on and then crashing on the settee but more time to be creative, blog and as you have seen, finally bond with my garden!!!!  Work wise I am not sure what 2015 will bring, as more big changes seem to be a foot …… and whether I decide to fit in again is another story.But onto much happier events and memories …..

In June I became Nanny Nell to a very, very beautiful little Iris. The first baby to be born to all our families for at least 18 years, and we are all totally and absolutely besotted.  

And then …… later in the summer Marc came to stay play with me, something neither of us ever thought would happen, even as I waited for Marc’s train to pull in I still expected to get a text saying he wasn’t coming!! 

We had such a special time …. and in those ten days, no, we never, ever stopped talking or laughing, especially when he filled my bathroom with bubbles, when he put a few too many drops of luxury product in my jaccizi bath!! 

And I am sure the charity shops of Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton still remember our animated visits.

There were also all my return frequent visits to London to stay with Marc and Ian….. where we saw the Poppies at the Tower together ……..

…….. took part in unusual quiz nights …..

…… and who can forget the Live Theatre Window Event at WE Interiors in November or my need to cut those calories!!!!!!

Lucy and I went on our Greek Odyssey to Kefalonia, accompanied by three equally enthusiastic monkeys who embraced all things Greek, a time away in foreign climes that ticked all our boxes for the perfect holiday ……….

…….. accept that seven days was just not enough!

At Easter I went Iceland ….. this was the third time I had arranged the trip for the Geography Department and this time it just had to be my time to go with them.

It was the most beautiful, magical and at times “spooky” country I had ever been too and where I finally managed to tick off swimming in the Blue Lagoon from my bucket list. 

I know there’s been an awful lot more to my year, but these were for me the most memorable. Tonight I plan to go for a meal with some of my family to the local Indian restaurant up the road, and then toddling home early to see 2015 in very quietly ………remembering the year, good and bad and indifferent and the people who helped make the memories, then looking towards a New Year …… not with dreamily misty, whimsical eyes, but just hoping that it will be a good one.