I find hope to be a weird thing. Mostly we hope for thngs that our rational brain knows are impossible, but to deny that hope would make life a very much harder thing to endure.

Perhaps it is a curse of being quiet and slightly odd, but I have throughout my time at uni and beyond encountered people whom I find very attractive and have a great deal in common with who clearly have no interest in me. Secretly I hope that they will notice that tall person in the corner but they never do.

The hope makes one feel a bit more alive, but it burns a little and makes it that much harder to ever become really close friends.

It is interesting to see how many of the blogs that I read periodically now appeared to have been forgotten by their owners.

Perhaps the fad has passed, or maybe my peers have all just gorwn up and found more productive things to do with their lives than writing down what they are doing with their lives.

In the meantime those of us who read them watch and wait…

Happy New Year to all of my (remaining) readers!

I have decided that as this is a new year I will make some effort to rescusitate this blog so that you can all catch up on my innane ramblings.

Festive period

Christmas was good this year. We had the whole family (and no-one else for a change) at home for three whole days, which is pretty much unheard of. Was good to have a house-full, although there were a few occasions where I had to go and hide in my room for a bit as I wasn’t feeling sociable.

As is traditional in our family, Boxing Day is the day that we all go out into the orchard to tidy the place up and generally work off the christmas excess. By having an early breakfast and late supper (and skipping lunch altogether) we get to make best use of the daylight available and by the end of the day we had cut down and burnt 8 trees (they are willow trees which will sprout again from the base but need to be cut right down every 15-20 years to stop them rotting and falling over).

On Monday I headed up to Manchester for a week to see in the new year with friends. It was good to catch up with so many people and apologies to the people I didn’t manage to catch up with while I was there. I travelled up with Olly (younger brother) and stayed with him in his house in Failsworth. It is a big house but is in urgent need of some updating (and tidying).

My week went something like as follows:
Monday: Train to manc, arrived at 17:30 and straight back to Failsworth.

Tuesday: Had a bad night with the vasculitis and didn’t have enough drugs with me to cover an attack. Spent 3.5 hours in A&E to see a doctor to give me more meds. Then headed down to Withington around 4.30 to catch up with friends who had been out walking before crossing to Chorlton to catch up with Liz at 18.30. Caught the bus back into town to meet up with the record label crowd in Retro Bar for 9.00ish before getting a late bus back to Failsworth.

Wednesday: Had a lie-in and didn’t leave the house till about 13.00. Went with Olly into town for llunch and then went to the cinema. We were due to Boho for their NYE party from 19.30, and found ourselves in town with time to kill before catching the bus, so we wandered down to the arch and finished off a few bits of the set that needed fettling. Got down to Boho about 8.00 and had a good but mostly quiet party (apart from the singing in the kitchen). The highlight of the evening was the firework display including a comedy moment where someone lit a firework and, while retreating to safe distance, laid himself flat by walking straight into the washing line in the dark. Left the party around half midnight and retreated to Failsworth by taxi.

Thursday: Lay in till late and didn’t leave the house.

Friday: Met up with Liz in the evening for dinner. Had a very pleasant meal and a good catch-up. Staggered back to hers around midnight and crashed in the spare room.

Saturday: Got the bus back to Failsworth to change and pack (I had a very early train on Sunday). Then back into town with Olly to catch up with Grahame in the pub. Left there about 16.30 to catch a train to Hale for Hoose’s surprise party. Bumped into Linden, Alsion and Rosy on the platform at Piccadilly. The meal itself was amazing; there were 30 people organised in secret to be there waiting when Hoose arrived. Also good to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen for a number of months (including Mike, Pam & Mahinda). After the meal I caught the last train back to manc with Rosy and then finding a taxi back out to Failsworth.

Sunday: Got up early to finish my packing and then caught the bus into town to catch the 11.35 train to London. Minor chaos on the train as the 11.15 had been cancelled because of the plane crash in Staffs on Friday. We got down to London without incident (although due to the diversion it took 30mins longer than timetabled). I learned later that we must have missed the subsequent power failure at Watford by only about 30mins, and that was delaying people by up to 3/4 hours.