Review of the year 2010

Last year, on Valentine’s Day, I published my review of 2009, in many ways not the most upbeat of my writings here, although 2009 on closer examination had turned out to have at least a few highlights. Maybe it is because I am not the most optimistic of individuals generally, but my overall perception of any bad year – 2009 or, as it was to turn out 2010, can be lightened by closer examination, these annual reviews helping me indeed to do just that…… 2010 actually turned out to be an extraordinary year economically as you will discover on further reading this, extraordinary in that, in ... more

As 2011 beckons, I have been thinking long and hard about writing my review of 2010. This year has been one of change for me and my daughter, and that is something I have been yearning for over the past couple of years since my husband died in March 2008. Last year came to an end with probate finally being granted on my husband’s estate. Due to bad legal advice (or should that be non-existent legal advice) we received when we purchased our last home in 2006, I wasn’t able to sell the house until this was received so I found myself in a period of limbo for much longer than I had expected or ... more

I once wrote that some years are defined by a colour. I remember a yellow year: a year of a profusion of sunlight and buttercups, of ripe wheat and golden candles. I remember a deep purple year of depression and window-seat nights and teenage angst, clad in dark velvet and red wine. Some years are defined by other things. A moment, an event, a single afternoon that lives on. Once upon a time my mother told me fairy tales. Then I grew up, and she told me truths, harsh ones and humourous ones; truths to be passed on and truths to be held close and never shared. But we didn't talk much Mam and me ... more

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past” (Thomas Jefferson – Third President of the United States) I am not generally the retrospective sort. I prefer to look forward, to the future, rather than to dwell in the past. That said, sometimes it’s worth looking back to take a closer look at the road you have travelled, the footprints you have left behind, and the companions who have walked with you. The year 2010 was a full of incident – some good and some not so good, but each milestone has added another marker on this journey we call life, and they should be ... more

I keep getting woken up by the Pogues and Wham! on my sister’s stereo - I don’t think she’d be seen dead with an 80s CD in her room. My mum has been dropping subtle hints and not so subtle hints to my dad about how the hedge would be really nice with a few fairy lights in it. The fridge is packed with unusual groceries like double cream, selections of cheeses that we don’t usually eat and pickled onions. There are litre bottles of sherry in the cupboard and about twelve unopened bottles of J20 behind the kitchen door. I even spent this afternoon squeezing sausages out of their skin, rolling ... more