Tough times

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future”

Yogi Berra

At around this time last year I was following my usual custom of looking ahead to the coming year and outlining – in a post to this journal – the plans and projections that we were making therefore.

When I first sat down to write that post my mind was still clouded by the chaos that we, personally, had endured during 2023. At one point – towards the end of that year – we thought that 2024 would inevitably be a quiet year, with little travel or other like extravagance – and that a period of retrenchment was probably called for.

As it turned out – and as can be determined from this recent post (What just happened?) – the year was full of activity both on the travel front (our splendid trip to Scotland) – on the work front (particularly for The Girl at her First Nation) and with regard to our creative efforts (a new Anam Danu album and an unexpected pantomiming!). Perhaps the only area in which we felt that the year had not lived up to expectation was that we did not get to do as much socializing as we would have liked. The poor summer weather contributed considerably to this less than ideal state of affairs.

Though our 2024 turned out to be better than anticipated, for the rest of the world it could well be argued that the year took a dramatically retrograde turn. We are, naturally, not immune to these external pressures and it may prove – as a result – that 2025 turns out to be the quiet – heads-down – dig-in – sort of year that we might have expected last time around.

These things, however, we are anticipating:

• A week in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, during the College’s reading week in February. Right now The Girl and I both need to feel some sun on our shoulders
• Some overdue maintenance on our lovely home. We need a new hot water tank; the roof needs to be de-mossed; I am contemplating putting underfloor heating in my studio and we are long overdue in making a start on dealing with some of the clutter that seems to accumulate through modern living
• We are hoping to host some visitors this year – which is always fun when it also turns into a holiday for us
• The will be music-making – no doubt – and I may serve a turn on the executive of the Peninsula Players (who presented the pantomime with which I was lately involved
• We will definitely aim to entertain in our garden just as much as the weather allows

On a side note – I observe that this blog has just passed 1200 posts – this being number 1201. At the same time the blog has also just reached its thirteenth anniversary. Happy Birthday!