So shortly we’ll be doing the usual “out with the old and in with the new” festivities and crazy sales shopping! I’ve certainly had a year of disposing of old for sure, the house has completely taken the fun out of 2017, or so it seemed, so I’ve actually been quite glad to say goodbye to it.

What went wrong…

• The house continued to kill our souls, finances and time – endless weeks of something else going wrong, needing to be fixed, requiring a survey, builder, consent form, something… Dreary!
• Aside from that, I now wear casual fit shirts, WTF! #old
• Specs descended upon my nose! Yes, I know wear glasses – This is actually both good and bad as they’ve solved my headache problems and I look rather good in them, apparently… #old
• No “proper” holiday – Despite our best endeavours, for one reason or another we never made it away properly. Flew to Spain and kitted out the holiday home in some upgraded gear (in lieu of furnishing our place!) and got some well-needed vitamin D, but that was the extent of the foreign investments this year…
• Lack of sports and gym activity – Time constraints and minor injuries kept me off the 5-a-side pitch, work prevented gym sessions and #2 put a halt to the tennis plans
• Left 23 unfinished, unpublished, blog posts – Always been something more important to deal with, I’ll use the Christmas period to post hopefully :)

However, when you actually spend a little time (plenty of that on my daily commute from hell… Moan, moan, moan) thinking, it certainly wasn’t all bad, here are some highlights that more than counteract the grim stuff…

• The best part… I’m a hugely doting Dad of the most wonderful little boy! Managed to make plenty of time for fun with this awesome dude despite the madness this year and there really is no better a time than with him <3
• Everything (and I nearly mean everything, including some bricks and mortar!) is new in the house – I learnt a lot about renovating and a lot of new tricks, not to mention all of the new toys I have to play with… My lovely Ryobi One+ gear; Impact Driver (a personal favourite!), Jigsaw and Wood planer. The wonderful Makita Circular Saw and Multitool. Yet the cheapest and most used was simply the super reliable Stanley plasterboard cutter. #needed
• Work saw a dramatic improvement in personnel and process, and that’s helped clear a path for less frustration and more productivity – Always a positive!
• At 40, the guys have finally agreed that annual trips somewhere are good for us – We started in Edinburgh for our joint birthdays and despite a small turnout and far less thrill-seeking than originally planned, it was a great time for just wandering and talking, instead of rushing down a pint whilst discussing politics and football in the local (or someones local) pub. Plans for 2018 are already in progress…
• Talking of 40, there were plenty of 4oth birthday parties. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to all which is a shame and I didn’t have time for my own, but an “End of 40” party to start the new year should work well in my beloved Greenwich!
• Hobbies took a back seat but I did manage to find time to embark on a few new projects outside of the day job. I won’t expand on those just yet, but watch this space – All are exciting and going to be BIG :)
• Commuting, despite the horror show that is SouthEastern Railways, has been a million times more enjoyable. Netflix and Amazon Prime have come to the rescue with a constant stream of great new seasons of favourites and totally new shows; Halt and Catch Fire, Startup and 13 Reasons Why. Looking forward to more in 2018!

Now, is this a diary entry, brain dump or something else? Well, to me it’s a reminder that no matter how hard, frustrating and downright fucking annoying times can be, that if you look back positively, there’ll be great learnings from the year with plenty of pockets of loveliness. And to never forget that we’re super lucky to live in exciting and privileged times!

Life is great, live it, love it, learn.