A decade ago, I was celebrating having got engaged in NYC and looking forward to a first new year being betrothed. So much has happened since then: marriage, kids, buying a house… greyer hair, yes; more content? certainly, though in many respects I’m still exactly the same person I was at thirty.
Romantic; creative; trying the change the world (to little avail) and hopelessly trying to keep up with culture when there are more pressing priorities to attend to.
Even writing a blog – in its infancy back in 2010 – is a challenge of epic proportions which takes a couple of months to complete, what with kids and marking and sleep to compete with the creativity. This means that, whilst the World is very different and technology more advanced now, I take some comfort in the fact that I’m still doing the same thing that I was ten years previous. It just takes me longer.
So, as I start a fifth new decade, some things change, but the majority stand still, and I’m still trying to stay down with the kids and keep up to date with what’s current in terms of literature and TV but with the added competition of children plus the benefits of box sets and streaming services, which means that whilst I had to wait a week to watch the next episodes of LOST on channel 4 all those years ago, now I was able to The End of The F****ng World within a week (once the kids had gone to bed) and throughly loved its weirdness and beauty all at once.
However, it felt like the end of the f*****ng world when Andres Gomes broke his ankle and I saw it live, after he had had such an impact on our year. Betsy made him a get well card and was made up to see herself with him in a music video but it was a horrible experience I’d not really experienced before and don’t really want to again.
Still, we accentuated the positives and enjoyed celebrations at Fazenda / the lovely El Gato Negro (replete with Boys from the Blackstuff mosaic) and the impressive Light Night displays across the city, plus more reasons to be cheerful at the amazing Educate Awards ceremony at the cathedral. Even a Sky TV advert reduced this forty something to tears.
Talking of which, so did Howard’s Way, a wonderful little film I’d heard lots about and really loved reminiscing as a result of. In these dark times, it’s a great thing to remember special people and moments and also what’s important, which is why I was engrossing myself in a Nativity whilst others obsessed about irrelevant issues that one day will mean nothing (and I’ll be doing the same at a pantomime later this week…)
Still, I’d be lying if it didn’t bring a tear to my eye again meeting a childhood hero (Pat Nevin) at his own derby and chatting about my first game (in December 1990, thirty years previous) before immersing myself in the managerial debut of my teenage idol (Duncan Ferguson) who was the focus of my GCSE artwork and even found his way into my best man’s wedding speech, such was his impact on my life so far – and many others – celebrating an impassioned performance.
Perhaps his successor will have a similar influence (just instead on my fifth decade?)
The day Ancelotti was announced (so perfectly, by the way) was seminal in that I’d never dreamed we’d have someone of his calibre in the dugout at GP. Similarly, I’d never dreamed of the previous night’s opportunity to see a ninth Star Wars film with an amazing Godson and his dad, a friend of now twenty years, and the revelations that came within it. The third trilogy ended satisfactorily, thankfully.
That followed a wonderful trip to the Enchanted Forest to see Father Christmas, and on this special anniversary again it all felt just too good to be true, as did the fantastic few days that followed: family time and celebration with some much needed relaxation mixed in to good effect.
A great celebration, some good quality family time, a wonderful wedding, over indulging in food and drink… the past decade, encapsulated in the microcosm of Christmas week.
The 2010s were very good to me, but also very demanding and tiring at times. I’m hoping the 20s will be more calming and peaceful, for us all.
X.