It seems everyone’s doing a ‘2006’ summary post; I’m debating jumping on that bandwagon. It’s something I’ve done every year (well, not a 2006 summary; but a ‘my year in a few words’ (or at least, less words) thing) since I started journaling; way back…when the web was new and shiny. Well, actually, the web wasn’t; nor was my website; it was more a case of using up the space of one of my vanity domains :-)
So; at any rate, my New Year’s visit to my mum’s little holiday chalet was fantastic, kinda, although it got off to kind of a shakey start; fundamentally due to my lack of bothering to copy down all the directions; and my failure to realise that the place was much further down the road than I’d assumed. So, after half an hour of cruising up and down the streets, ringing my sister, swearing copiously (to be fair, it’d been a bitch of a drive – hugely wet and windy – and I was tired (tired enough to have slept for an entire hour on the front seats of my car in a service station)) I had almost hit the point of saying ‘stuff it’ and heading home. Fortunately at that point I decided to just drive down the road I was on until I ran out of houses; and then I carried on… and then eventually found the place.
Chalet is a rather generous term. My mum describes it, on occasion, as her holiday cottage. A more accurate term would be ‘big shed’. It’s very basic, but warm, dry, and pleasant enough. But the view from the window is gorgeous. Uninterrupted fields leading down to the sea. My mum spent a lot of time talking about my dad; and we walked down to see some of the places he’d spent time at while they’d holiday’d there. My dad was very sick by the time that they started going to Devon; and I think for the first time I started to feel – as opposed to merely be aware of – the depth of my mum’s pain.
It was very odd, very sad, but at the same time such a beautiful place. And I actually enjoyed the time I spent there.
So, anyway, we did some walking, lots of sitting, lots of talking. And yes; I had an excellent new year. Today, I think I’ve managed to do most of the things that I want to do through the rest of the year; I’ve worked on my house, I’ve spent time with my mum, and I spent time (albeit not much) with my friends. I listened to new music; I listened to the radio; I read stuff on the web…
So, really, it’s been a good day :-)
I hope this is a good omen for me.
2006 was a tough year; but in many ways I’ve had a good one; I finished my degree – I didn’t do as well as I hoped, or indeed expected, but I did get a decent pass – and frankly, the 3 years of my degree course have been the hardest and most challenging years of my life so far. I got a new job, I moved house (again (sorry James)), I experienced new things, I had my bike on the road, I’ve started to get back into music, I met some great new friends and I finally got to see Canada. Now I know what I want longer term from my life; I’ve got a direction… And I’m quite looking forward to 2k7.
