new year reflections: december 2017…

Another year’s reflections (as always - a reminder to ME!):
It’s been a good year, DESPITE the fact that I’m regularly still feeling depressed about the repercussions regarding Trump and Brexit… and the continuing struggles of austerity and the widening gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of this world.

Anyway, on the more positive things:
WONDERFUL BOOKS:
My top FOURTEEN (yes, I know… sorry!), in some sort of order!! (I’d intended to limit it to just FIVE, but found it impossible): Ink (Alice Broadway)(you bet!); How To Disappear Completely (Si Smith)(brilliant!); Please Mr Postman+The Long and Winding Road (Alan Johnson); The Summer Game (Neville Cardus); Venice (Jan Morris); The Broken Road (Patrick Leigh Fermor); Eating Pomegranates (Sarah Gabriel); Love Nina (Nina Stibbe); Long Live Great Bardfield – Autobiography (Tirzah Garwood); Seven Brief Lessons On Physics (Carlo Rovelli); Signs for Lost Children+Bodies of Light (Sarah Moss); and Honourable Friends? (Caroline Lucas).
GREAT FILMS:
My top eleven in vague order (sorry… I tried to get it down to five, but found it impossible): Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool; My Life As A Courgette; On Body And Soul; Final Portrait; Loving Vincent; The Red Turtle; Manchester By The Sea; The Death Of Stalin; Silence; La La Land; and Dunkirk.
LOVELY LIVE PERFORMANCES (broken down into various categories):
THEATRE:
Peter Pan (National Theatre); Vice Versa (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon); Up Down Man (Tobacco Factory Theatre); Golem (Bristol Old Vic); Racing Demon (Theatre Royal, Bath); Question Mark (Bristol Cathedral); and Tartuffe (Tobacco Factory Theatre).
CONCERTS:
Ricky Ross; Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla and the CBSO (Beethoven’s Fifth); Graham Gouldman; O’Hooley+Tidow; Phil King (Live); Ligeti Quartet (Remembering The Future); and all the excellent Monday lunchtime concerts at Saint Stephen’s church.
EXHIBITIONS:
Not as many as I’d intended (maybe I’ve missed out one or two?): Modigliani at Tate Modern; Grayson Perry at the Arnolfini; World Turned Upside Down, Leeds; Simon Fujiwara etc at Leeds Art Gallery; the Annual Open Exhibition at the RWA; and Degas at Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
SPORTING MOMENTS:
“Live” sport this year, included: County cricket at Taunton and Bristol (which I really enjoyed – and I’ve resolved to watch more games in the coming season); Bristol Rugby at Ashton Gate (including winning against Bath) and at Exeter (narrowly defeated)… despite subsequent relegation. 
FRIENDS:
Once again, we’ve been blessed to be able to meet up with many of our lovely “special” friends (they know who they are!) on a pretty frequent basis during the course of the year… always special occasions – there have been a LOT of sixtieth birthday celebrations (always good to have friends that are much younger than you!)… and have also really enjoyed making new friendships.
ART STUFF:
Another really enjoyable, busy year, including:
1. I’ve still very much enjoyed continuing to post a drawing or photograph every day as part of my “One Day Like This” blog (now more than 950 drawings and 950 photographs since I started in September 2012).
2. The brilliant Drawing Group I joined last year – organised by the wonderful, talented artists Charlotte and Alice Pain with the support of the Churches Conservation Trust – continues to bring me great joy. We meet for two hours most Tuesdays (and also occasionally go “on tour” to draw other churches).
The Group also held exhibitions at St John-on-the-Wall and Saint Stephen’s churches, Bristol.
3. We had another successful Arts Trail at number 40 (I think this was our 14^th consecutive year)… and attracted some 700 people into our basement over the Arts Trail weekend! At one stage, it looked as if there wouldn’t be a 2018 Arts Trail (due to lack of organisers) but, apparently, volunteers have come forward. Well done them!
4. Iris, Rosa and I combined to produce some large window art as part of another very successful Window Wanderland in February.
5. I provided a ‘Sleeping Rough’ photograph for the wonderful ‘World Turned Upside Down’ exhibition in Leeds.
6. I supplied cards for the HOME shop at The Architecture Centre, Bristol (twelve cards from my ‘Ordinary Lines’ series).
FAMILY AND SIMPLE PLEASURES:
Cafes, reading, drawing, photography, walking, cinema, living near the sea (well, sort of…) and, of course, looking after our Bristol grandchildren remain very important aspects of my life (although, now that they’re all at school, our time with them is sadly a little reduced these days… but school-runs and child-sitting partly make up for it!).
Feel SO lucky to have the family we have… and great that we all “get on” so well and are able to see each other regularly (even if we don’t see the lovely Chorley/Lancashire contingent as often as we’d like).
I continue to spend a fair amount of my café time at the wonderful Mokoko on Gaol Ferry Steps!
SOMETHING YET TO BE CREATED:
Definitely need to give more thought to this… lots of things I’d earmarked last year remain untouched, so maybe I need to re-visit them? There’s part of me that would like to do a couple of large paintings – perhaps based on my ‘ordinary’ coloured drawings? HOLIDAYS/LEISURE: 
We’ve tightened our belts again this year, but have been delighted to enjoy a few odd excursions and stopovers to Oxford (50^th anniversary college reunion!); Cambridge; Salisbury; and Leeds (well, for me at least).
Sadly, we were also due to have a few days at Drimnin in the Western Highlands – but had to cancel at the last minute because the builders had failed to complete in time.
Not a single game of golf this year (and only one or two the previous year). I think I’m now officially an ‘ex-golfer’!
SPIRITUAL LIFE:
We continue to be part of the Community of Saint Stephens (St Stephens Street in the heart of the city) and it really does now feel like our ‘spiritual home’. We’ve made some really good friends with the very special people there and, although my own faith-life continues on its rather meandering course, it all feels pretty good, hopeful stuff…
I meet up most Wednesday mornings in Dom’s Cafe at 7.30am with a small group of great mates for “Bloke’s Prayer”… which has proved to be pretty brilliant.
HEALTH:
I had quite a SHOCK just before Easter. After my slight “breathlessness” and atrial fibrillation issues of the previous year, I’d been continuing to attend hospital appointments to monitor things… 6 minute walk tests and lung function tests plus various consultations. I’d previously had a CT scan which had highlighted some shadowing on my lungs. The long and short of it all is that a multi-specialist team had met to discuss my ‘case’ and had concluded that I had Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)… and, at a subsequent appointment, the consultant went on to explain that this was a “serious” condition and that, historically, life expectancy for someone in my condition would be in the region of 3.5-5 years - which, given the time since my previous CT scan, meant closer to 2.5-4 years (it turns out that Keith Chegwin, who died very recently, aged 60, had IPF). Blimey!! There followed more tests and a further CT scan… and, somewhat miraculously (because it seems such things simply don’t happen), the results now showed only minimal lung shadowing. My test results were similarly very positive and, as a consequence, the multi-specialist team was “no longer convinced” that I had a fibrosis… and I’ve now been given an appointment for next August – merely as a monitoring exercise. So, as you can imagine, HUGE relief all round!!     
In other, minor, health matters(!), my cut/inflamed right shin (I mentioned it last year) has now more or less healed… but, for much of this year, I’d also been struggling with painful plantar fasciitis and Morton’s neuroma in my right foot. Touch wood, these now seem pretty much under control/sorted (well, almost). My teeth continue to fall out… and I’ve now got hearing aids (which, of course, I hardly use!)… but, hey, I actually feel in good health and walk more than 3 miles every day, relatively pain-free (touch wood, as you do!) – which is pretty wonderful.
OTHER STUFF:
1. After four very enjoyable years, I’ve now retired as a Trustee at the wonderful Windmill Hill City Farm – although I continue to be involved in minor ways.
2. I now serve on the PCC of Saint Stephen’s church.
3. We are no longer car owners! Living in the city, and within a 10 minute walk of the harbourside (and with our bus passes for other local journeys), we found that we hardly used the car… so, when our old Citroen finally needed expensive repair (which we couldn’t really afford), we decided to bite the bullet and get rid of it. Instead, we’re car club members (Co-Wheels – with three car options within 0.3 miles of our front door)… or, for longer trips, we hire a car… or travel by rail. We still haven’t fully adapted to the change (we need to get better at planning impromptu trips to NT properties, the coast and the like… we’ll no doubt adapt over time).
For us as a family, it’s been another good year… and we continue to count our blessings. We wish you (and all yours) a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2018!
Photo: Christmas Steps drawing from my 2017 Bristol Calendar.