End of the Year

It has been a quite incredible year. My daughter celebrated her fifth birthday, I had surgery on my knee, and it rained a lot. Oh, and I played some great music in two very different trios, as well as sitting in on a variety of other people's musical projects. I started learning to play the oud, wrote a lot of music and words (although no songs) and even managed to up my chess rating. Of course I also lost my dad, which I haven't fully come to terms with yet. Losing dad, and the process of him getting ill, took a big chunk out of the year. Pretty much from the minute I got back off holiday my (and my family's) time vanished. Picasso said that every act of destruction is an act of creation, which in my clumsy way I interpret to mean even the most awful things can provide you with something positive, if you can see them.

So, in an odd way, this has been a positive year. I've been able to stand back from quite a few parts of my day to day life and re-evaluate. 2013 is going to see plenty going on. This is my last chance to say a special thank you to everyone who helped this year. In one case that meant a message from someone I thought I'd never speak to again, in another it meant inspiring message on Facebook, or help at work, or   being understanding about commitments or in my daughter's case, just giving me a hug at the right moment. Friends really are the best.

Enjoy the new year.