What's New, Pussycat?

2009 and Feelin' Fine

No internet at home so sneakily spewing this out at work! I got this from my pal Trish.

1. What did you do in 2009  that you’d never done before?
Competed in a kickboxing tournament (v. unsuccessfully), went on the telly, became a UK citizen, grew tomatoes and salad leaves, bought a house.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next this year?
I resolved to 1) exercise 20 mins a day 2) write down what I eat 3) internet curfew of 10.30pm. About 37% success. My resolution for 2010 is to do more stuff that I enjoy. That is all.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My foxy work colleague, Lorraine.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My great uncle Gordon passed away. He was a lovely man.

5. What countries did you visit?
Australia and USA

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
A clearer mind!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Thursday 22 January. Last day in New York. Killer cookie from Levain Bakery.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Growing tomatoes!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Ignoring my health.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The big D.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
iStuff 808 Bass Sound Isolating Earphones - only £16.99 to totally drown out snotty noses and rubbish banter on public transport! I heartily endorse!

12. Where did most of your money go?
Airfares to Australia and deposit for Crooked House.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The sausage and onion pie from SimpleSimon Pies.

14. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Hocus Pocus. Gareth dragged me along to a Focus gig - Dutch prog yodelling ahoy.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
I was sadder, but i'm doing something about it, so much happier now!
b) thinner or fatter?
Fatter, but again doing something about it.
c) richer or poorer?
Poorer financially due to mortgage shackles. But feeling very lucky and appreciative to have a good life and know so many groovy people.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Look after my mental health.
Fun outings with Dr G.
Travel. I've not been anywhere Euro since 2007! (shitey work trip doesn't count :)

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying about what other people think.

18. How will you spend Christmas?
Rhi and the in-laws are coming to Crooked House! There will be feasting and port.

19. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Yes, with my cherry tomatoes! And more in love with Dr G. We have both had a real stinker of a 2009 in many respects but we kept each other trucking along.

20. What was your favorite TV program?
The Thick of It.

21. What was the best book you read?
Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner

22. What was your favorite film of this year?
Didn't see too many good films, but some oldies I saw for the first time and loved were Blade Runner and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to the BBC Good Food show in Glasgow then I scrubbed the walls of our putrid house. I turned 32.

24. What kept you sane?
Kickboxing and the addictive genius of SJ and the Egg's brilliant FYCL podcast.

25. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Peter Capaldi. Loved him shouty sweary on The Thick Of It and loved him rambling on as he drew little sketches on that documentary about Scottish art.

26. Who did you miss?
Everyone in Australia, especially Peita, Jane and Jen Dog.

27. Who was the best new person you met?
Alison, a sage and hilarious arsekicker :)

Happy Holidays to all you groovy groovers out there!

2006: Television

Top Five Names For Telly Programmes In 2006

5.  The Seven-Year Old Surgeon (Five)

4.  The Spa of Embarrassing Illnesses (UKTV Style)

3.  Bus Pass Boob Jobs (Channel 4)

2.  The Man Whose Arms Exploded (Five)

1.  Careless Whiskers: The Unseen George Michael (Five)

2006: Sport

The longer I'm away from Australia the more obsessed I become with sport. I guess it's a sad little way to feel closer to home.

Top Three Sporting Spectacles of 2006

3.  Commonwealth Games, March
For that one glorious day when Scotland topped the medal tally, for the hilarious lawn bowls commentary, and just for two wistful weeks watching beautiful Melbourne on the telly.

2.  World Cup, June/July
The highs! The lows! The weeks on the couch with barely a pause to bathe! I'll never forget the joy of Australia v Croatia or the devastating kick in the guts that was Australia v Italy. And I will just gloss over that whole headbutting palaver and remember the most important lesson to be learned from the World Cup - that Zinedine Zidane looks much better without hair.

L: Non.   R: Oui!

1.  MotoGP, The Entire 2006 Season
The day before the first race of the year started I almost wrote an entry BEGGING somebody, anybody; to tune in and give this sport a go in 2006. Share my joy, you bastards. But I didn't, and World Champ Valentino Rossi crashed out on the first turn, kicking off the most spectacular, unpredictable, tense, action-packed season in history.

From the nailbiting finish at Mugello to Dani Pedrosa "taking out" his own teammate at the penultimate race, to Rossi's devastating crash right in front of our stand at Valencia, there were many moments when I almost wept at being so bloody fortunate to witness the sheer brilliance of it all! Luckily Gareth bought me the Season Highlights DVD so I can relive it over and over like a sad git.

And Mothership, I apologise for being a little distant when you first arrived on my doorstep back in July; but it was right in the middle of a very exciting British GP.

Most Unspectacular Sporting Spectacle of 2006(07)

The Ashes
As I write this, I'm watching the English tail being killed off in the final test match. Or to be more accurate, I'm watching the radio coverage on the digital telly, which means just voices and a scoreboard. If you want moving pictures with your cricket over here you have to pay for Sky cable. Damn you, Rupert Murdoch! But the BBC's radio commentary and nightly TV highlights were great, and their ball-by-ball live blogging action is always hilarious.

79 sleeps until the 2007 MotoGP season starts.

2006: Top Three Phrases Used To Preface A Big Fart

3.   Pull My Finger (timeless classic)

2.   I Give You The Gift Of Fragrance

1.   For Your Consideration

2006: Blogs

This week in Blogland feels dead, like the non-ratings summer period you get on Australian telly where it's all Macgyver and M*A*S*H repeats. So while it is quiet I shall write about my favourite things from 2006. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!

First up: BLOGS.

There are so many sailors on the sea of blogs these days, how does one pluck a few favourites out of the water? I like a blogger with a strong voice and a sense of humour. I like reading about lives far removed from my own, or people who are opinionated where I am fluffy, or people who are good at things at which I am crap. I like bloggers who are far more intelligent than me, when I'm too scared to leave comments so just sit in awed silence. And sometimes most of all, I like to make the first cuppa of the day then sip and read about people cooking good things, while I wonder how long it is until I can reasonably eat my lunch.

Here's a few of my favourites this year, many of which were new. By new I don't necessarily mean new new. Just new to me, as I always seem to "discover" blogs miles after everyone else has.

• Ganching
• Blogzira
• Elegant Sufficiency
• Flossy-p
• Sorrow at Sills Bend
• The Girl Who Ate Everything
• Return of the Reluctant
• Sarsaparilla
• Stuff and Nonsense
• A Beautiful Revolution
• Biology of the Worst Kind

The last blog is by writer Jenny Diski and among the gold found while stalking her archives was this:

"I am a woman of no substance. I've always said so, but people choose to believe that it's some charming conceit of mine. It's true that the brighter you shine the light on the grim truth, the more people laugh gaily and exclaim how witty, indeed how wonderful, you are. The more you explain that you aren't, that you are speaking the simple unedifying truth, the more they shake their heads in admiration."

Finally, here are Gareth's Top Blogs of 2006, as deduced by peeking at his laptop screen throughout the year. First he scans my blogs for typos and amusing comments, then maybe he'll see which one of us has the most friends on stinking MySpace, then sometimes he checks for fresh bitter and twistedness on True Wife Confessions and asks, "Is this one yours? Is this one yours!?".

And then he visits his favourite blogs:

• Speedysnail
• Momo Freaks Out
• I, Asshole

Impeccable taste!