So, in addition to watching a shitload of telly in 2018 – I figured since there’s no way I’m ever gonna get round to blogging about things I’d done individually, the next best thing would be to make a list… because in spite of some surface rhetoric about it having been a pretty shit year, my friend Lizzie’s post on Facebook about her year really made me stop and think that actually – yet AGAIN – I’ve had a pretty damn good time in amongst some of the tedium and dross…
So, in 2018, I:
- became the atheist-equivalent of a godparent (we’ve still not really settled on an official title for this yet)
- helped raise a wonderful little Labrador pup into a loving, polite, happy and fun doggy – including lots of lovely walks with friends, puppy training school, pub lunches in the country, and getting out and seeing a bit of outdoor Bristol
- was honoured to be a judge on the panel of the World Whiskies Awards, for my fourth year
- attended 2 of the finest whisky festivals in the UK and experienced some purely magical whiskies, and had the pleasure of spending time talking to many friends & some of the most passionate folk in the whisky scene
- spent a few days in Campbeltown for a joint 40th of 2 very good friends, again having priceless and memorable whisky moments (even if getting home afterwards was something of a mission)
- went bowling with some former workmates
- got new fences put up in our back yard
- had a wonderful weekend in London seeing loads of friends, taking in a photography exhibition (Gursky, at the Hayward Gallery – AMAZING!), and having a marvellous dinner with a friend I very seldom get to see
- had a weekend in Tuscany with Timmo & Immo, seeing how their lives out there are going and soaking up the sun, love and culture
- judged on the panel at the Scotch Whisky Masters for The Spirits Business magazine
- went to Bali for 2 weeks for a wonderful holiday with Liz, her family, my family, and a few friends – and randomly ran into one of my old Adelaide Gang Show mates in a waterslide park
- pulled down our crappy old decking and extended the back patio to make a Barbecue Zone of Excellence
- ran and had an amazing time at The Ultimate Dramboree – our final instalment of the weekend festival that Jonny (a whisky pal) and I instigated in 2013
- went kayaking in Wales
- took Larry away with us for a weekend on the Devon coast, including his first trip to the beach
- had a wonderful weekend away to the countryside of Herefordshire with my amazing wife to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary (we also took Larry)
- went to the launch party of an exciting new distillery here in Bristol
- was extremely lucky to be again invited to the launch of Diageo’s Special Releases whisky series for 2018 – a very exclusive, painstakingly selected range of premium bottlings – and then afterwards spend the evening in the company of some of the finest folk I know
- got to go to my first Bristol Craft Beer Festival with my brother-in-law and some chums (including my first housemate from London)
- (along with a couple of other fine fellows I’ve met since moving here) started a new whisky tasting group in Bristol
- GOT TO SEE BRIAN BLESSED LIVE DOING A ONE-MAN SHOW
- went up to Manchester and visit our lovely chums Lizzie, Adam & Lily, see their new house, take Larry for some walks, and generally have a marvellous time with them
- saw Robert Plant do a gig in Wales, with Dr Love – one of my best mates & indeed Best Men
- brewed my first ever batch of home brew
- went to St Ives in Cornwall with Liz & Larry for a magnificent cosy wintry beach weekend
- had an architect come around and talk to us about plans for extending our house
- went for a weekend in Sussex in the town of Rye, spending it with some of my oldest friends, and in the pub of my favourite landlord in the world – who runs an absolutely world-class gaff and who absolutely isn’t a massive arsehole
- got a new job (with a company that turned out to be one of the least organised, half-arsed shambles of an outfits that I’ve ever been anywhere near)
- got another new job 6 months later (looks MUCH more promising)
- been to 3 weddings – 2 for very dear and longstanding friends, and one for a slightly more distant but longstanding friend for whom I was delighted to have the chance to reconnect
- farewelled 2 friends at their funerals, sadly, but was grateful for the time we were able to spend together
- had many, many wonderful lunches, dinners and assorted time spent with our excellent cadre of chums here in Bristol – including back-to-back “Fake Christmas” events immediately before Christmas
- hosted lots of friends from near and far, old and new, in our spare room – including an absolutely bumper run of some of my favouritest people on the entire planet during Nov & Dec: Dr & Mrs Love, Lynn, Richie, and Tim+Imi
- been to 9 comedy gigs (Tim Vine, Andy Zaltzman, Sarah Millican, My Dad Wrote A Porno podcast, Stu Goldsmith, Alan Davies, Reginald D Hunter, Daniel Kitson, Robin Ince)
- been to 6 band gigs (Calexico, Tragedy, The Herbaliser Band, Muse Drones if you count cinema broadcast, Okilly Dokilly, and Greta van Fleet) – and Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters, of course
- painted our front door and our downstairs bathroom PURPLE
And last but by no means at all least, spent the year with my amazing wife in our lovely house – with her sharing most of the highlights and supporting me through any of the low points… and without whom I’d be lost, and life would be considerably less rich & fun.
I think that covers most of it.
That was 2018, eh? Doesn’t feel like we’re in the future, but we sure ain’t in Kansas…
