![That was 2018, eh? Doesn’t feel like we’re in the future, but we sure ain’t in Kansas… That was 2018, eh? Doesn’t feel like we’re in the future, but we sure ain’t in Kansas…](https://i0.wp.com/www.jasonbstanding.com/blogparts/2019/01/FB_IMG_1547819101275.jpg?resize=349%2C289&ssl=1)
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.