Happy New Year

And so like an old-fashioned gramophone winding itself down, so does 2006 come to a dull and unsatisfying close. A sure sign of my advanced years is the fact that I have never known twelve months pass with such bluster as this. And what a year it has been. I’ve seen OD, my bright-eyed, beautiful, brilliant daughter go skidding so far off the academic rails that it is now looking as if sixth form college is but a fancy rather than an foregone, the automatic entrance with a shiny range of A grades that had been on the cards since Primary school now just a wistful fantasy. I told her this week that she still has four months till her exams and that she can turn it around. I offered to pay for tutors and buy any revision books that she might wish. “I’ll let you know” she replied. It breaks my heart to see her wilfully throw this opportunity away.

Despite my efforts to forge something of a long-term relationship with BotS, it would seem that my heart is so black and deadened that it is incapable of forming feelings for any woman (as - I regret – FM will soon to realise). My wonderful, wide-eyed angel of a child, YD, has shifted to the role of teenager with such commitment that it has resulted in a pattern of behaviour in which I find myself relegated to the role of taxi driver (no longer do we sit together when she visits; instead, she locks herself in the attic to MSN the hours away). My relationship with my job is such that I can scarcely raise a flicker of interest for something which so bores me. My only solace is my musical interests, but even then I don’t feel that I am reaching my potential as a player – and the last few gigs with my band have reminded me too much of the empty halls I played in when I was young, scratching around to get people to attend. If I look back on the year just gone, the highlight was my holiday in California – driving down Highway 120 to Yosemite, open fields either side, sun beating down on the open-top Chrysler, and Styx’s ‘Carry on my Wayward Son’ (a song I’ve never been a fan of but it seemed so right in that setting) blasting from the radio. Bliss!

So, resolutions for next year then?

1. Become sufficiently proficient on the Double Bass to be able to sit-in with a jazz band before the year is out.
2. Change my job so that I have a reason to attend work other than the money.
3. Remind myself regularly that I could be dead tomorrow so just bloody enjoy yourself while you can, you grumpy fucker!

Happy New Year chums.