well, that was 2005, was it?

the Johnny Depp calendar has gone up in the kitchen, and the Discworld calendar has gone up in the study, so it must be a new year, presumably.

2005 was, for us, mostly good, although I don’t forget that for many friends of ours, it was anything but 🙁

• I lost about a stone
• in so doing, I regained a lot of self esteem that had been lost somewhere about 15 years ago
• this led to my regaining a lot of interest in how I looked, so for the first time in about a decade, I spent quite a lot of money on clothes. It’s very strange to be planning what to wear again, but I’m enjoying it
• I put back about half a stone, but it doesn’t bother me that much, because
• I STOPPED SMOKING. And I’m damn sure I’m not going to start again. And if I lost the weight before, I can do it again.
• I vowed part way through the year to stop reading airport novels, and start reading more serious stuff, and more non-fiction. And I’m really pleased I did. I’m not saying that the odd frippery doesn’t creep in, but by and large I’ve stuck to this, and looking at my “to read” heap, I shall continue to do so. I’m counting Dickens as serious, as there is a heap of perlmonger‘s dad’s old imprints downstairs, and I want to read them. And some Jane Austen
• work, for the most part, went ok. It continues to earn us a living, and although we lost one household name from the portfolio in rather peculiar circumstances, we gained a new one in last weeks of 2005, although we haven’t announced them yet. The order book is reasonably full, and there are some jobs we are expecting to come in, so 2006 looks ok from that front

all in all – not a bad year. We’d like a decent holiday in 2006; we’re expecting to go to the East Coast of the USA to see friends towards the end of the year, and hopefully we can take a little time to do some travelling round New England again – loved it when we went in spring 1999.

other than that, more of the same, I guess. Which ain’t so bad, really.

have a good year, all.