So 2016? That was a year, wasn't it? A year that the powers that be decided it was a good idea to add extra time to, with an extra day at the end of February, and an extra second at the end of New Years Eve, but is it a year that anyone wanted more time on?
Many people probably experienced ups and downs in their personal lives, but sadly the Grim Reaper had a bit of a bonanza in 2016, taking away a lot of beloved celebrities and people from our personal lives too, but we'll get to that later. First we'll get onto the positives.
Positives For Me
On New Years Eve, I celebrate having officially been with my girlfriend for 5 (yes five) whole years. Quite an impressive achievement for me as my previous relationship only lasted for 4 years (well just over, but who's counting?) and that was more an achievement of not wanting to be alone than anything else. My relationship with Fliss may have had it's ups and downs as any relationship would, but way more ups and we go into 2017 stronger than ever. Great thing with my relationship with Fliss is that we actually want to be with each other and I love her more than I could ever tell her.
Our George has had a good year, generally, and has now been doing Kuk Sool Won for just over a year and got his deputy blue belt, which Fliss & I are epically proud of. He focuses on that more than a lot of other things and has become a really good martial artist, so big thanks to his teacher Dave & everyone at his classes.
Fliss & I went to ComicCon in March, which was a great experience and would definitely go again (it was our first time). We got to meet Danny John Jules, Robert Llewellyn, the cast and director of Pandorica and Paul Amos (whom Fliss went all fan girl on, lol) Got my pictures taken in the Delorean from Back to the Future, and Bumblebee & Barricade from Transformers. We'll definitely be taking George at some point, possibly even Cosplay too.
I took Fliss and George to their first music festival in June. We went to Download in Donington and while it was rather wet & muddy for the majority of the weekend, we still had a great time. George did suffer a little on the Friday night thanks to a couple of panic attacks, which may have been lack of festival experience and the fact he had a couple of mosh pits open up around him, unfortunately as I'd got separated from George & Fliss, so I wasn't on hand to help, but Fliss and a kind guy from Malta managed to calm him down and get him out of harms way. On the whole we all enjoyed the weekend, we made a few friends with the people who were camped around us and a handful of other people, and we met up with our mate Kerry and bumped into her mate Luke, which was good too.
With my dad and brothers, I went to the World War 1 memorial in Thiepval, France. My Great-Grandad was killed during the Battle of the Somme, and that's where he's been remembered. It was a great experience to go there to see the memorial and remember my great-grandad's sacrifice. It turned into a good day out with the male members of my family to mark 100 years since his death to remember the others who lost their lives along side my great-grandad.
Can't talk about 2016 without talking about Slimming World. Fliss, George and I started Slimming World back in January and doing the plan, I managed to get to my target by October, having lost a total of 7 stone 3 pounds. I did have a few gains, mainly thanks to people baking cakes, biscuits and things, but I don't feel in any way guilty as there was no time frame on when I got to target. Fliss and George have lost a good amount of weight too. We've all put on weight in December, as we've been over indulging left, right and centre, but we're all lighter than what we were this time last year, so a big win for all of us.
We all had a good Christmas, getting pressies that we wanted and some we didn't ask for but equally appreciative of. Kerry did ask me yesterday (30th December) if I had a favourite and at the time I wasn't sure when she asked, but I think it's got to be the goth coat that Fliss got for me, it was something I didn't ask for, so it was unexpected, but I really like it and when I tried it on, it really suits me (well I think it does), it makes me feel a bit like David Draiman (from Disturbed).
My brother Matt proposed to his girlfriend Lucy. She said yes, not sure if she knows what she's let herself in for, but it was a yes, nevertheless. Date & location have been booked for 2018 and I've been asked to be an Usher, which should be interesting, but kinda fun at the same time.
I'm sure Fliss will remind me of other positives, and I'll add them as she reminds me, so watch this space for updates.
Negatives
For me, personally there's not been too many negatives, the positives outweigh the negatives, which is never a bad thing. The main negatives for me are a few celebrity deaths and the death of a friend and former colleague.
I don't normally get too bothered about celebrity deaths but this year, there have been quite a few, more than I've ever really noticed before and some people who I've looked up to over the years, which include the following people:
David Bowie
Alan Rickman
Terry Wogan
George Kennedy
Frank Kelly
Paul Daniels
Ronnie Corbett
Erik Bauersfeld
Victoria Wood
Muhammad Ali
Anton Yelchin
Caroline Aherne
Kenny Baker
Gene Wilder
Robert Vaughn
Andrew Sachs
Peter Vaughan
Rick Parfitt
George Michael
Carrie Fisher
Debbie Reynolds
May you all rest in peace.
The death that affected me more than I thought it would was the death of my friend Nikki Willis, who sadly unexpectedly lost her life at the beginning of December. I worked with her while I worked at M&S in Chelmsford, we always got on really well, better than a lot of the staff who worked there. Always remember Nikki being really indecisive when it came to her choosing what food to have on her break and asking for my advice, quite often, Nikki would have a cheeky smile on face and generally in a really cheerful mood. She was also the first person to comfort me on the day my nan passed away, as I was at work when I found out, even offering to ger her mum, Michelle, to let me go home, but she kept quiet about it when I asked her not to mention anything. Nikki made sure I was alright until the end of my shift. While I might not have seen her since I left M&S, she'll be sorely missed.
Rest in peace Shorty!
Let's all hope 2017 is a good year with lots more positives and hope everyone has a good year.
We all had a good Christmas, getting pressies that we wanted and some we didn't ask for but equally appreciative of. Kerry did ask me yesterday (30th December) if I had a favourite and at the time I wasn't sure when she asked, but I think it's got to be the goth coat that Fliss got for me, it was something I didn't ask for, so it was unexpected, but I really like it and when I tried it on, it really suits me (well I think it does), it makes me feel a bit like David Draiman (from Disturbed).
My brother Matt proposed to his girlfriend Lucy. She said yes, not sure if she knows what she's let herself in for, but it was a yes, nevertheless. Date & location have been booked for 2018 and I've been asked to be an Usher, which should be interesting, but kinda fun at the same time.
I'm sure Fliss will remind me of other positives, and I'll add them as she reminds me, so watch this space for updates.
Negatives
For me, personally there's not been too many negatives, the positives outweigh the negatives, which is never a bad thing. The main negatives for me are a few celebrity deaths and the death of a friend and former colleague.
I don't normally get too bothered about celebrity deaths but this year, there have been quite a few, more than I've ever really noticed before and some people who I've looked up to over the years, which include the following people:
David Bowie
Alan Rickman
Terry Wogan
George Kennedy
Frank Kelly
Paul Daniels
Ronnie Corbett
Erik Bauersfeld
Victoria Wood
Muhammad Ali
Anton Yelchin
Caroline Aherne
Kenny Baker
Gene Wilder
Robert Vaughn
Andrew Sachs
Peter Vaughan
Rick Parfitt
George Michael
Carrie Fisher
Debbie Reynolds
May you all rest in peace.
The death that affected me more than I thought it would was the death of my friend Nikki Willis, who sadly unexpectedly lost her life at the beginning of December. I worked with her while I worked at M&S in Chelmsford, we always got on really well, better than a lot of the staff who worked there. Always remember Nikki being really indecisive when it came to her choosing what food to have on her break and asking for my advice, quite often, Nikki would have a cheeky smile on face and generally in a really cheerful mood. She was also the first person to comfort me on the day my nan passed away, as I was at work when I found out, even offering to ger her mum, Michelle, to let me go home, but she kept quiet about it when I asked her not to mention anything. Nikki made sure I was alright until the end of my shift. While I might not have seen her since I left M&S, she'll be sorely missed.
Rest in peace Shorty!
Let's all hope 2017 is a good year with lots more positives and hope everyone has a good year.
