That was the year that was

I spent an hour waiting to see the doctor this morning, probably contracting a fair few new infections from the festering antechamber in the process. But he was delightfully sympathetic ("Oh dear! Poor you! Bad luck!") and wrote me a prescription for highly specific antibiotics, which I carted off to Boots just as fast as my ragged urethra would allow. God bless the NHS, I thought, as I climbed gingerly onto the bus home. It's wonky, but it's saved my life on a couple of occasions and my quality of life on countless others. If your urino-genital system is, shall we say, sub-prime, you could live in a lot worse places.

I am, however, consigned to the sofa for the duration of New Year's Eve, wrapped in a blanket and watching the fire. So I have an unusually timely opportunity to reflect.

In photos:

January: Elephant riding, Kerala. February: Snowdrops, Christ Church Meadows. March: Luminox, Broad Street.
April: Pebbles and sea, Westward Ho! May: Baby Tungsten, our garden. June: Cow parsley, Thrupp.
July: M on the jetty, Lytham. August: Road sign, Cowley Road. September: Wire waiting for Charlie, Chatsworth.
October: No Entry, Harcourt Arboretum. November: At home. December: Recovering from shopping, St Michael's St.

Happenings of note:

For the first time in years (ten? fifteen?) I have taken only one flight this year, though it was a long one: coming home from India, where we spent last Christmas. We holidayed in the UK, and work didn't take me away. And I have no complaints about either of these things, though I already know neither will pertain in 2008.

A side effect of this is that I am eligible to give blood for the first time in about the same number of years (they don't want you if you've been anywhere malarial, or had a tattoo, or had your wisdom teeth out, or any number of other things I seem to have spent my 20s and 30s doing). I have put my name down, as I am rhesus negative and there's never enough of us to go around.

I emerged from the Dark Days. I have already written about this so will not dwell on it further here.

Rediscoveries: frugality, thanks to part-time working; long-lost or nearly-lost people, thanks to Facebook and the internet more generally; music, thanks to last.fm, 6Music and iTunes; vegetables, thanks (however reluctantly) to Abel & Cole; hanging out with ex-housemate S, thanks to baby Tungsten and aforementioned part-time working.

First time discoveries: walking in the Peak District, working (however sporadically and unconventionally) in the manual trades, power tools, Woman's Hour, friends from the internet.

Must not forget life's great continuities: old and new friends, front crawl (not enough of that, mind), OX4, FY8, too much booze, inner fury, good food, Evening Primrose Oil, a lovely boyfriend, a roof over my head, a town where they know what I'm like and don't mind.

To paraphrase my favourite toast, may the worst years of our lives be like this one.

joella