It's almost the end...

2013 is almost at an end...  And it's absolutely flown by.  I know people say every single year, "gosh! doesn't time fly?!"  But this year really seems like it has. :)  I imagine that it's partly because I remember so clearly what I did last NYE.  It was nothing exciting, I just watched the new Michael McIntyre DVD I'd been saving specially, and had a few vodkas. ;)  I remember one moment where I was eating a chocolate mousse, he said something particularly funny, and I spat it all over myself. :)

So...  What was particularly memorable in 2013?

• My day of interviews with the BBC about bins.  A live-on-air radio interview, a TV interview, a phone interview, and a piece in print on the BBC News website.
• My little driving holiday to Somerset during August.  It was a lot of driving for a 3 day holiday, but I enjoyed it a lot and would do it again.
• I also had a little trip to Wales with the parents during the summer.  That to, was also pleasant.  It had been some years since we'd been away on holiday together.
• My various adventures with Adele, including Bicester, Ragdale and crazy golf to name a few highlights.  There was, of course, a great amount of sitting around, drink coffee, and being mauled by her crazy dog (now plus a new one, which I find myself strangely warming to, solely because he likes a snuggle.)
• Standing a-top the Long Mynd.  A staggeringly beautiful place that I hadn't known existed, oddly.
• Two outstanding National Theatre performances, 'Macbeth' and 'Frankenstein'.  Both were amazing, and I've gone ahead and booked 'Coriolanus' and 'War Horse' for January & February.
• My car accident.  Looking back now, I can chalk it up as one of life's trials.  Felt pretty crap for 3 weeks after.  Especially as it mucked up two social occasions, which I've still yet to re-book.
• My new car.  :)  By lucky coincidence, she's exactly the colour I would have chosen if I'd bought her brand new.  I've named her Bonny and she's a cheerful sky-blue Ford Ka.  The new version of what I wrote off previously.  ;)
• A rainy and windy weekend trip to Aberystwyth for a family wedding.
• An overnight trip to Birmingham to see Josh Groban at Symphony Hall.
• Another trip to Birmingham to see Tim Minchin as Judas in 'Jesus Christ Superstar'.  Great show, but completely horrifyingly long and awful drive home from central Birmingham, in the dark.  If I were to do it again, I think I'd try and find alternative travel arrangements.
• After 2 months unemployment at the start of the year, I got a job over in Brackley.  It took a while to settle in, the class were remarkably untrained, and my relationship with my TA took a while to warm up.  But come July, they were one of my most favourite classes I've ever had, my TA and I got on well and I heartily loved the school.  When the time came for me to leave again in November, I was most disappointed.  I have nothing but good things to say about that school.  But the commute was a bitch.
• I started another Year 1 post at a school in Northampton.  Very, very different to Brackley school.  I am reserving judgement for the time being.
• After an 18-month long saga, I am officially discharged from the hospital after my eye surgery.  What with breaking my elbow in the September of 2011, then the eye saga that began around April 2012, there hasn't been that much time, since moving to Northampton in the summer of 2011, where I haven't been under hospital care.  And I visited a friend who was admitted during January/February.  It would be great if 2014 could be the year of either No Hospitals, or visiting the hospital for purely Happy Things.
• The heavy snow of January was a pain.  It didn't melt for a LONG TIME outside my flat, and made conditions downright treacherous underfoot.  I remember feeling very, very pleased when it FINALLY melted.
• We had a good-weather summer for the first time in a few years.  During the summer holidays I mostly lived in shorts, and spent a fair amount of time lying on the bed, eating ice-lollies and reading some really good books.

And, I think...  That's about it.  It's been a very fast year.  With only one or two particularly notable exceptions, it's been a good one.

Here's to good health and happiness for you all in 2014.