December 30th

It was so cold last night it looked like it had been snowing this morning, and I had to wear socks and a jumper in bed. Even now - I feel as if I should wear gloves in the kitchen.

I'm actually getting bored - I'm still forcing myself to have some 'down time' - but endless cups of tea are leaving me short of breath and I keep eating. I'm determined to try and relax for the whole day, but all the inactivity is making me nervous - so it's counter productive.

I'm slowly getting my head around the end of the year and trying to take stock.

2014 in Brief with random observations.

Worked harder than ever, did better work than I've ever done, never took a day off, saw my income drop by 30% as a result.

Watched people with less talent than me do much better than I have.

Kim Kardashian is not a feminist, neither is Rhianna or Beyonce. They are marketing constructs.

Wearing a naff shirt on TV does not make you into a sexist. Nor should it distract from being one of the worlds leading scientists and astro physicists. It's just a shirt (which was actually designed and made by a woman)

UKIP have already ruined 2015 for me.

Nobody really wants to face up to the fact that many people this year took their own lives directly because of government policies.

Twitter is not a basic human right, just let it go.

I am - apparently, at 6'3" and exactly 14 stone, at my perfect weight and BMO. Whatever that means.

I have a great diet, hardly drink, don't smoke, don't eat meat. But always look and feel rubbish.

The Aldi has already improved my quality of life - how can I go wrong when they sell giant bags of spinach for 89p that would cost at least £4 from the COOP. They also sell Persimmons - which is all I intend to eat for the next 12 months.

I need to 'find' between £5,000 and £12,000 (best and worse case scenario) for urgent repairs to my house. 'Find' as in possibly at the end of some mythical rainbow.

Generally - I do find that people have agendas of their own, and I'm slowly cutting people out of my life - primarily anyone who starts every sentence with "what you should do is...." or just uses me as an emotional crutch or punchbag. At this rate I will be officially friendless by June or July. As I also find that people usually let you down, this isn't such a tragedy.

I've had my photograph taken twice this year - on both occasions I looked like a week old corpse. I don't look like that in the mirror, at least I don't think I do.

The bare minimum cost of being self employed is £200pcm before I turn the computer on. Then it's all downhill.

I started going to see live music again this year after several years abstinence, it wasn't bad - I enjoyed myself, but it's VERY expensive. Ditto the cinema.

I think my house is still worth less than I paid for it, 7 years ago.

Most British newspapers and media outlets are totally unreadable.

I will be 49 next year, that's the most depressing thing imaginable.


- I'll probably have more observations tomorrow, see how I feel.