2020…. Thank goodness it’s gone!

So, as we are all probably thinking right now… Christmas is over, and wasn’t that a strange one? I personally didn’t change much. I live spending Christmas with my wife and Cats, which we did again this year. Unfortunately we didn’t get to join our friends at their annual Christmas Eve party in kentesbere, which is just amazing. My lovely wife Cat, made such an effort. She panicked on Christmas Eve that she hadn’t really gotten me any presents, and went off with the bank card…. Aaahhh!!!! Is all I can say! I asked her to get a £6 bottle of fenjal moisturizer for the mother in law. We get her some every year, to go with other prezzies, and we’ll betides our forgetting… So off she went… Now we share an account, so when the card is used I get an instant email to say what has left the account! So it went a bit like this… £15, £25, £8, £65, £49….. What…stop! Hold on a minute!! What the dickins has she been buying for that lot!! So I decided not to panic. I was obviously in for a very lovely Christmas this year…

So on Christmas Eve she arrived home, with a few rather nice looking bags, one with l’Octaine on it….I know that shop…I walk past it because it is rediculously expensive…. But there was a bag! Then another from the perfume factory…. Well, I like that too. So quite good so far!

So she sent off to wrap up the prezzies, and slowly and subtly baught into the conversation that she couldn’t find the fenjal stuff for her mum and so baught a nice little set from l octaine……what!!!! What!!!! This is for a woman who thinks that fenjal is the height of luxury and prefers dove shower gel over all others. So my wife thaught that spending £49 on a soap, a bath bomb and some shower get, was a good decision…especially for a woman who couldn’t care a less!!!

My prezzies were lovely. My wife has no concept of bottle sizes for aftershave, and so just got me the biggest bottle ever of Calvin Klein at £65 for the bottle! Her thinking was, it will last me a couple of years!!! And it probably will…and then some!!

Our baby puddy tats has a whale of a time. Lots of prezzies and treats. It was wonderful to see them having so much fun.

So most of you know the worst thing this Christmas. I found out just before that my big sister was poorly. She was fighting for her life in hospital. She has numerous health conditions, and then contracted covid as well. We were told that she was not going to make it..but we thaught there may be a chance. I didn’t get to see her due to the covid restrictions, but her children did, and that’s the main thing. She loved Christmas as much as me, and she made it through Christmas 🎄. But then took a bad turn and passed away on new year’s eve. By niece said she would go out with a bang…. And she certainly did. ♥️

I can’t believe this is one of the few photos I have to remember her by. I can’t believe she is gone. It had hit me like a whopping great sledge hammer. She was only 49. That is not old. There was so much life she should have had. Addiction is such a deviating disease. So indiscriminate and unfair and cruel. she deserved a long and happy life, not one of pain and suffering. ❤️

I will miss her till the day I die. I am proud she was my big sister. We had lots of fun when we were growing up. Never saw eye to eye as adults, which is one of the reasons why we weren’t close in the past 14 years. But I still loved her, and always will. ♥️

So now what of 2021? Who knows?

I am hoping to get back out there, and raise some money for those who have helped me so much. The Aaron Lewis foundation and BLESMA. I hope to complete a half marathon and then a marathon or two… And then who knows? This year I hope to finally get some treatment for my leg, for the pain I am in and for the new issues! With a lot of luck and determination, I am determined to walk again. Even if it’s only for a few metres a day, that’s fine…bit more would be amazing. Bring it on!!

So for the 12 months ahead… Well, my college life will be tricky, on line learning is a nightmare, but you’ve just got to get on with it!! It’sa nightmare getting any treatment for any problems, but that’s hardly surprising. I don’t blame the government. I think they have an impossible job, and are never going to please everyone. I have been looking at the unfolding situation right from my window, and you can see how diabolical it is becoming by seeing the amount of cars in the car park…all day over Christmas….full. people just wondering about the quay. No social distancing going on anywhere. 80% of them were not exercising. Just meeting for a catch up… Which is fine when we’re not in the middle of a crisis! It worries mule that they will even listen now with this lockdown, because they didn’t on the last one. It was busier than ever out there. I had to give up hand cycling because I couldn’t move… And all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen that!

I hope beyond all hopes, that people listen this time to the advice. It is not fake, and it’s no one else’s fault that those who are refusing to follow the rules. And we see them everywhere. We can all be responsible for saving lives. The lives of our loved ones, and friends and family. It’s down to us. 👍

I hope you all have. Wonderful new year. Make the most of what you can, and never give up. When life throws lemons…make lemonade 👍🎈😁