2005 here we go…

The hangover has abated, the new year’s resolutions have been written and broken already, guess it must be 2005 already.

What happened to 2004? I’m sure it only started yesterday, fast asleep in a car at the Falls Festival with my friend Holly who was supposed to wake me up to see in the New Year. Oops. From there it was another week in Melbourne, packing up and saying goodbye to that wonderful little town where I’d lived for four months.

Then onto Thailand, for a great couple of months of beaches, massages and temples – with a brief jaunt into Cambodia in the middle. It was only March when I left from the Andaman coast town of Khao Lak after a four day dive trip to the Similians – now I read the news every few hours hoping that the tsunami news will start getting better. Strange bookends to the year.

Then back to England, for my nephew’s first ever birthday! He’d grown so much in the year since I’d last seen him – a beautiful, sparkling child who, luckily for his camera obsessed uncle, had developed a complete range of clothing catalog poses (including the tricky ‘toy tractor lean’).

England was a bit of a culture shock – and not just for re-adjusting to English prices after a year in Australia and Thailand. The family home of 25 odd years had been sold while I was away, with everyone moving from Camberley up to Norwich. Oi vey. Nice to see a different part of the country, but it is the arse end of nowhere however funny Alan Partridge is.

My plan for coming back was simple – I would get a well paid IT contract somewhere on the south coast for six months, buy a house and do it up during that time, then rent it out and head off to South America to be a dive master, via Thailand as the training there is so cheap. Somehow I found it hard to get back into that plan, so instead of getting a job I went over to Sweden for another holiday. Obvious really. On my return I reasoned I would have my wanderlust out of my system… Then Stephen called from New York, to ask if I’d come help him out for a couple of weeks with this startup he was doing called ‘Text.com‘. Nine months later I’m still back in New York working for the renamed ‘Fountain Mobile‘ and we’ve just done our first proper campaign – yay!

Being back in New York again has been fun. I was never sure I’d come back, with 9/11, being laid off and other events conspiring to make my last few months here something less than enjoyable. I’m glad I’m back though – New York is a great place to be and full of interesting people and situations, chock full of visual & visceral stimuli.

So here’s to a wonderful 2005 for everyone. Cheers!