Another year over, a new one almost begun… So as we all face the imminent prospect of extreme party pressure it’s time to reflect on the highs and lows of the last year – Matt Hobbs stylee:
First up, the lows. The economic situation is certainly a bit of a downer, especially as we chose to go job hunting right in the middle of it. Ah, if only my crystal ball had been working – must get some new batteries for it. Heath Ledger’s unexpected death just before the release of his epic performance as the Joker also sticks in my mind – especially being a fan of Terry Gilliam, whose latest film Ledger stars in (and still is – along with some replacements such as Johnny Depp). On a personal note we got screwed over royally by the spineless sh*t who sub-let our apartment – Sonny, who trashed the place then did a runner without paying rent. If anyone sees him on the streets of Montreal, give him a good, hard kick in the nuts from us. A big up to Graham for coming to our rescue, and good luck with your job hunt in the new year! On which note, leaving Montreal was certainly a low as we both miss the place and our friends terribly (and the snow) but London is fun, and more of that in a mo. Oh, and more recently there was the huge disappointment of David Tennant not performing in Hamlet, after we’d been excited about seeing this top rated performance for three months. Ah well.
Now for the good stuff – first up, the obvious one. Obama-mania! Yep, we got swept along with everyone else on that one. It’s great to see such a positive response to an American President getting voted in – not just because we’ll all be mightily glad to see the back of the current idiot (anyone see his exit interviews? a complete absense of the decency to admit any mistakes over these ridiculous eight years – hello? 9/11 failure of intelligence? Iraq lack of WMDs? Global failure of respect for your once proud nation? Trashed economy? Grow some balls Bush and take responsibility for your actions.). Obama certainly signals a new hope for a country that needs some positive spin, both at home and abroad. Fingers crossed he delivers at least 10% of what people are hoping for right now. The only real downside of this is that the classic news based comedy shows such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report will now be lacking their greatest source of material.. sorry, writers.
Earlier in the year, after the end of a wonderful trip to Mexico with the Johnson clan, we bade our sad goodbye to our New York apartment and shipped all my stuff up into Montreal for the last time (literally just fitting in the car). Shortly after that it was packed up again and shipped over to England where it arrived safely, other than one broken bowl. Yes, the big news of the year for us was migrating to England – back in those happy days before we knew of such things as ‘global economic crash’. We arrived happy, landing into a typically grey day at Heathrow and then heading over to our current abode in Southwark. Which brings us merrily to the other highlight of our year – Mr T. T’other Matt has been our guardian angel this year, helping us sort out a place to live, wheels and many more things – as well as being a generally lovely chap. Cheers, Tully!
So we had our first London summer together, and the first one for me in six years. Wandering along the South Bank. Amazing Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre (Timon of Athens & Midsummer Night’s Dream). Fun with the nephews at Latitude Festival. Catching up with family. All interspersed with the stress of job hunting, as the economy gradually started to tank. Ug. Thankfully things started to come together in autumn with jobs at globally respected magazines for Miette, and a contract that turned into a job for me as well. Huzah!
There have been many more things that happened, and memories to recount, but for those of you who don’t regularly – just read the rest of this blog for the year (simple, init). And now 2009 rapidly approaches, under 24 hours left to go. We’re positive about the next year, even with the increasing economic down-turn. Everyone will baton down the hatches, but the world will still turn – and most people needed a good kick up the arse to stop the orgy of over-consumption we currently live with day to day. Enough preaching, on with the partying! See you next year.