Happy New Year! Happy New Year!

As we entered 2020 I felt like I had already assumed the brace position as focus was fully applied to the end of TLK (remember when gigs happened? Yeah, that was this year haha). To follow that I’d prescribed myself a “quiet” year of getting my head down, knuckling down at work and allowing myself the space to deal with whatever came my way. But 2020 had other ideas…

Anyone that knows me well will understand that ambiguity is not my thing. I like a plan. “Wait and see” is something I find really difficult and 2020, and it seems likely, 2021, has been a freakin’ rollercoaster of plans made and aborted, re-made and re-worked, time outs and reassessment, new tasks and different ways of thinking.

I can’t even begin to imagine the superhuman struggles that some have faced and are still facing and I won’t belittle that with positivity claptrap and meme-therapy but I do have some thank yous I want to share.

THANK YOU to all the support staff, NHS workers, teachers, bus drivers, shelf-stackers, till operators, refuse collectors, delivery drivers and everyone that’s gone above and beyond to keep the wheels turning.

THANK YOU to the Kilimanjaro team who’ve worked so hard to save everyone’s jobs, whether that’s taking on new roles, responsibilities and challenges and in some cases, working harder than we would in a “normal” year (which is already pretty damn hard) or facing the difficulties of long-term furlough. It all plays its part and we’re all still here and still fighting.

THANK YOU to my family for taking me in again and for the quality time we got to share together this year. For all the separation, we spent time together that would never have usually been possible and for that I am really grateful.

THANK YOU to my friends, both near and far. Some of you I’ve had more contact with than ever before and I massively appreciate everyone that’s fought through the zoom fatigue to make sure no one is lonely. Some us haven’t always managed it, and I’m thankful for that too because I, for one, have learned more than ever the value of switching off and being present, of allowing myself time to feel the frustrations or the small victories without having to share it with the world.

THANK YOU to everyone that’s still creating and pushing and sharing their art with the world. And by “art” I absolutely mean the sharing of memes to make us smile just as much as the creation of brilliant individual projects. I can’t watch or listen or attend them all but every single one helps someone get through another day, even if that’s just yourself. You can take a day off now though, Frank.

THANK YOU to anyone that’s taken some time to learn to think differently; who’s done their research; who’s shown compassion to those that may not behave in the way that they themselves might want. There’s been cause for a lot of hate this year and there’s probably more to come but I’ve seen so many small acts of kindness that it gives me hope we may learn to be more tolerant and that the tolerant will prevail. But, as ever, fuck the Tories.

I am well, I am warm and I am loved. I wish the same for you and yours.

Onwards!

(Please read the last line in the voice of Brian Blessed) #powertothepeople