Goodbye 2021! Humanity really is intrinsically good.

2021 has been another strange year for us all. The Covid virus is still terrorising our precious world, war and misery in so many countries and governments that are so inept that it’s actually gone beyond something to laugh at. It’s sometimes hard to sift through all the doom and gloom to find something positive. However, I’ve decided to put the negative to one side and focus on the positive things about 2021. I'd like to share with my top five amazing, beautiful, funny and heart-warming moments of the year. In no particular order, here are some of the things that have made me smile, beam with pride, sob with joy and re-establish my faith in humanity. I hope you enjoy them…

Strictly Come Dancing

What an absolute joy this year’s season was. Dancing like we’ve never seen right from the beginning, John and Johannes, AJ, Rose and Rhys reducing me to tears of joy every single week with their beautiful moves. The whole of this year’s cast were spectacular, but the final four really made my Saturday nights something to look forward to. Rose was definitely a worth winner, to be able to dance the way she did with her disability is truly inspiring. I have hearing loss and tinnitus, only in one ear thankfully, but it certainly changed my life when it happened. Rose really lifted my spirits every week with her remarkable ability to learn and develop as a dancer, in spite of her disability. 2021 Strictly will go down in the history books.

Seeing my children thrive at their chosen routes in life. 

After three years of studying Media Studies at university, my son Ed is now training as a chef and is loving every minute of it. He found himself with a job in a sound studio before he’d even finished his degree, but then Covid hit and that was the end of the job for the foreseeable. He got a job with Hermes for a year, then through a friend landed a job as a trainee Commis Chef with a local pub group. Everything happens for a reason, so they say. He’s already getting pay rises in his new role and learning a whole new skill. He always loved cooking and cooked for me the whole way through the lockdowns of 2020. I’m so proud of what he’s achieved in the past few years. A uni degree and a new job that he loves - can’t ask for much more than that. 

My daughter Hannah, like many who started their uni experience in 2019 has had such a trying time with her studies over the past two years. She’s studying Contemporary Dance, not an easy subject to do via Zoom. However, she managed to get through the first lockdown with our kitchen or the garden being turned into a studio, depending on the weather (thankfully we had some great weather during that time). He second year had moments of normality but not many and her current third has been back in the studios up until now. She recently had her choreography piece chosen to be showcased in the new year choreography show. A very proud moment for her and me.

The One Big Thank You segment on The One Show.

I can’t think of a more heartwarming few minutes on the TV on a regular basis. Every Thursday, The One Show highlights someone who has done something amazing for other people in their community. We’ve seen some beautiful people over the past year or so and all of them are normal people who have found a space in their heart to help others less fortunate than themselves. After watching the news of an evening, this segment would re-calibrate the doom factor; it reminds us that there are good people out there and that humans are intrinsically kind. It’s such a shame our media feels that the nasty, horribly people deserve more air time than those who do good. 

A night out with Gary and Karen.

If there’s one thing that will always put a smile on my face it’s a good ol’ pre show chuckle, Prosecco in hand, with my dear friend and creative sewing genius, Karen. After one cancellation and the last minute jitters about another, we managed to finally get to see Gary Barlow at the beginning of December in Birmingham. A pilgrimage that takes place whenever the wonderful Gary sends out his tour dates. We were two amongst the many women of a certain age, catching up after a long time and there to enjoy one of our fav performers. And enjoy we did; we sang, danced, smiled, laughed and had far too many glasses of Prosecco. It was a fabulous evening, despite the covid jitters, vaccination passports and masks. We got to see our delightful and talented Gary - the perfect pre-Christmas tipple.

As the year closes, I hope that you were all also able to find something that made your year special. Amongst the doom and gloom, it’s always good to find something that brings us back to the beauty that our earth has to offer. Humanity, nature, kindness and respect - all the good things about our wonderful Earth. Happy New Year - may your 2022 be full of hope, opportunity and good health.

Lots of love...