Review of 09 (what, still?)

Ok, last ditch attempt to remember 2009 before I move on and get stuck into... how do we abreviate 2010. I say "Oh-ten", but how do I write that? 010 looks way too binary. 10 looks like an item on a list more than a date. And 2010 is just a waste of typing.

I began these as Tweets, like so:

#reviewof2009 Michael Jackson's funeral was on TV in Wetherspoons pub in Embra & Janey Godley was talking about his paedo rep. Got material.

#reviewof2009 Tried Guinness World Record for jokes in 1 hour (failed). My fave new gag was "Brace Brace" (must write more one-liners in 10)

#reviewof2009 Best new Socks songs were Swine Flu & Facebook song, also pleased with new Xmas numbers & Sweary Poppins.

#reviewof2009 Fave new Socks sketches were Word Association, the Western, and Star Wars. Also loved recycled Michael Jackson & Cross Channel

#reviewof2009 My Comic Art Masterclasses started being taken seriously, with module in Media Studies course & talking at Boys Writing Conf.

#reviewof2009 Too many good Socks gigs to single out, high points Edinburgh, Glasgow & Leicester runs, tour sellouts and Bristol one-off

#reviewof2009 Oh yeah. Did The Sitcom Trials again for first time in three years. Almost forgot about that.

#reviewof2009 Best Xmas card was the one I drew for the Smiths. An 8 page full colour superhero strip. I'm brilliant (and reasonably priced)

#reviewof2009 Low points: flooded flat and noisy neighbours, all sorted now. High points: the rest of the year, it was a good one.

And then I realised I was filling up Twitter, which can only have so much space left, so here are the few other things I can remember:

The other and biggest low point was that Captain, our darling cat, 19 years old, died. Hev saw him through all the hard times, spending the last few weeks having to give him injections, she was truly truly magnificent and, understandably, the saddest of all when he finally gave up. She was with him at the vets, I was away at work. All very sad and cast a shadow over the rest of the year. He is very much missed in our household. In the last month of 2009 has place has been filled slightly by Tadpole, our name for the cat from next door, who has adopted us. We don't feed him, but he comes in and makes himself comfortable. He's no Captain, but he is company.

I really ought to get a new car. I drive so many miles no car can take the strain, but my Peugeot 206 which is about to celebrate its 5th birthday, has really had more than it should have to suffer. we are over the 150,000 mile mark. Is that a bit much? This year the AA have been called out in Leicestershire, South Wales, and nearer home - one time when I was on my way back from the garage to get my driving licence for the courtesy car, and one more embarrassing time on the M5 two miles from home when I ran out of petrol. But with new heating systems, and fans, and cam shafts, and that thing like a dynamo that recharges the battery, and tyres, and exhaust pipe, it's almost like having a new car. Certainly cost as much. Worst damage to the car - Kilmarnock, where someone has jumped on my bonnet while it was parked overnight outside hotel. By exit from pub.

Okay, now for predictions...