2010: game over

So that's another year almost gone. When the history books come to write the story of 2010, the verdict will probably be that it was more than a bit pants. Recession, depression, cuts, job losses, the government from hell, weather chaos, volcanic ash, more weather chaos, more recession and depression...you get the picture. Not one of our better recent years.

Which makes me probably feel just a bit guilty for having had, on the whole, a fantastic year. Most of which was due to my adventures in blogland, and getting to live the dream one more time by going back to Sweden, seeing my favourite singer Salem Al Fakir in concert and then getting to meet him once again. When I wasn't doing that I was spending most of the year writing about him over at Planet Salem. 2010 was Salem's most successful year yet and that was reflected in the visitor numbers to Planet Salem, which also had its most successful year and I got to know so many lovely people through that website.

EuropeCrazy meanwhile had to take a back seat for most of the year, but I'd love to put a bit more time into that blog next year - there's always so much to discover and write about, and that's a good place to share it.

Apart from blogging, and Salem, and Sweden, so many other good things happened to me over the past year. I got an award at work for my training course stuff, and despite 'Slim For Sweden' being followed by months of 'Binge for Britain', I managed to turn things around and lost 6 lbs in the lead-up to Christmas, taking my weight to its lowest point in about 15 years. Despite spending vast chunks of the year battling crippling back pain, this has eased off a bit at last (touch wood) enough to get me up on the dancefloor at our recent Christmas night out :) and hopefully this will be a turnaround and I can finally get back to full fitness.

I also got some fab new gadgets this year, notably the laptop computer which I'm typing this post on at the moment, finally got my wireless broadband to work properly, and got a touch-screen phone.

We discovered a new country (Slovakia) and revisited an old friend (Turkey) - fingers crossed that we'll be able to make it to some exciting European destinations next year :) of course we also discovered some nice new destinations closer to home over the summer.

All in all, my 2010 was pretty great. Which by the law of averages means that 2011 should be a bit rubbish. But on the other hand, life's what you make it and I'm determined to make it another good one.

Before I head off for a month's blog-break (as detailed in this post at EuropeCrazy) I want to thank all my regular visitors and blogging pals for your friendship and support over the past year. I hope 2011 brings good health and happiness to all of you.

OK I'm outta here....but I'll be back in February. Bye bye....and happy new year!!!!! :)