And that was 2023... a recap of a busy year

I normally write my annual reviews on a month by month basis but this year have decided to recap it in thematic chunks...

Life events

We celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary in September with family and friends. We had a very enjoyable time and are grateful to everyone who travelled to be with us on the day. 

For the second year in a row I started a new job. After 13 years working in the NHS, I applied for and was offered a role working for Diabetes UK. It was a frenetic start, landing in the middle of a rebranding operation for the programme! Highly enjoyable, though. 

There have been a couple of sad moments as well. Our friend Colin passed away in February and we went to his memorial service in Haddenham. In September I went to Leeds for the memorial for my friend and former colleague, Margot. 

Holidays

This year Cathy and I had our first ever trip to DisneyLand Paris. I followed it up with a weekend in Hartlepool. We also had two week-long holidays in North Wales - in July and in November and a week in Worcestershire in April that included a day on the Severn Valley Railway on my birthday.

Football

I went to 62 games in 2023 - you can read more detail in the recap post. I saw Barry Town win two cup finals and get promoted before the end of April. I did my first ever live radio commentary, in Caernarfon in November. And I went to Oxford, Ipswich, Peterborough, Derby, Leeds and Nottingham to watch Shrewsbury Town. 

Culture

My plan to read a book a month fell to the wayside, but I've read more this year than I have since before the pandemic. The one gig I went to this year was Bastille at Cardiff Castle. I watched my friend Rhys in his one man play about Fred Keenor, the captain of the Cardiff City team that won the FA Cup in 1927. I've seen a few films but realise now that I didn't blog about any of them, particularly. I think the best cinema outing was seeing one of my all time favourite films, The Nightmare Before Christmas, back on the big screen as part of its 30 anniversary release. 

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions, but I'd be happy for 2024 to be as full of good times as 2023 was. 

Bastille at the Castle

First gig of 2023 for us this weekend. Bastille were heading a day of music organised by The Depot in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. 

We hadn't been to a gig there before. Probably one of the coolest entrances to a venue I've been through.

There was a full afternoon of performers lined up. The only other set we bothered with was by Example. I enjoyed it. He brought plenty of energy to his set and really knew how to get the crowd going. Although his comments about the castle being a medieval fortress were hysterically historically inaccurate.

However, Bastille were the main reason we went and they didn't disappoint. A good mix of tracks off their albums and some covers thrown in too. Everyone joined in with 'No Scrubs' as if it was one of their songs.

We had a reasonable, fairly central view. Photos at gigs are always a bit crap. But at least they're colourful.

Being in the castle meant we had a good view of the old keep as the sun went down. It was to our left as we faced the stage.

And during the last song they let off a hunch of fireworks over the keep. Cathy got a spectacular photo that looks like a painting.

Genuinely #nofilter

A problem with the location of the fireworks was almost everyone turned to look at the keep, meaning the crowd wasn't focused on the song. It didn't feel very well thought out.

We were lucky with the weather because it threatened to rain all afternoon and evening but didn't quite manage it. If it had rained it would have quickly become a mud bath. 

Leaving was stressful too. Ancient fortresses (even pretend ones) don't have big wide gates to let people out. As the crowd funnelled out of the exit a crush developed that was unpleasant and could have turned into a situation. There is a real safety issue there.

Overall, I'd rate the gig worth going to for the performance, but I would think twice about going to another gig at the castle. It would have to be someone I really wanted to see.

10 albums

There's a thing on Facebook at the moment. People posting the 10 albums they feel are most influential on them. You're supposed to just post the pictures with no commentary, but most people can't resist a bit of commentary.

I thought it would make an interesting blog post, though. Which 10 albums would I pick? I've had a go, and included a couple of recent ones that will be influencing me for a while to come. 

I got obsessed with Midnight Oil in my teens and into my early twenties. I bought their entire back catalogue of albums and singles and anything I could get my hands on. I connected with them the first time I heard Beds are Burning playing on the Radio 1 breakfast show on the bus to school. Diesel and Dust was the peak of their success. I think what I liked most about them is that their songs were actually about stuff that mattered.

In school I got into rock. The next two albums were very big for me when I was 14.

Yeah, yeah, mock me all you want. But tell me Animal isn't a great 80s rock song. And New Jersey is stadium rock at its finest. 

I can't tell you how many times I listened to this next album in my first year at university.

I was also massively into the Eagles, round about the same time. Desperado was always my favourite Eagles album, and the one I would come back to again and again.

Then along came Cathy. She changed my life. So did this album that she introduced me too. It is one of the few albums ever produced where every track is solid. No duff filler to be seen.

Because I loved Midnight Oil, I bought a random protest single they recorded with a few other bands, including the Tragically Hip. That's how I got into the Tragically Hip. Fully Completely is another perfect album. I recite a section of At the Hundredth Meridian as my 'calm mantra'. 

Hot Fuss probably isn't the best Killers album. It has the best first five tracks though, starting with Jenny was a Friend of Mine and working up to All These Things That I've Done. Yes, there are other albums with great songs on. I love The Man off their most recent release. But Hot Fuss is where it all began and those first five tracks in particular are better than entire albums produced by lesser bands. 

This album is absolute gold even though it's only a couple of years old. We played it relentlessly on a summer holiday in Dorset so I associate it with hot long summer days, beaches and the sea. It is driving music, and relaxing music, and meal prep music, and background music, and foreground music, and everybody sings along music.

And onto the tenth album, and the most recent. Doom Days is Bastille's third album. OK, it doesn't have Pompeii on it, but it is a really solid listen throughout and their most musically accomplished complete album. We have played it a lot recently and I can't see me growing tired of it any time soon.

So, there you go. 10 albums. 

My review of 2014 (movies, TV, music, books)

I didn’t blog much in 2014, but a lot happened and I want to post some kind of review of various ‘art’ highlights. So, here goes, my ‘Review of 2014’ blog post. First up, movies:

Best movie

Easily, Guardians of the Galaxy. It was unexpectedly funny. It was action-packed. It had a cracking musical soundtrack. The film was so good it even got me into buying comics for the first time since I was about 11. I like Rocket Racoon. Cathy likes Groot. It about sums us up.

Most unexpectedly good movie

The Book of Life. This was gorgeous animation, exploring themes of love and death and conquering your fears and atoning for wrongs. Easily the best animated film I’ve seen for ages, made with sumptuous rich colours that made it lovely.

Most disappointing movie

The Boxtrolls. Not enough about the trolls and a bit too much time spent with ghastly humans. The film was called the Boxtrolls and they were barely in it.  If I wanted a film with ghastly humans I’m sure I could find a better one.

Best scene in a movie

I’m going for Jennifer Lawrence’s meltdown in American Hustle when she screamed at Christian Bale that all she wanted was for him to love her. My heart ached at that scene. It’s just fantastic.

Now we’ve wrapped movies up, how about TV?

Best TV viewing of 2014

Brooklyn Nine Nine. I laughed out loud (literally out loud) at every single episode. Even Modern Family hasn’t managed that. The Thanksgiving episode just kept on getting funnier and funnier although my absolute favourite scene was when Jake Peralta was looking for a flat and saw one that was just a toilet in the middle of a bare expanse of concrete. And that wasn’t the worst thing about the flat.

Running Brooklyn Nine Nine a close second was Elementary. Johnny Lee Miller is just captivating. There was one episode where all he did was lean against a wall, but it was a lean of menace and disappointment and ennui and pensiveness. The man exudes the character just when he is leaning. The show is a belter too and it’s great fun trying to predict which of the people who have innocuously been presented to the viewer in the first ten minutes will turn out to be the murderer.

Most disappointing TV of 2014

Dr Who. The first episode had the Doctor claim he could “speak dinosaur” and somehow appear in a locked and sealed room. He is basically magic now. The second episode contained one of the most callous scenes I’ve ever seen in any TV show. The third episode was a dire spoof of Robin Hood films. I gave up then. I did see two episodes later on, but frankly the gubbins of the relationship triangle between the Doctor, Clara and whoever her boyfriend was, just got in the way of both the story and my will to live. I didn’t bother with the Christmas episode. My love for the show has waned that far.

Ok, so that’s TV, now for some music.

Best new sounds of 2014

Ward Thomas – From Where We Stand. The idea of Country music-singing twins from Hampshire sounds like a disaster but their music is great. I heard the single ‘Push for the Stride’ on Radio 2 and had to look it up straight away when I got home. Even better they are coming to Cardiff next year, playing The Globe on my birthday and we have tickets!

Best gig

Hard to choose this as we made it to six gigs this year, including Tony Wright at the cleanest rock club I have ever been to. (A guy came round putting people’s drinks on beermats as if they were coasters!) But probably the best gig was Darius Rucker on Cathy’s birthday. We travelled to Wolverhampton to see him and he was excellent, playing several old Hootie & the Blowfish tunes as well as his solo material. He finished with a cover of Champagne Supernova that was simply epic.

Best support act

I’m going to give this to Ariana and the Rose, who supported the Hoosiers at The Globe in Cardiff back in April. It’s a tough gig being a support act, but they were great, sounding a little bit like Garbage although not as grungy.

Best album I discovered in 2014

Bad Blood by Bastille. I kept hearing Pompeii on the music channels so put the album on my Amazon wish-list. Someone got it me for my birthday and I really liked the whole album. I was surprised to find Cathy did too. I came home one day and found she had put it on while washing up. It’s great driving music too. They are songs you can belt out at the top of your lungs if you want to.

One thing left, books...

Best fiction read this year

Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. It’s a toss up between this and Microserfs, also by Coupland, which actually made me cry at the end. But Eleanor Rigby edges it simply because it’s the only book I’ve ever read that is searingly honest about loneliness and how no one ever warns you how hard it is to live with feeling lonely. I love Douglas Coupland’s books. I have to put them down every few pages to let the ideas sink in.

Best non-fiction read this year

Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. This is a ‘freakonomics’ style exploration of footballs looking at certain assumptions, like do managers make much of a difference and do England under-achieve at World Cups. The exploration of how poverty prevents developing nations from being genuine global competitors is fascinating.

Ok, there you go, that was my year. How was yours.