As I prepare to do some serious desk-tidying on my last day at work, I'm going to look back on 2014 - quite changeable, I think you'll agree.
This time last year we were bracing ourselves for many drunk shenanigans from our neighbours - as a sign that Derby is [makes tiny gap between fingers] *this* big, it turns out that my mother in law knows someone who knows HIM.
Which is how we found out out a few weeks ago that SHE had dumped HIM, SHE had a new boyfriend and HE was heartbroken.
A week or so after finding this out, we saw them out shopping together - and we remembered that the same thing happened last year - a noisy bust-up followed by a pre-Christmas reconciliation.
Ain't love grand?
Speaking of which, I recently started receiving emails about my ex-girlfriend's iTunes account - either she hasn't updated her secondary-contact information or this was the most sophisticated and specific phishing attack EVER.
We split over 10 years ago and haven't kept in touch [as an aside, why do people do that? There's a reason why you split up!] but when I got an email with her address details, I thought I'd reach out, say Hi, suggest what the problem might be, and wish her a Happy Christmas.
The silence since has been deafening.
Finally, we thought we were heading for a conversation which every disabled/chronically-ill parent dreads the other day.
As has been mentioned before, my daughter is pretty matter-of-fact about the idea that daddy's legs sometimes get tired - he needs to use a walking stick and is sometimes a bit wobbly. The other week she went with her nursery pals to a nature reserve and when she returned was pleased to report that there was a ride that daddy could go on which was for Distabled people.
So far so adorable - but the other day she started crying asking will she be distabled like daddy when she grows up. We tried to comfort her (she's three-and-a-half so wouldn't understand the concept of something being "statistically unlikely") but she still kept saying that she would be distabled too.
When we comforted her further it became apparent that she actually wanted to be distabled. We asked her why and she said it was because she wanted daddy's disabled parking badge. And walking stick.
She's a 'nana.
Happy Christmas if you've read this far! Let's all hope for a healthful New Year.
x