After years of ignoring this blog and the opportunities it provides to allow me to let out some of the stresses and strains of life, I am back. Not to be read by anyone, not due to any particular need to foist my views upon the world at large and certainly not in the hopes of fame and fortune and all that - this is solely for my amusement only and should be treated as such.
2016 has been an interesting year, the best for a while and with a far lower anguish:time ratio than most. My first full year in my new role can be judged as a largely successful one: I feel I have become better at what I do (though I still profess to be some way off where it seems everyone else is), I understand the inter-company politics a lot better (well, where you can understand pure hatred between two arms of the same being) and generally I feel like I can have a social existence there that certainly wasn't present at Strainstall.
Not that it's been exactly perfect. Earlier this year there were a spate of orders delivered to us rather than customers by the factory as the "Offsite Shipping" flag hasn't been set which, after multiple conversations, disagreements and arguements seems to have been my fault, regardless of whether I was told to do so during training (my notes say no, but I probably should have worked out out anyway). That has affected my stock in the eyes of many people I think, though they'd never say so.
Not that arguements with them are a rare occurrence - barely a day goes by without some kind of disagreement about what can or can't or should have been supplied. Sadly they have history on their side as well as a massively one sided sales agreement with the subs, so they don't feel they need to make the effort to resolve anything and a general malaise hangs over them. When the board and directors are ex factory employees who long for the 'good old days' no-one else gets a look in when it comes to arguing with them, but argue we do and try to stand our ground. Still, I long for the day where they have to deal with end customers so they can explain the reasons for delays and provide answers other than "we'll get you an update on this when it's ready".
Socially, things are better than ever - I partook in the touch rugby team this year which opened up some new people to me and allowed me to expand my (until then anyway) rather narrow horizons of just contracts and sales. Other than that I know more people generally (people like Clare, Arwyn and Romail) and my ties with others have strengthened. Particularly my friendships with Rob (now Inside Sales Superviser) and Cathy (now akin to my little sister) have strengthened to the point where I'd be happy to call or message them of a night and not feel like I'd be annoying them (well not any more than usual). Scott and his good lady Jess have also moved in to Writhlington which is but a stone's throw away and we have a good friendship going on there too.
Indeed Cathy even knows about my anxiety and my loathing and general 'in head' thinking which is nearly always negative and never positive. It's an annoyance to fit my training schedules around our chats walking into Bath some days, but for a vast majority it's not and it's nice to have someone I feel I connect with on a personal level and can discuss life with, even if I suspect she would rather be talking to Dave Godfrey or Stuart.
Back to touch rugby, I was most improved player this year, which is good. I think that's more about enthusiasm than anything else (not my athletic performance hasn't improved, but I still feel like I have the turning circle of an arctic lorry rather than a sports car) and enthusiasm is something I can bring in spades if necessary. I was somewhat disheartened by the lack of a winter league team, particularly as the girls seemed intent on joining Stuart's Barbarians anyway, but that's their loss. I'm sure Chris will bring them around (much to Amy's delight).
Speaking of athletic performance, after running 2:02:22 at the Bath Half, I ran as Dave Godfrey in the Bristol Half before heading to Budapest on holiday and posted a big new PB: 1:45:23. That was a big step for me and I'm hoping that Bath 2017 will be a step up again, firstly under 1:45 but hopefully below 1:40 and, say it in hushed tones, maybe even into the late 1:30 range. I need to get planning to maximise my chances though. This Christmas and New Year should give me a chance to 'launch' my preparations, with 5 parkruns in a week the goal (Pontypool and Newport on 24 & 25 Dec before Cwmbran, Cardiff and Newport on 31 Dec and 1 Jan respectively) Fingers crossed.
Related to my fitness is my weight which has sort of plateaud in the 95kg area. Now this is partly down to circumstances (multiple stag dos and weddings and parties in a short space of time never help) but I've also felt a lack of motivation on my part too. Maybe that's just the lazy part of me wanting to go back to being what I was. Maybe I've just gotten used to being told I look slimmer even though I am still 10kg over the top end of my weight range. Believe me I'm not going back. The running and the gymmin' will continue. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The events that have caused this plateau in part have been good ones though to be fair - 3 weddings and 3 stag dos (Simon/Woodford/Adam). Simon's was a hotel wedding near Bath and was a lovely event, including seeing some of the guys again from the Stag and some old Strainstall favorites. The Stag itself was probably the most mental thing I've ever attended and cemented Prague in my consciousness as a stag do hotspot. Woodford had his wedding in Bath at a small chapel near the Red Lion with the follow up at his new wife's family home. It was interesting to see his old friends and see that he really hasn't changed. Woodford will always be Woodford, a great guy and a great loyal individual.
The wedding with most impact on me though was, of course, Adam's. Organising the Stag was a major pita, though as the boys fortuitously chose Prague as well, Simon was able to point me in the right direction. Adam and the boys really enjoyed it which was the main thing and it all came together well. New experiences for everyone involved, some more costly than others (Jack at Goldfingers) and good banter. The wedding itself went well - we had a great day for it, I remembered the rings and my speech (now available on YouTube) went down well. Yes there was some kerfuffle with bridesmaid gifts which miraculously appeared and the music, but the hotel made good to the couple after the fact so we'll forgive them that. With Adam and Danielle looking their gift as well (dinner at the Ritz) it was all in all a great time, but I never want to be a best man again!!
Outside of weddings, I managed to get some travel to Europe this year which made a nice change. Barcelona, Copenhagen, Malmö, Budapest and Prague were all visited and generally went well (OK well, I lost my phone in Prague the first time).
Barcelona was a beautiful city and the Gaudi work is magnificent. The Sagrada Familia is absolutely stunning. Just stunning. The city is lovely but the people are not. They seemed ignorant to anyone who didn't speak Spanish and were generally rude and unbecoming of such a nice place.
Copenhagen was the opposite. Whilst the people were amazingly friendly and helpful, there wasn't as much to do and I was glad I didn't stay any longer. Whilst I enjoyed the walking along the harbour and the artificial beach area (we need one of those), beyond that it was just did. What made that trip for me was the pop across the bridge to see the lovely Denice and her family for Eurovision weekend. I had such a great time with her, Frans, Noel and most of all Klara, who is so cute. She loved her dragon gift!! I'll never forget her running around with her Plastecene watch telling everyone it was time to do things!! So so cute. They're such a lovely family.
Prague is Prague is Prague is Prague. Beautiful city, lovely old buildings. Nice walks and probably a nice place to take the girlfriend for a weekend. That said, most of what I saw was contained within the four walls of bars and stripclubs! Definitely one to go back to in the future.
Budapest was fantastic. A beautiful, beautiful city, with every building gorgeous. The spa was a great place to relax and the opera was a building of immense beauty. I'd happily go back tomorrow, especially if it meant getting some more Orseg Zold Aranya cake. I swear it's the best cake ever. So, so nice. There's a good mix of activities in Budapest and when you don't feel like walking you can hit places like the New York Cafe - certainly the most beautiful in the world in my eyes.
Sports wise, it's been a bit of an odd ball year. Whilst the rugby is still in the doldrums (Wales are suffering and the Dragons continue their bare existence with no hope of improvement any time soon) the football has been a mixed bag. Cardiff continue to languish in the Championship with the supposed bid to get back up seemingly a dream and this season has thrown in a new variable for us - relegation. After spending most of my life as a top championship team, we have struggled this season. Trollope is gone and Warnock is in and he has improved things - we are out of the bottom 3 and seem to have some positive outlook finally. This has meant that we are still below Simon's resurgent Barnsley, freshly up from League One, off which we currently lie 3 points ourselves. It's nice for Simon that they've got a bit more to hope for than a struggle this season, though they don't appear to offer much threat of a playoff push ATM. Still, good for him.
The big footballing story for me this year has, of course, been Wales' run to the semis of Euro 2016. How that happened I still don't know, but qualifying itself was enough for me, beating Slovakia, Russia, N. Ireland and Belgium was just icing on the cake. I'd have liked a draw against England (it was a bit heartbreaking to see us lose it in injury time) but we won the group and got further than anyone could have hoped. And that goal from Hal Robson-Kanu in the Belgium game, well, I'll never forget it. The Cruyff turn, the three defenders beaten and the shot into the corner that set us on our way. That was definitely a "where were you when.." moment. Stunned I was at the time and stunned I still am even now.
Love life wise I'm sad to report that 2016 was a barren year. Not for want of trying, but I'm lacking that person who competes me. There are interesting people - I foolishly put myself out for Amy earlier this year (lead balloon job) and have had a bit of a crush on others (Alvina, who isn't interested in me at least) but there's no mutual reciprocity for me at the moment. Hopefully 2017 will be different. Miriam is very nice and I'd like to get to know her too, but bearing in mind our mutual work ethic and my inability to speak in complete sentences when I do get to chat to her, I'm not exactly confident that we'll be anything more than acquaintances. Still, hope springs eternal.
Well that's 2016 in a blog. Some good, some bad, but hopefully a good springboard for 2017 and a promising future. Bring it on :)
