The vagabond who’s rapping at your door Is standing in the clothes you once wore. Strike another match, go start anew, And it’s all over now, Baby Blue

I think appropriate words there from Bob Dylan as 2009 comes to an end and my thanks to Missie K for suggesting the works and words of Bob Zimmerman and if people can choose their names why can’t I choose my age? I am 42.

It won’t be a long blog today. After a good Christmas Day (thanks for pressies and stuff and I am already halfway through the history of Factory Records, thanks Katie M) I woke up to a lurgy thing. We (eh?) know it’s not a hangover but it was bad enuff to ensure I didn’t think about going to the football. But I do want to do some thanks and awards.

I also won’t be saying much on the alcohol and cancer front. It’s a tricky time for many and I know my approach to many things is not always welcome, so today I shut up on those and other fronts….just in case. I will be as a child and stay innocent, open-minded and will only speak when spoken to. Plus I have some interesting news, professionally, in that area but it can keep.

Having said that, I’d a good night in the Counting House pub the other night with folk from my screenwriting class. Thanks to them I have discovered how difficult it is to chug a tomato juice with extra tabasco. I realise now, as well, that I was only yards away from Son Brian’s office night out. Wouldn’t it have been fun if………..No. Maybe not.

So before moving onto the annual Blog Personality of the Year, not much in the way of housekeeping, other than to say that Kenny the Shed Pimp is coming over with a view to converting the West Wing into an office complex; a further sub-committee called Louis has been brought into being to ensure I go on an exciting holiday this year; and to all those caught out by the snow, have a look at the non-religious cards you sent this year. Bleeding obvious now, isn’t it? I even had one that said, let it snow. 😦

So, without further ado, (fanfare of strumpets) let’s go for it.

Team of the Year? Quite simply, and without being slushy, the Partick Thistle fans I go to the football with, home and away, many of whom I did not know a year or so ago. They accept me for simply what I am – someone who just doesn’t drink alkohol but buys his round, whose hair is far too long and who has a weird taste in music (do I really have eight (8) Green Day albums?….well, yes)….and yes, they slag me rotten as an alkie. It’s as if I have ginger hair. Or strange photos of Kermit the Frog on my mobile phone. ‘What is a relationship, Kermit, without some trust? I won’t show it to anyone else. Honest.’ 

Lifetime Achievement? I thought about it, long and hard, and then I thought about the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dead simple……Mums. They have played a very significant part in my life this year in so many ways, but they continue to add to their numbers. I mentioned the baby named 7 lbs 1 oz, a few weeks ago. I now know of new babies called Saffia and Stella, the latter arriving on Christmas Eve……in Edinburgh. 😀

My own mum was known simply as ‘a nice wee woman’. She met many of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances and always thought they were really nice people, if a wee bit uncertain of some of their habits. (My dad met some of them under really strange circumstances and looked the other way.) It would have been really nice if she’d met some of the really nice folk who I now call friends, since her death, even if my backstory might perplex her.

No, to mums everywhere, keep up the good work. Serioulsy. To dads? When offspring buy a plasma TV, then you stop contributing to their education. So far, so good.

Naw. Mums are good. I know my son’s quite well. Can’t think why.

So, to The Big Award (drum roll)

In Third place; Doctor Fiona. Not only for all the help I’ve received from you and your colleagues over the last wee while but there’s a kinda apology in there. Y’see I misunderstood a direction I was given at screenwriting class but to you and everyone else……it’s a piece of fiction anyway. You’ll be fine. I know a good doctor. It’s you.

In Second place; bestest friend Caitlin. (Before I say why, can I say sorry to Caitlin cos I was being so careful on the Christmas card front with you and your mum and so on that I forgot your brother. Aaaaaaargh. Sorry. I blame Colin)

No, bestest friend Caitlin stopped me making a fool of myself on several occasions this year. I owe you big time. Thanks.

Can I also say that C epitomises a certain demographic who have played such an important part in my recent life…..good looking women aged 20-25 (ish), with a writing/creative common bond . No jokes, no innuendoes. It’s been an amazing journey with you guys. It’s not a journey for which I have had a role model. I know women with lots of amazing patience where I am concerned, I now realise.

Moving dreamily on.

Mind you, it’s easier where there are agreed rules. Which is why, virtual uncles of Son Brian, namely Jock, Brian and Dennis, you will never hear a true story told to me by the Vampire Slayer with a pay off line ten times better than the Mars Bar gag. 

Which brings me nicely to the Big Award; 2009 Personality of the Year, but it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. Hey, it’s me, jt850; when was anything straightforward? No. Not always my choosing. If I could turn back time (Cher)………Je m’excuse, encore une fois.

The winner is not a person or people but a telephone call. Not that long ago, one Sunday lunchtime, I got a call from two incredibly beautiful women (they’re mentioned above) mentioning, but in an incredibly beautiful manner, that money, which I had promised would be behind a bar in a town in Italy, wasn’t there. In a world of txts, messages and mails which can be soooooooo  misunderstood, this went a long way to reminding me of what my world should about.

Thanks. It meant, and still means, a lot. xx

So, and finally, I can do no more than quote from the Christmas Card I was given by Gran Buses (my son’s other Gran that is)…..It reads ‘All the best for 2012′ (eh?). That’s what she wrote. Honest.

So that’s it. There’s a final lyric after I sign off. Try and find it with music elsewhere. It’s called Come a Long Way and this version is sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1976). No. No reason.

I’m going back to bed. Pass the benylin. No. The bottle’s fine.

cya next year.

Johnt850

We’ve come a long way since we last shook hands, Still got a long way to go, Couldn’t see the flowers when we last shook hands, Couldn’t see the flowers on account of the snow. 😉