Sunday 31 December 2017

Don't go chasing Polar Bears

The bloke second from the right may well have a Knighthood, but that don't make him the Best

I may not always be the best person to come to for advice (blog posts passim), but I'll always give you a good soundbite; since moving back (just in time - a year later and I'd have ended up like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and finding myself in familiar surroundings and in the company of friends old and new, I can look back at the year just gone and say 'Yeah, I think we smashed it.'

As for resolutions to carry into 2018, anyone who knows me will testify that you've got more chance of kissing the Queen's tits than me coming up with any resolutions, let alone those of a New Year variety. That said, the Great Escape from Pickering and my relocation to Nottingham has been done to death (again, this blog is littered with reams of the stuff) so, after today, we won't speak of it again; the files have been shredded and the numbers deleted from my phone. Literally.

Right, I'm glad we've got that out of the way. So, in keeping with the unwritten Blogger's Code, here's 2017 all wound up and ready to play; no Top Tens of this, that and the other, just one list. Here you go:

Best Album: Pugwash - Silverlake
Best Single: Pugwash - What Are You Like
Best Gig: Ryan McMullan - Rescue Rooms
Best Choir: Sherwood Voices
Best Novel: My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
Best Magazine: Ferment - Adventures in the Global Craft Alcohol Movement
Best Podcast: The Allusionist
Best Indian Restaurant: The Balti House, Hockley
Best Pub: Doctor's Orders, Carrington
Best Caff: Warsaw Diner, Canning Circus
Best Beatle: Still George. Obvs.
Best Best: Ditto
Best Postcode: NG5
Best Blog: We Are Cult*
Best person to follow on Twitter: Neville Southall
Best film I went to see on my birthday: North By Northwest
Best TV Programme (Not just of 2017 by the way): Detectorists
Best TV soundtrack: Johnny Flynn (Detectorists)
Best Boxset/Netflix series I've watched this year: Mad Men. By a country mile
And finally, the Best thing I did in 2017: Move On

* Thank you to We Are Cult - always a riveting read - for reminding me earlier this year just how good McCartney II is. Whether or not 'it's the boldest statement a solo Beatle made during Lennon's lifetime' is another thing altogether. (But it makes for a great strap line.)

Macca - Waterfalls


*And that's where today's Blog Post title came from. It could even be your New Year's Resolution.

Happy New Year!


6 comments:

  1. A good list John
    Happy New Year to you and yours

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  2. Yes - a good list indeed.

    Happy New Year John and good to know you avoided the Cuckoo's Nest!

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    1. Thank you Alyson. Happy New Year to you and your family. I look forward to reading you in 2018, and beyond.

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  3. I enjoyed that list, John and v much in agreement about Detectorists (and although I missed it the first time around, it was here on these pages that I first read about it so big thanks!) And I really fancy a curry now with that mention of the Balti House.
    So, Happy New Year to you and yours - all the very best.

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    1. Thank you C. And may your 2018 be merry and bright.

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