It says a lot about the swift passage of time, that I immediately merged memories of 2013 with last year’s. How daft was that?!
I’ve decided that they shall be random and varied, with the good and the bad presented in a totally baffling way (just to keep you on your toes.) In truth, they will be a fraction more orderly. (my Diary will be handy!) January 2014 passed by pleasantly enough: the piece de resistance being the purchase and installation of a wood-burner. I always fancied an open fire (shades of long gone evacuation day) but had to wait until my ripe old age before getting at least a closed-in one. It’s so cosy I could purr. Our winter Spanish weather didn’t, for the most part, disappoint though. More than a smattering of delicate sunrises and vivid orange/pink sunsets too, plus plenty of sunshine. On a more personal note, my eldest brother reached his 80th year. He can no longer call me ‘old.’ Just older…I experienced less humorous impressions (twelve if you please) and several new ‘choppers’ in/from the dentist, which left my bank balance looking forlorn. The summer was h o t… sizzling, as per the norm in July and August.
Two, very sad, events also took place in 2014. The death of a dear friend, Ronald Lambourn, and my Thai Chi Master, Mike Law. The first was a real ‘gentleman,’ who had witnessed the horrors of World War 11 as a tank driver, and Mike was a sweet, gentle, charismatic member of the human race. Whereas Ron was just short of his 90th birthday, poor Mike was just over the sixty mark. Two less lights in the world.
On the writing front, I worked on:
1) A faction novel: THE CATALYST (now published by CreateSpace/Amazon/Kindle), based on two protagonists being on one of the 2005 bombed, London trains; the aftermath, recovery, romance, etc., I enjoy working around facts.
2) I wrote a few bits and pieces (articles and poems) for Jan Rosser’s excellent new on-line ‘Ezine’ www.oapschat.co.uk (for the over 50s),
3) And WORDPLAY published our PRECINCT MURDER anthology. (Three grisly, gripping short stories in that one.) Michael Barton (boss) had a spot-on apt video made to accompany it. There’s more…
4) Having changed the door-widths after our (WordPlay’s) 2012 top award for the Best Group Anthology SHORTS FOR AUTUMN, voted by WRITER’s magazine in the UK, we promptly wrote another (cracking cover!). It’s called TALK OF THE TOWNS. There are two more of my less violent tales therein. Three more WordPlay anthologies are in the pipeline. One based on song titles, one with a Christmas theme, and the third: FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD of which I am the ‘host’ writer.
5) The U3A (University of The Third Age, Torrevieja branch) – for which I am a group leader (Creative Writing) – are running a very short (350 words) fiction competition as I type. I’m one of the judges.
6) And last, dear to me this one…I’ve been typing up my husband’s Memoir A LIFE WORTH LIVING. Watch this space…
Joy Lennick 
Joy and excellent interesting article. Sorry to hear about the deaths of your friends. Congratulations to your eldest brother on reaching his 80th birthday.
What a fantastic year you had, great achievements too. Bravo Joy.
Thank you girls! Glad you enjoyed it.