What did you get up to in 2011?
I did a lot of fantastic things in 2011 but some standouts were getting married, travelling to Iran and doing two 3km open water swims. I also learnt, just last week, to tumble turn in the pool (which I can see remaining one of my top 5 lifetime achievements). I had a gallop on a horse for the first time in over 10 years, changed jobs at work, and made good on my promise to embrace applied technology in 2011 – including Skype, Twitter, Facebook and this blog.
What was your Most Useful Thought of the year?
Making a change can feel like failure but it can yield surprisingly good outcomes.
What’s on your ‘to do’ list for 2012?
The list is getting long. Top of the list is to get started with some regular volunteer work - if I only get one thing done this year, that’s the one. But, I would also like to travel to Poland at Easter to visit Auschwitz, finish writing a story I have started, and add one other new travel destination in 2012. I would like to do at least one ocean swim & learn the butterfly stroke. You may be able to tell I’ve hit a mid-thirties time panic.
Which villain really yanked your chain in 2011?
There were two major villains for me this year, Italy’s former president Silvio Berlusconi and the former head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn. They have obviously not received the memo. On the upside, DSK’s disgraceful behaviour made way for a woman to run the IMF and Italy may shortly be owned by China. Bingo.
...and who was your hero?
Each one of those patient, hopeful protestors who walked into Tahrir Square in Egypt. Firstly, for forcing the end of the regime and secondly, for going back to the square more recently to protest again about the army’s continuing influence in Egyptian politics. Bravo.
And, on a more domestic, but no less important front, my other Hero of 2011 is my friend Sarah Faraway who write to me recently to say she and her partner Rob have stopped referring to his daughters as ‘gorgeous’ and ‘cute’ and instead now call them ‘kind’ or ‘clever’ or ‘smart’ etc. That is powerful stuff.
What book/s did you read this year that we might like?
Loads. I did a creative writing class this year in which I handed in a series of dreadful stories written on the fly in the office before class BUT the best thing that came out of it was a fantastic new reading list. I highly recommend Marilynne Robinson’s two novels Home and Gilead. I was also introduced to Alice Munro...if you want to know how good a short story can be...then buy ‘Dance of the Happy Shades’. The two most influential books on Iran were both of those by Azir Nafisi including ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’. And do yourself a massive favour and read Caitlin Moran’s ‘How to be a Woman.’ It’s inspirational and bloody funny.
What did you discover in 2011 the rest of us should know about?
If you watch The Wire with subtitles you can work out what’s going on. My Baltimore Westside/Eastside lingo is superb.
Will you be secreting a slow or dirty vendetta across the threshold of 2012?
I think I’m vendetta-free.
What could you do without in 2012?
Almost everything. I think I might impose a ‘charity shop only’ approach for 2012.
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