Its been a long time since I posted anything here and with today being the first day of 2017 I thought it was time to post.
2016 was a funny old year, from a personal perspective it was a good year, work is good, home life and family are good too, I had the holiday of a lifetime and with solar panels and CCTV added to the house the property value has been enhanced and I have no major health issues despite being morbidly obese at 27stone 2lb (380lb/173kg). I’m hoping that 2017 will be an even better year and last week embarked on a diet, in the past I’ve dieted half heartedly and had mild success but this time it needs to be for real. The health risks aside, the practicalities of life also demand it. Simple things like buying clothes that fit without using online specialists would be great. On top of that, the cost of clothing is high and most things look like a sack I’d love to wear good looking clothing again and I have a wardrobe full of the stuff too so it will be a no cost win until I hit my target weight of 15 stone (210lb/96kg).
From a political standpoint though the world is in a state of turmoil, Brexit came and still has no actual movement and now it looks like the UK vote has encouraged other EU nations to consider the same, could this be the end of the EU? Then we have President Trump, America is divided on this issue, I’ll admit that I’d not have voted for him if I was an American because he just seems so volatile, however at the same time I don’t think I’d have voted for Hilary Clinton either because I don’t think she is a much better option to Donald Trump. That means my two options would to be NOT vote or vote for the independent guy, Gary Johnson, both options are pretty much a waste although if those Americans that felt the same way as myself voted for Gary Johnson I think we’d have had a very different outcome. I really can’t see 2017 being a good year politically but we can hope and lets face it Donald Trump has set his own bar low already so the ability for him to make things worse than many are predicting is slim and he could even surprise us all should he turn out to be a good president.
2016 was a year of celebrity deaths, many of my childhood icons passed away, here are some of them:
- Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart, Radio 1 DJ & Crackerjack presenter
- David Bowie, singer/songwriter
- Alan Rickman, actor (Severus Snape in Harry Potter)
- Terry Wogan, Radio 2 DJ & TV presenter
- Keith Emerson, musician & co-founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
- Paul Daniels, magician
- Johan Cruyff, footballer
- Ronnie Corbett, comedian
- Victoria Wood, comedian
- Prince, musician
- Burt Kwouk, actor (Inspector Clouseau’s manservant Cato)
- Muhammad Ali, boxer
- Caroline Aherne, comedian
- Kenny Baker, actor (R2-D2 in Star Wars)
- Gene Wilder, actor/comedian
- Jean Alexander, actress (Hilda Ogden from Coronation St)ut me where I am’.”
- Pete Burns, musician (dead or Alive)
- Robert Vaughn, actor (Man from UNCLE)
- Andrew Sachs, acto (Manuel from Fawlty Towers)
- Peter Vaughan, actor (Harry “Grouty” Grout in Porridge and Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones)
- Ian McCaskill, weatherman
- Greg Lake, musician (Emerson, Lake and Palmer)
- John Glenn, space pioneer and former US senator
- George Michael, musician
- Carrie Fisher, actress (Princess Leia in Star Wars)
Hopefully 2017 won’t be quite as brutal for celebrities.
I’ll signoff now and wish you, your family and your friends a great 2017.