"So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun”

The lyrics above start the well-known Christmas song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono entitled “Merry Xmas the war is over”. The tune was playing in my car on the way to work on Monday and I reflected that the lyrics raised a good question – just what did I achieve in 2014? 

Well at the beginning of this year, I suppose I did set myself some targets – that’s what resolutions are after all.

It’s slightly worrying that when reflecting on the passing of a whole year, it is hard to remember many of the things that actually happened – at least achievements against targets can be reviewed and that makes setting them in the first place useful.

I am sure that the reason it is hard to remember one’s successes is that so much time is spent at work and the weekends are often chore-filled - e.g. the process of actually living, paying the bills and simply getting on with things. Life isn’t one big celebration, in fact it is usually rather mundane.

For me 2014 started with the resolutions of change my job, change my car, lose some weight and re-establish my running routine. Achievements have been made in all areas albeit that celebration in some would be a tad premature.

Job change

Getting back into the fleet/finance industry was the source of much pleasure; October saw a new job opportunity that I couldn’t resist and I have since been enjoying meeting new people and taking on new challenges. 

Change my car

Zafira has moved on, her departure coinciding with my new job and the benefits package that included a company car.   

Weight loss

I began 2014 with the aim to lose the weight I had gained throughout 2013 and particularly over the festive period. I have made it to December and weigh less than I did at the beginning of the year and that is positive. After decent early gains following the post-Yuletide diet regime, the slow but inexorable weight gain began around spring. The collapse of my exercise programme, thanks to the hernia, didn’t help.

The last month or so though has seen a dieting routine re-established and that has enabled me to get to the point where I can make the claim that I end this year a better, lighter weight. Fingers crossed that I don’t reverse the gain by overindulging over Christmas (there is much risk).

Running

From the highs of 2011, the importance of running in my life has been in constant decline, which is a shame but circumstances have been as much of an issue as willpower. 2013 marked the fewest number of road miles run since 2006 and that was a source of genuine disappointment for me. 2014 began with the commitment to get my act together but my hernia ended up frustrating my plans. The same ailment also prompted me to stop doing karate.

I did manage to run a number of times post-convalescence during a brief period of gardening leave but since, life has got hectic all over again and things have slipped. No self-congratulation here then! Maybe next year.

Aside from resolution related achievements, this site has effectively chronicled my year, or at least some of the random events/ideas/experiences that occurred during it. I find myself unexpectedly grateful to be able to review my own thoughts and observations (the blog and its associated library are published if you care to review).

The good thing is that I clearly had some fun and it wasn’t all just work, work, work.

As I re-reflect on thoughts from the beginning of 2014, I can’t help thinking of Michael Schumacher who had his terrible accident nearly twelve months ago. He has been in my thoughts ever since and unfortunately there has been little in the way of hope; recent news would suggest that he is paralysed, speechless, has memory problems and is confined to beds/wheelchairs. His 46th birthday falls on 3rd January but he and his family won’t have much to celebrate this year.

Jules Bianchi had a horrendous crash in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka; I hope that 2015 sees him regain consciousness and get some kind of life back. For both Jules and Michael the struggles they face are monumental.

My thoughts also go out to Kelvin ‘Kelly’ Hewitt who faced the horrors of emasculation earlier on in the year. I hope that he has found the strength and endurance necessary to rebuild his body, his confidence and his life. For all the misery, he’s in a better place than Jules or Michael.

The above constitutes some review and reflection; in addition I want to give some thanks.

• Thanks to Mrs Baldwin for her proof reading support and all round tolerance
  
• Thanks to all my readers for taking the time to read my posts – please come back next year and, if you are feeling festively generous, recommend this site to your friends
  

I hope you have an excellent Christmas, here’s to 2014.

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Over the last few weeks I have made same discoveries that I am going to share with you in this post. Don’t get too excited, there aren’t any eureka moments and I won’t be leaping out of the bath and running around naked – although that might be a bit of a laugh (maybe when the weather’s a bit nicer and I’ve drunk a few too many Leffes with the madcap Richard Davies)!

Punk

First up is music. I have discovered a band that I think is brilliant. I speculatively purchased a CD for not much money in a Daventry charity shop. I had never heard of the band but thought I’d take a punt anyway…

…it turns out that the Voodoo Glow Skulls is a band that plays fast, lively, mosh-inducing punk music. And having initially bought one CD, I now own five (thank you Amazon) and will ultimately acquire the entire back catalogue. This American band, which has been around for years, sings in English and in Spanish and has a brass section so is decidedly unusual for the punk genre. The stuff is energetic, irreverent, entertaining and I love it – the music is ska-influenced, proper bouncy stuff; not naff US pop-punk (Richie D. – you’ll like this band too).

Staying on the subject of music, there are a couple more discoveries to share: I bought Jeff Lynne’s disc entitled “Armchair Theatre”. It’s an album from 1990 but one that had eluded me until recently. It’s since been played dozens of times and is one of my best finds of 2014.

I am a fan of the music of the Travelling Wilburys, the super-group that Lynne was a member of. Lynne’s influence on the Wilburys is clear from his own album and songs from Armchair Theatre could easily have been included on “Volume One” or “Volume Three”.

Moving on to another Wilbury; Tom Petty’s latest album “Hypnotic Eye” is just fantastic. Another one of 2014’s top discoveries/purchases, this CD has also been played a lot.

From punk to pawn

My next discovery involves pawn and fishy stuff. ITV4 has recently proved itself quite entertaining.

“Pawn Stars”, named with tongue firmly in cheek, features a US pawn shop run by Rick Harrison and his Simpsons like family. People come to value and potentially part with their stuff (or crap as Mrs Baldwin refers). River Monsters features a chap called Jeremy Wade who travels the world catching the largest, most bizarre, most dangerous freshwater fish in existence.

I have watched enough episodes of both programmes now to appreciate that they are rather formulaic; my guilty TV secret is that I enjoy watching them anyway.

Discover these programmes for yourself on the ITV Player.   

From pawn to parks

The Baldwin family spent last weekend at the new Center Parcs complex in Woburn (well technically Millbrook, Bedfordshire). We discovered the following:

• The newly designed and built villas are the nicest Center Parcs has to offer anywhere
  
• The pool complex looks nice but is nowhere near as good as Nottingham (at Woburn, the main pool is small, there is no fitness pool, the outside pool space is tiny, there is no plunge pool, there aren’t any standalone Jacuzzi pools, the slides are not as good etc.) 
  
• The takeaway food, delivered to our villa on the last night was poor, my jalfrezi curry was horrible (never again). We probably should have complained.
  

This Center Parcs is virtually on our door step and really convenient but our next trip will take us further afield again – Nottingham in fact. 

From parks to politics & Peston

My final discovery, or maybe even a revelation, is that economics, a subject I largely hated at university, can be fascinating after all. Of late I have found myself thoroughly engaged by the global economics and politics of energy.

The actions/reactions of OPEC around oil production levels and prices per barrel; the sanctions on Russia because of the Ukraine (oil/gas exports declining), the free fall of the Rouble because of reducing oil/gas revenues per given volume (and Putin’s knee jerk reactions in terms of interest rate hikes and moaning about the west); the US shale oil industry reducing the reliance on the OPEC nations; China’s reducing energy demands in light of economic slowdown; the predicted collapse of the North Sea oil industry; the effective curtailing of funds to Muslim extremist groups by the reduced value of oil sales; the different relative importance of oil revenues to the GDP of OPEC member countries etc. has been essential reading.

I have even discovered that the views and opinions of Robert Peston are worthy of consideration.

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Great News... 

...Vauxhall looks set to reintroduce the Viva brand to its portfolio; the legendary Viva name was lost to the British public in 1979 (or thereabouts as stock left the showroom, a few ‘V’ registrations are out there). I am a real fan of the HC Viva and have owned a handful in my time too.

Rumours have been rife before that the name was coming back; last time the manufacturer teased us was with the Meriva. By the time that car had actually come to market, a different name had been chosen. That was okay though because the Meriva was/is horrible.

This time though it looks like Vauxhall has actually taken the plunge – here’s a link to a piece on Fleet News with some photos.

I have to admit though that as pleased as I am to learn that the marque is being reborn, I am pretty disappointed that it’s being associated with a rather uninspiring looking, low CO2 outputting city car. If only the name could have been applied to something that looked a bit more handsome – the Cascada for example.

So I have mixed feelings, tempered joy I suppose. I am clear on this point though; if Vauxhall brings out a sporty version of this dull Viva and calls it the Firenza, I’ll be truly gutted!

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Today my computer flashed me a message that I simply didn’t understand - see across. It popped up from the toolbar on the bottom right of the screen.

What the heck is topology? 

The word meant absolutely nothing to me at all. But, on the bright side, it did offer an opportunity for vocabulary expansion; it’s not every day that I get to add a new English word to my lexicon. 

Could topology be in anyway related to topiary?

Should I be worried; had I been exposed to some viral nasty?

Just in case my lack of understanding was evidence of me being thick, I asked my colleagues in my immediate vicinity if the sequence of words meant anything to them.

No one had a clue!

A Google search was necessary to enlighten me/everyone.

Having read the blurb afforded by Wikipedia, I am afraid to report that it was so incomprehensible that I had to stop reading and accept that maybe I am a bit thick after all.

Here are links for you to follow – try reading the explanations yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology

The complex mathematics of shapes/space is beyond me – the language used to describe the subject matter might as well be Latin for how much sense I can make of it. With regards to network topology (NT), the language equally inaccessible but NT is all about cabling as far as I can determine; and that’s plain boring.

Bizarrely though I have made a link to topiary; the shaping of one’s bush/hedge takes into account deformations, boundaries, connectedness and continuity – at least it does if you are doing it right.

And, perhaps even more bizarrely, that thought prompted consideration of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder and their song “Ebony & Ivory”. Here are the initial lyrics repurposed to fit this post.

“Topology and topiary live together in perfect harmony

Side by side in my blog post, my gawd, don't you see?”

At this point, I should probably stop!

Thankfully I needn’t have worried about the integrity of my laptop, it’s not about to explode.

My note to self is that next time that the machine fires an alien message at me – I am going to ignore it (unless of course I am short of inspiration for a blog post).  

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