With Christmas approaching fast things are about to get really hectic, so now is a good time to get a bit reflective and look at some of more notable things I've done this year.

I marginally escaped killing myself
Back in the spring I turned up at Leeds Bradford airport with plenty of time to spare before my early morning flight to Belfast. I'd turned up without my wallet though, and so rather foolishly sped back home to go pick it up. In my haste I ended up lost on a narrow nameless back road, feeling certain I'd miss my flight and that my day would be pissed up against the wall.

All of a sudden, a junction appeared. Not only that, but the rest of the road up to the junction (and the ominous-looking dry stone wall beyond it) was an iced-over flood. Driving far too quickly, there wasn't much I could do other than hit the breaks and pray. The car spun all over the place and I somehow managed to end up facing the road I'd just come down. How I avoided driving straight into the wall I will never know - as a result of the shock, my recollection of events is less than crystal clear. I did manage to compose myself though, and in the end I got on the flight twenty minutes before take-off.

I did Glastonbury
The highlight of my year. Being at Glastonbury is special, and it has such a positive effect on me that takes a long time to fade. I wrote all about my experience at this year's festival, so I'll not go over it all again here. [more]

I got fit and lost some weight
In June I bought a bike. The first time I tried riding it I had to get off and enjoy a short lie down on the pavement after I'd got three-quarters around the block. Determined not to retire the bike after just one go, I rejoined the gym. I got up enough fitness to start cycling around, and one Saturday I thought I'd see how far I could get to work. I made it there, and back. Within weeks I was cycling to work three or four times a week, and months later I'm fit and two stone in weight lighter. [more]

I ran a 10K road race
Late in November I took part in the Leeds Abbey Dash, a 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) run around Leeds. I didn't train enough, but I managed to get around the course in just under an hour - without stopping once. It was a very ambitious task to set myself, and having exceeded my expectations it was all the more rewarding. [more]

I hand-made 95 Christmas cards
In November I had the idea that I'd make my own Christmas cards using self-deprecating but festive photographs. I was worried the pictures would just not work and that the resulting cards would be crap, but after spending four weeks putting everything together I seem to have pulled it off. We had a great laugh taking all the pictures, too.

I took photographs
I look lots and lots of photographs. I love it. There's now well over a thousand photographs on display at pics.paulholloway.com and I still spend a lot of time looking through them. If I ever forget what fun I've had, I only have there to go.

I travelled the network
I feel like I've been everywhere this year. Earlier in the year I mapped out my network - the places around the country that I go. To you, they're just names of places. To me, they mean so much more than that. Whilst I might not have made the journey across to St. Helens as much as I'd have liked, the fact that I've travelled this network so extensively and so often this year is directly responsible for me considering this to be the best year I've had in a long old time. [more]

I did more
I did so many other things, I just don't know where to start. This year's pics show some of them. Going to Edinburgh, going camping, Rob and Liz's wedding, the trip to Dartmoor - all top. Next year has a tough act to follow.

December is always a busy month. Last year I went out too much, drank too much, travelled around too much and was suffering for weeks after it all finished (although it was all good fun). You live and learn - that's the theory anyway. This year I'm doing much more than last year - the diary is full, and I'm resorting to seeing friends from home on Christmas day when I'd usually stay at home to fit everything in. It bothers me that I'm hardly going to be at home in Haydock this year, but hopefully I'll get to see everyone at some point.

This weekend I'm out in Leeds on Saturday night and back in St. Helens for a lunch with some school friends on Sunday. Next weekend I'm down in London to meet a friend before going on to a house party. I'm working right up to Christmas Eve, but I'll be travelling back to St. Helens after work on that day for the annual get-together back there. I'll finally make it home to Haydock after midnight, and spend the day there before travelling back to Leeds for more festive cheer on Boxing Day. The next day it's down to Reading by train (which I still have not been able to book yet - madness) for a party. The day after I'm back home to Leeds to get ready for my week-long stay at Plane Castle that starts on Wednesday.

Having just typed that out it now seems a bit of a scary undertaking (not to mention expensive), but it'll fun. I'm leaving the car at home for the trips to London and Reading and travelling by train, which will give me a much-appreciated break from all the driving.

The first event on the festive going-out list was last night, the ubiquitous Energis Christmas Party. I bought a new, compact and relatively cheap digital camera yesterday to complement my big and relatively expensive one, and used it to take these photos of the event. Some of the pictures are a little blurry which is mainly to me not giving the camera sufficient time to properly focus before taking the picture (although in later pictures I think that a general alcoholic disrepair was a more telling factor).

So this is my camera. I was a bit unsure about getting a second digital camera but, now that the software, battery and casing on my camera mobile are all knackered out, and with a desire to take better quality pictures when I'm out and about - well, it seemed like a good idea. It's going to go everywhere with me, now that after just nine months in service I'm shelving my Motorola V500 that took all these pictures. It's back to a trusty work-issue Nokia 6210i for me.

I wrote a reasonably long entry and then I lost it right near the end, due to a finger malfunction. I got mad. I'll try again later.