I can't help feeling that it is very self-indulgent to write a blog about the things that went on in my life but this year I feel a particular need to kind of sit down and reflect and do a sort of "balance sheet" of what went on in my life in 2010, both good and bad.  So I preemptively ask your forgiveness if you feel this is none of your concern and not what you should have to read on a gaming forum.

  Jan 1.  Saw the year in, in Italy.  Had an altogether great and very memorable time.  Great start to the year

  Jan 10.  In the very early hours of the morning I crashed into two parked cars less than 100m up the road from where I live.  I was driving home from the pub having consumed a ridiculous amount of booze and I fell asleep at the wheel.

  Jan 10.  I had a very serious crash, and I've lived to tell the tale.

  Jan 10 - Jan 16.  Following the accident I was given over 40 stitches inside and outside the mouth and jaw area and was hospitalised for about a week.  I couldn't eat or drink anything for the first five days and was on IV drip.  If you remember it was also during this time that Steel had sent the famous killer Jaime from Guatalajara posing as an in patient with the intention of finishing me off.

  Jan 10 - Jan 16.  I made it through this ordeal with just a scar on my chin to help me remember.  It could have been a lot worse.  I also saw through Steel's plan and survived the hospital despite Jaime's attempts to do me in during the night.

  Jan 16.  Coming out of the hospital, I swore off alcohol.  Several months later I still don't drink and no longer feel the urge to.

Jan 10 - Jan 22.  Two weeks off work on medical leave.  Woot!!!

February, March.  Post-traumatic depression.  I have a predisposition for depression, so an event like this left me very shaken and in a kind of bad place.  It didn't help that I had an impending court-case and a huge amount of money to pay in expenses, damages, fines etc

  April 11.  The police announced the results of my blood tests.  As expected I was found to have had a ridiculous percentage of alcohol in my blood.  I was being going to be charged for DUI and for causing an accident while DUI and would have to go to court.

  April.  I dropped the two Open University courses I was registered for.  The events of the previous months unfortunately meant that the last thing I wanted to do was study towards this.  I lost a great deal of money by doing this.  It also didn't do wonders for my already very shaken self-confidence.

  July - August.  Traveling.  It was a very escapist time but I needed it to regroup, rethink, reorganise.  I went on as crew on a sailing boat for a two week cruise along the West Country coast.  Saw many wonderful places and absolutely loved the sailing.  In August I spent ten days in Southern France hiking and cycling on the Black Mountains.  This was also a very wonderful and unforgettable experience.  I also got to spend some time in my old haunting grounds in London.  I enjoyed it.  The summer was good.

  August 28.  The wedding of one of my best friends and one of the best nights of my life.  Most of my best friends were there.  Everybody danced and had a really great time.  I didn't have a single drink.

  September.  Started work again.  "Why isn't this a sad smiley?" you may be asking.  Well, for one thing I have a job.  Nowadays I realise it is something to be grateful for and not to take for granted.  Also this year for some reason I feel very well-liked at work both by students as well as colleagues.  This is very strange as I haven't really changed in any significant way.  Anyway, it helps to make work more bearable and at certain times even enjoyable.

  October.  I started piano lessons, and I bought myself a piano.  I have always had a great love of music.  Being brought up in a very working class home it would have been too big a luxury to ask for a piano and lessons back then.  Afterwards for a long time I thought it was too late.  After my ordeal earlier in the year I decided it was better late than never so I found a teacher and started taking lessons.  She thinks I'm making good and fast progress and that I should keep it up.  I'm also studying Music Theory by myself (I take the workbooks and past papers I work through to my piano teacher for her to check).  This has been very enjoyable and I hope to keep at it and get better and better.

  October.  I started lessons in Arabic.  Unlike piano/music, this was not something I was previously interested in or ever thought I would do until the last two or three years.  The school I have been working at is an inner city school with a very large proportion of children from families of asylum seekers or refugees.  The vast majority of them are Palestinians fleeing Iraq.  I have as many as four children in some classes and most of them have a very hard time learning Greek and they don't know any English.  It's incredibly difficult and frustrating not to be able to communicate with 15% - 20% of one's class.  So I decided to start learning Arabic.  It's very difficult and I don't expect to be proficient at it any time soon but if I keep at it then in time I may be.  Also just learning some words and phrases and making the effort with those children goes a long way.  Already some of them are eager to help me learn, and that way I get to help them learn as well.  It's a good experience.

  November 2.  I had my court hearing.  The judge gave me a very hefty fine and half a dozen penalty points on my licence but I didn't have my licence suspended.  And I could finally put this whole thing to bed (or so I thought).  I remember leaving the court feeling very happy.  I had another reason to be very happy ...

  November.  I met someone.  For three weeks we met every couple of days or so.  Dating etc ... or so I thought.  I fell head over heels in love.  I offered all I had and didn't hold back anything.  (I apologse if this is very cliche ridden).

  November.  I was rejected.  When I pressed the issue about being together ... being an item, I was told that apparently we hadn't been dating, that that was in my head.  I was told we were just friends and that's all we could be.  Apparently the sex didn't mean anything either, it was just friendly.  Except we could no longer have that, not even as just friends.  Now we could only be friends without benefits.  I didn't take this well at all.  This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.  To say it left me heart broken is an understatement.  It left me an emotional wreck and I feel that a part of me died forever.  I'm not over this.  I'm very far from being over this.

  December.  I got a letter from my insurance company via lawyer saying that my claim for 3rd party damages caused during my accident was rejected and that I had to pay them for everything.  This meant I had to pay many more thousand euros on top of all the thousands I had already payed.  I was very angry.

  December 20.  I registered for a new Open University course.  This took a certain amount of will power and I'm still uncertain as to whether I did the right thing but hopefully it will go well for me doing the work and successfully completing it will be a confidence boost to help me finish this part-time degree I started years ago.

  December 27.  Tomorrow that is.  I will be traveling to Spain, for a little holiday and to see the new year in.  This was a very last minute decision and even writing this although I have my tickets, I'm not 100% certain I will be going to the airport tomorrow.  So yeah, I'm not terribly excited about it but I think it will be very dangerous for me to just stay home during the holidays without any change of scenery.

I will end this blog with a haiku from my favourite haiku master and travel writer, Matsuo Basho ...

"With a hat on my head

And straw sandals on my feet,

I met on the road

The end of the year."