#108 on the end of the year

current music - surrender by chemical brothers
current mood - enthusiastic

i'm coming up to the end of the year.

no, do not adjust your watches or calendars. i've decided that each year should end on august 31 and the new one commence on september 1st.

why?

well for a start my work life dictates it. as you'll probably already be aware my dear hob-blogglings, i work in a school, so shifting to an academic year makes sense. you stagger to the end of one year in mid july, catch up on all those jobs at home you've been putting off for months and then start a new year fresh in september. yeah i know five and a half weeks holiday is a bummer but being a deputy head is a mucky old job and someone's got to do it.

next of all, my birthday falls in august (hint). so it kinda works to think of a new year starting when it acxtually does, if you see what i mean.

after that is greenbelt. it neatly falls at the end of my year and serves as a great party to round off all that hard work putting together the comedy and light entertainments strand of the programme. actually it's getting easier with each year - this year's greenbelt email box has only 700 odd emails in it. last year it easily surpassed 800 and the year before it had more than 900.

i've managed to avoid tax and mot on the car (accidently) to get them due in august and another of my myriad jobs to do each summer is to overhaul the finances - joint account and all that.

and lastly, i think the december 31st new year's eve is crap. in a scene out of grumpy old men (and women) we stayed in last year, our friends pleaded poorly kids and being knacklered (same as us) and pulled out and instead we watched an ealing comedy in the company of a bottle of baileys before the bbc showed us footage of a sports reporter and a weather girl falling over on the ice at somerset house and then an opera singer i had never heard of (A had but then again she'd never heard of nirvana until i played her both versions of 'smells like teen spirit' one by nirvana and the other by the ukelele orchestra of great britain) knocked out some aria or other and another reporter kept asking people in the crowds why they had come (answer: because it's new year's eve) and then the fireworks started and went on and on and on and then we polished off the baileys and hit the sack.

so to anyone reading this blog consider yourself invited to my end of year party. it's to celebrate the ending of my 39th year and the beginning of my 40th. the date is saturday 1st september and if you reply to this post i'll let you know all the details.