quote:

---

Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
It was a piss-poor excuse for a year. Nothing good happened in our lives: my wife got an MA in education and is still a supply teacher, with no benefits, making marginally more than I do per diem though I barely finished university and have only an emergency teaching certificate. I had the entire month of August off work and had to sell shares on two different occasions to service our debts. Our daughter managed to get an expensive bicycle that I loaned her stolen because she "locked it up" in a neighbourhood full of gangsters and she is very disrespectful of us.

Your thoughts?

---

Well first of all, congratulations to your wife on achieving an MA! Very good. There must be a lot of people who would love the opportunity and indeed love to have the intelligence! to be able to get an MA.

Secondly, congratulations on having enough money to be able to buy shares in the first place! Some of us are living hand to mouth and live on what we earn in any given month. I wish I had money to put into shares - even if I have to sell some of them to finance my beyond-my-budget lifestyle. I am pleased for you that you imply that you still have shares. Savings must be nice to have!

Thirdly - I am sure that someone like you will have insurance so that your expensive bike (that you were evidently able to afford to buy in the first place) can be replaced at no real discernable cost to yourself.

I'm sorry you had such a dreadful year!
Maybe 2013 will see the value of your shares go up and you'll be able to buy your daughter an expensive bike of her own.


 

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Posted by Spike (# 36) on :
 
Well, I had a good year, but having had two deaths in the family at the end of 2011 it couldn't have got much worse.

Business picked up last year and I remained pretty busy throughout. I was able to afford a decent holiday - first time for several years. We moved house and are now in a much nicer place than we were before.

It obviously had its down sides, but none of them spring to mind at the moment.

The way I see it is that it really doesn't matter whether it's 2012 or 2013 or whatever. It's simply a 12 month period that happens to start on 1st January and finish on 31st December. You could pick any 12 month period starting on any date (14th April, for instance) and judge your perceived success or failure on that time period. Why make in 12 months? Why not any random cluster of days?
 

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Posted by Nicodemia (# 4756) on :
 
Ooh Mudfrog! If I didn't know what the Sally Army thinks of drink, I'd think you were suffering from a New Year hangover of gigantic proportions!

Sir K - sorry about your-not-very-good-2012. As a friend used to tell me long ago when we had problems with our young children, that her favourite verse in the Bible was "And it came to pass....."

We've had very sad family problems, but hopefully 2013 will bring peace and happiness to those concerned. Until the next problem turns up!

But that's life, isn't it? Few of our expectations turn out quite how we wanted. The world has a nasty habit of turning round and biting our backside when we are down.

And we still trudge on. We can either enjoy splatting in the mud in our wellies, or mope about how our feet are stuck and the mud is particularly glutinous where we are, and we've lost our gloves and.........

Glass half full/empty syndrome, isn't it?

Happy New Year!
 

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Posted by Trisagion (# 5235) on :
 
Mudfrog, what a mean-spirited, dog-in-a-manger response.

Sir Kevin, I'm sorry 2012 was a bit of a pisser and I wish you a better start to 2013 than we've had - one of our beloved terriers has, this morning, been put-down after 14 1/2 years. If I believed in auguries, it wouldn't bode well.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
I thank you, my real-life friends and cyber pen-pals alike, for your encouragement. I just got back to the house from my local Irish-owned pub on foot. I had a nice conversation with two lovely younger ladies who did not try to chat me up. I also discovered a bit earlier in the evening, when I first started drinking, that I am now the same age as James Joyce was when he died! Glad I read Ulysses a few summers ago: it is an element of the foundations of cultural literacy and should be taught in everybody's first-year English literature classes!

I expect to accomplish much this year.
 

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Posted by Mudfrog (# 8116) on :
 
When you know some of the situations I've seen and the people I've come across, you realise that the theft of an expensive bike from someone who can afford to buy shares (and presumably a new bike) does not make for a bad year!

It's like complaining that you've broken a nail when there's a bloke next door with multiple fractures!
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
Point taken!
 

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Posted by Trisagion (# 5235) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mudfrog:
When you know some of the situations I've seen and the people I've come across, you realise that the theft of an expensive bike from someone who can afford to buy shares (and presumably a new bike) does not make for a bad year!

It's like complaining that you've broken a nail when there's a bloke next door with multiple fractures!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trisagion:
We all know that it true in absolute terms, Mudfrog, but how often have you found the "Get over yourself, worse things happen at sea" works as a pastoral first response?

---

I find it works when I say it to myself.

Hope things pick up Sir Kevin!
 

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Posted by Trisagion (# 5235) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
I find it works when I say it to myself.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
I thank you, my real-life friends and cyber pen-pals alike, for your encouragement. I just got back to the house from my local Irish-owned pub on foot. I had a nice conversation with two lovely younger ladies who did not try to chat me up. I also discovered a bit earlier in the evening, when I first started drinking, that I am now the same age as James Joyce was when he died! Glad I read Ulysses a few summers ago: it is an element of the foundations of cultural literacy and should be taught in everybody's first-year English literature classes!

I expect to accomplish much this year.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trisagion:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
I find it works when I say it to myself.

---

So do I, Boogie, but I find it spectacularly unhelpful when I have been stupid enough to say it to someone else - or when somebody says it to me, at least as an initial response.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
"So you've lost a leg? Don't be so miserable about it: there's a guy in the bed next to you who's lost both of his legs, so count your blessings and give thanks to Almighty God!"

Nope, doesn't really cut the mustard with me...

---

quote:

---

Nothing good happened in our lives

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Angloid:
Personally, it's not been a bad year. I'm retired and strangely seem better off than ever before. No serious health problems. Family more than ticking over.

But the weather has been bloody awful. And every other day there is some more depressing news about this incompetent and callous government. Poor people, disabled people, asylum seekers, jobseekers, public sector workers... only a few of those for whom 2012, and even more so 2013, are going to be bad news.

---

I have to say, for me to it hasn't been too bad a year...

after not having had my contract renewed in 2011 and being made unemployed I found work in 2012.

The weather could have been better but I like weather which is stormy, reminds me of my childhood where I used to go watch the swell swamping over the wall of the breakwater in the harbour.

There is a sensible government in power (rather than the disaster that would have been geeky, millionaire, poshboy Ed. Milliband and third choice for shadow-Chancellor Ed Balls who are both tainted by their time advising Gordon Brown), which is determined to get control of public finances, allocation of the scarce resources and infrastructure we have in the UK, seeking to ensure Public Servants make a proper contribution to the financial burdens (yes I was a teacher and therefore know the effects that PS reorganisation was going to have and fully supported it).

Steps were taken which will see my tax burden reduce.

Good news on employment figures and the slow, but discernable rebalancing of the economy from public to private sector driven.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
I think there is a danger in this business of looking at the year as a whole rather than remembering that it's made up of moments, some good, some not so good, some varying depending on how we view them. In trying to determine whether it was a good year or not, we can overlook a lot of significant events, especially as the good always seems to have a tendency to be overshadowed by the bad.

Last year my New Year's Resolution was to practise contentment - to try to appreciate the ordinary everyday things which we tend to take for granted and not let them be overshadowed by the things which thwart us. That's not to belittle the tough times. There are enough of those and even when other people's tough times exceed them, it doesn't do to ignore the impact they have upon our lives. But a sense of proportion does help, and it does help us to remember sometimes that our tough times are set into a background of good - e.g. I have currently ceased to enjoy my job, but actually I need to hold on to the fact that I have the security of having a job while I seek for a better one, no matter how long that search lasts, and the knowledge that that job did bring me some good times and some valuable experience.

This year has had good and bad times. Next year will have good and bad times. The degree of impact those have upon my life may vary, but I will ride the troughs and enjoy the peaks and relax during the plateaus as they occur rather than trying to assess a cumulative effect which makes them seem to last a whole year.

And may I too add my congratulations to Zeke on gaining a Masters Degree. Job opportunities aside, it is an achievement to be proud of and to rejoice in!
 

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Posted by Mudfrog (# 8116) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sergius-Melli:


There is a sensible government in power (rather than the disaster that would have been geeky, millionaire, poshboy Ed. Milliband and third choice for shadow-Chancellor Ed Balls who are both tainted by their time advising Gordon Brown), which is determined to get control of public finances, allocation of the scarce resources and infrastructure we have in the UK, seeking to ensure Public Servants make a proper contribution to the financial burdens (yes I was a teacher and therefore know the effects that PS reorganisation was going to have and fully supported it).

Steps were taken which will see my tax burden reduce.

Good news on employment figures and the slow, but discernable rebalancing of the economy from public to private sector driven.

---

How very brave of you to say something so 'off-message' and totally true. Thank you. I agree with you
 

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Posted by George Spigot (# 253) on :
 
To be honest my first thought was this person has shares! Are they rich?
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
I think there is a danger in this business of looking at the year as a whole rather than remembering that it's made up of moments, some good, some not so good, some varying depending on how we view them. In trying to determine whether it was a good year or not, we can overlook a lot of significant events, especially as the good always seems to have a tendency to be overshadowed by the bad.

Last year my New Year's Resolution was to practise contentment - to try to appreciate the ordinary everyday things which we tend to take for granted and not let them be overshadowed by the things which thwart us.

---

My Mum does this, and always has. She is now unable to walk, doubly incontinent and has dementia. The only words she now utters are 'Thank-you'

God bless her.
 

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Posted by Jemima the 9th (# 15106) on :
 
2012 has been a very mixed bag for us. There's been some incredibly brilliant wonderfulness - the longed for baby who became known as the Mythical Third Baby because I felt he was so unlikely to appear, DID arrive, safe & healthy. And so was I. For the first time in 3 babies.

I settled into my job (before going on maternity leave) and finally felt like I knew what I was doing.

George Osborne nicked my child benefit; weell if others are being political I will too. I don't begrudge him having it, or I wouldn't if I could be sure that something useful would be done for people who don't have as much as we do.

I've had some lovely time with MrJt9, all the kids and my extended family. I have drunk some fine ale, have been to a couple of fine gigs, and done some grade A lounging on the sofa with a newborn baby watching iplayer.

I finished an evening class, learned more about my religion in 2 years than I have in about 20 in church, and got a certificate from the Bishop, so I must be, like, an official Christian or something.

I loved the Olympics & Paralympics and all it brought. We went en masse to a couple of basketball games which we really enjoyed. I loved watching the coverage on the telly, pacing the room watching Mo Farah race and leaping up and down at some of the wins.

My mum's cancer has returned which has almost wiped out all the good stuff in a stroke.

[ 02. January 2013, 12:38: Message edited by: Jemima the 9th ]
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mudfrog:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sergius-Melli:


There is a sensible government in power (rather than the disaster that would have been geeky, millionaire, poshboy Ed. Milliband and third choice for shadow-Chancellor Ed Balls who are both tainted by their time advising Gordon Brown), which is determined to get control of public finances, allocation of the scarce resources and infrastructure we have in the UK, seeking to ensure Public Servants make a proper contribution to the financial burdens (yes I was a teacher and therefore know the effects that PS reorganisation was going to have and fully supported it).

Steps were taken which will see my tax burden reduce.

Good news on employment figures and the slow, but discernable rebalancing of the economy from public to private sector driven.

---

How very brave of you to say something so 'off-message' and totally true. Thank you. I agree with you

---

quote:

---

Yes, how nice that more disabled people are losing their incomes and the unemployed are being used as unpaid labour while tax-dodging businesses are considered more important. But who cares about those disabled people, right

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
It was a piss-poor excuse for a year. Nothing good happened in our lives: my wife got an MA in education and is still a supply teacher, with no benefits, making marginally more than I do per diem though I barely finished university and have only an emergency teaching certificate. I had the entire month of August off work and had to sell shares on two different occasions to service our debts. Our daughter managed to get an expensive bicycle that I loaned her stolen because she "locked it up" in a neighbourhood full of gangsters and she is very disrespectful of us.

Your thoughts?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Spigot:
To be honest my first thought was this person has shares! Are they rich?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
Our daughter . . . is very disrespectful of us.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mudfrog:
The title of this thread actually invited an open response - '2012: Annus horribilis or not?'

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Spigot:
To be honest my first thought was this person has shares! Are they rich?

---

Not necessarily - they may simply be a medium- to long-term savings plan eg: for retirement, given that our pension pots are typically worth damn all these days. Doesn't mean the saver is 'rolling in it'.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sergius-Melli:
I have nothing much really to complain about with the present government... just happy I will be keeping more of my hard-earned money and that those who can afford to pay a bit more are infact now paying more as the two charts here would show.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trisagion:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
I find it works when I say it to myself.

---

So do I, Boogie, but I find it spectacularly unhelpful when I have been stupid enough to say it to someone else - or when somebody says it to me, at least as an initial response.

---

"So you've lost a leg? Don't be so miserable about it: there's a guy in the bed next to you who's lost both of his legs, so count your blessings and give thanks to Almighty God!"

Nope, doesn't really cut the mustard with me...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Angloid:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sergius-Melli:
I have nothing much really to complain about with the present government... just happy I will be keeping more of my hard-earned money and that those who can afford to pay a bit more are infact now paying more as the two charts here would show.

---

Nothing much on there about corporate tax avoiders. If they tackled that none of us ordinary folk would have to pay more.

---

Very true! But then, this government, the lastgovernment, and countless other governments haven't done much to simplify the tax system and do away with 'legitimate tax avoidance measures' (the Vicar of Dibley comes to mind everytime I hear that phrase) and then there is the added difficulty of multi-national business which would require unilateral agreement from all countries around the world... and to taht I ask 'do pigs fly?'
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
2012 felt like a "changing gear" year. It was the third year of my PhD, and it would have been nice to have submitted bang on the 3 year mark, which would have been next week. I've got a bit to go yet, though.
I've been keeping an eye on the job market, preparatory to serious searching once the PhD is done and dusted, but I haven't actually done anything job-wise.
Elder child went to Uni, and younger hopes to go in 2014, so we're gearing up (or down) for the massive lifestyle change having no child at home will entail. ( )
Many of my friends are now coping with their parents' declining health; I am hugely fortunate that both of mine are hale and hearty. I'm not taking that for granted any more.
Basically, I've felt "on the brink" of changes all year, but actually not a lot has happened.

2013 could be a year of massive change. Or maybe not.

[ 02. January 2013, 15:52: Message edited by: North East Quine ]
 

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Posted by Hairy Biker (# 12086) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jemima the 9th:

George Osborne nicked my child benefit; weell if others are being political I will too. I don't begrudge him having it, or I wouldn't if I could be sure that something useful would be done for people who don't have as much as we do.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sergius-Melli:

There is a sensible government in power (rather than the disaster that would have been geeky, millionaire, poshboy Ed. Milliband

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yorick:
2012? Worst fucking year of my wretched life. I should gladly have an entire year removed from my lifespan if it could be that one.

Bastard cuntish year. Good riddance.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Spigot:
To be honest my first thought was this person has shares! Are they rich?

---

No, just solvent! I have them because both of my parents are dead and I inherited the money to buy them and also to pay off this house from them. Both of the cars we have that are still on the road are ten years old and have rather a lot of miles on their odometers. My house is nearly as old as me but in worse shape. I have no money to get it fixed up and I will not get into heavy debt again in order to do so. I don't really live in the UK although I have relatives there.

I wish we had the NHS here: monthly health insurance bills and other medical expenses are currently more than we make in a week. As we are both schoolteachers without contracts, we are unemployed until at least next Monday and maybe beyond if Z does not get the long-term supply teacher job she was promised by a local school administrator of recent acquaintance.

I hope and pray this is a more successful and safer year than the last!
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Mudfrog,

While your point might have some validity, the manner in which you put it was rather less polite than it could have been. And, it seems, farther from the mark than you may have thought.
And, while Sir K might not have mentioned this, an MA is likely a mixed bag in this case. They are not cheap to obtain and it would seem, in his wife's situation, it may take a long while to recoup that expense.

That we have it better than others should temper our disappointment with elements of our lives. But most of us do have our "woe is me" moments. I know I have. As long as they do not predominate, there is nothing inherently wrong with this.
 

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Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 
It’s true that telling yourself that “hundreds are worse off” might help; telling someone else doesn’t. It’s like responding to our appalling child poverty situation (kids with no shoes, no raincoat, no breakfast and packet of crisps for lunch) by saying that they’re still better off than thousands of kids in third world countries.

As for our year – of course it was a mixture. The Grandad had an emergency operation which was touch-and-go, and has learned to live with an ostomy bag, but the health service has looked after us wonderfully. He’s younger than me, but I’ve reached 80 with everything still working though not as well as in my youth; I’ve taken myself off the Sunday morning tea roster, but I can still bake for the young mums, produce the church magazine, take an occasional church service, and sell jellies and marmalade for Christian World Service. We had two weeks with the beautiful grandchildren visiting from Canada, and can still drive the 600km in one day between Matarangi and the city.

This is not meant to sound like a gloat, only as a reminder that bad times (and we’ve had some serious ones in the past) can give way to good ones, and that is my hope for shipmates who are facing a really grim outlook: that 2013 will bring improvements of all kinds, and that this time next year you will have some bright events to look back on.

For all those who've had an annus horribilis:


GG
 

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Posted by Yorick (# 12169) on :
 
Thank you, GG, for your kind and helpful post.
 

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Posted by anoesis (# 14189) on :
 
In some ways, I guess 2011 was my annus horribilus - it was the year in which my father died - suddenly and without getting to say goodbye, but it was also the year in which my son was born. 2012 has probably been worse in many ways, as the ramifications of my Dad's absence have continued to make themselves felt - those ripples keep spreading, and in addition to that my son's health is not as good as it could be and that has been an ongoing worry. Going back to work as a parent of two has been more than twice as hard as doing it as a parent of one - I am not only tired but demoralised. Then just over a month ago I found myself, on an ordinary Sunday afternoon at home, in the midst of total insanity, and a few minutes later was supporting the lifeless body of my neighbour while a man I barely knew cut the rope that he was hanging from and some other neighbours attempted to comfort/restrain his...partner?ex?friend?housemate? (depending on whose version of events you listen to). It's the oddest thing - a situation I profoundly hope never to have to repeat, EVER, in my life, and a situation I would not hesitate to offer help in, should it recur. Weird. As life is.
 

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Posted by bib (# 13074) on :
 
I guess that 2012 was a pretty traumatic year. I had a cancer recurrence which necessitated fairly major surgery and treatments. I have decided, despite returning to work, to retire at Easter. The bright occurence of the year was the birth of a beautiful little granddaughter in March who makes me smile and feel that life is worth living.
 

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Posted by Rosa Winkel (# 11424) on :
 
Hope 2013 goes healthier for you

A rise in fascism here in Poland and a scum government in GB (though I know that the "I'm alright Jack" mentality means that not everyone will agree with that) were not signs of a good year.

On the other hand, I did a project on bird and human migration in Georgia, and I as well as many others are becoming more aware of the nature of problems that we have in the world (for example, the Occupy movement which, though it tends to oversimplification of things does make people at least think) that I have some kind of hope.

Saying that, here in Poland it's strangely warm. When I first moved here in 2006 snow came in November and stayed till March. Now we had some for a week in early December and that's it. It's now +6 and raining outside. I believe most people to be only concerned about immediate issues, so don't expect global warming to be effectively fought off.

[ 03. January 2013, 10:27: Message edited by: Rosa Winkel ]
 

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Posted by rolyn (# 16840) on :
 
Not sure if Annus 2012 was necessarily any more horriblis than any other Annus .
Things happen, things don't happen . Once you've seen one Annus you've seen them all really.

As for "Cheer up, things could be worse". Personally I've always found this to be an effective antidote to self-pity.
Others may disagree.
 

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Posted by Organ Builder (# 12478) on :
 
I suppose 2012 was like most years--it could have been worse, but it could certainly have been better, especially in the last quarter.

Within a month my partner and I were both in car accidents. Mine was quite severe, though I was extremely lucky. I didn't have to spend the night in the hospital, but I have two new scars and a fractured sinus. There is a big chunk of memory missing, so I remember nothing about the accident. My partner's was a major fender-bender, and not his fault--but following so closely on my own led to a lot of emotional turmoil when I first got the call!

2013 will have its own challenges, too. My partner will have cataract surgery in a few weeks, and I will have a knee replaced in April. My ENT wants to do surgery as well... So there will be a lot of medicine practiced on us, but at the end of it all there ought to be better vision, better breathing, and significantly less pain. I'm reaching an age where I prefer quiet, routine-filled years to more dynamic years. I'd prefer to get my excitement from traveling or reading a book.

I also hope Shipmates who've had a burdensome year find next year to be better.
 

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Posted by drnick (# 16065) on :
 
Well, I guess 2012 was something of a curate's egg for me. On the negative side my father died at the start of he year, one of the most genuinely traumatic experiences I've known. But it was the year I finally took a decision I had put off for a long time and started a process which, if all goes well, will lead to me being ordained.
 

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Posted by Oscar the Grouch (# 1916) on :
 
On a very personal basis, 2012 was a good year. I had a wonderful 2 months in Canada and loved every moment. In addition, a good friendship has blossomed and given me huge amounts of strength, laughter and encouragement, just when I needed it most.

BUT....

2012 was the year I became terminally (possibly) sick to death of my "employers" - the C of E. The way that the appointment of the new ABC was used as an opportunity for some people "in the know" to clean up at the bookies; the utter nonsense about the GS vote on women bishops; the continuing way that the C of E shoots itself in the foot over homosexuality; and the "revelations" about the utterly dysfunctional Diocese of Chichester and the way it harboured paedophiles.....

I could go on. I have ended the year sick to my depths of my stomach at the organisation I "represent". I am ashamed of almost everything it deigns to say in public. I despair of the way that vested interests dictate commonsense and decency. I no longer believe that the C of E can ever break free from its "old boy" network and upper-middle class snobbery. I am starting to despise the whole, rotten, corrupt shambles of an inept organisation. This is not healthy. But if I walk away now, I end up homeless and with no job and a piss-poor pension.

I'm still trying to work out what my next move should be. The status quo hardly seems appropriate.
 

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Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 
Oscar, you and Richard Holloway...

May you find a right path



GG
 

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Posted by ToujoursDan (# 10578) on :
 
2012 was certainly the annus horriblis for my parish. In late July, an intense lightning strike caused part of our parish's tower to collapse killing the New York Assistant State Attorney General who happened to be walking along the sidewalk at the wrong time. The collapse pierced the roof of the main building and put a campervan-sized hole in the floor.

It has led to the closing of the building by the city, which has declared it unsafe. The parish has been worshipping at the Conservative Jewish synagogue nearby. The parish day school is using a space at a nearby Roman Catholic Church.

The "good" news is that the damage is almost entirely covered by insurance (though we'll have to raise some a couple million dollars), but the New York City Buildings Department will not let us rebuild the tower the way it was (as it was built using 19th Century techniques and was unreinforced) which puts it in conflict with the City, State and Federal Landmarks Department who insist the building must be rebuilt at it was. We are waiting until all the agencies sort it out. We are also waiting for engineers to determine whether the tower collapse has compromised the sanctuary's walls as well.

To slow things down a bit further, New York City experienced a devastating hurricane at the end of October and the city's (and Diocesan) resources have been stretched even further to cover all the damage the the area inflicted. So surveys, testing and plans that may have taken weeks to complete are now taking months.

We're in a holding pattern at the moment. We can't get into our parish house to even retrieve things like hymnals, silver, Books of Common Prayer, etc. We have to plan our worship and activities around the activities of our host synagogue and worship in a space that is ill suited for holding mass.

At the same time we've greatly improved our relationship with our religious neighbours who have been very hospitable. Still, the strain on parents, teachers, our principal, the Vestry, the clergy and parishioners has been high.
 

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Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 
Dan, your story would resonate all over New Zealand, and not just in Christchurch, facing your problems in a zillion different ways since those huge earthquakes.

Everywhere else in the country, buildings are being checked for earthquake safety compliance. Our brick 1957 church in Wellington was closed in September (?) as being only 12% safe (minimum allowed is 34%). We moved into the old wooden church and were told to get out of there as its compliance level is still not good enough.
So we worship at a nearby Presbyterian school, another Presy parish has found office space for the minister & secretary, the local Anglicans have offered their hall for our weekly pre-school music & movement, and in a spirit of 'the church is the people, not the building', the people are studying, talking, praying, and working through possible ways ahead.
Our minister comforted us in the last newsletter by listing all the nearby parishes in the same pickle.
Public buildings of all kinds are affected in the same way, and wait till they get started on private houses.
Insurance premiums have sky-rocketed; most churches this year have not insured their buildings.
I wrote above of our personal year. Didn't mention the parish one – it's so bizarre that I didn't think to. And we are, on the whole, being as positive as we can. What is God telling us??

GG
 

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Posted by To The Pain (# 12235) on :
 
As ever, a year of good things and bad things and some things that fall into both camps.

I bought a flat and got to decorate some of it, I interviewed for a new job and got it so I am now employed until at least the end of 2013, I have lovely lodgers and good friends and I found out that I will become an Auntie early in 2013.

Made a rather disasterous attempt at a romantic relationship that leaves me wondering if I'm cut out for that sort of thing (or if the magnet on my fridge is correct, men are like chocolates; wait too long and only the weird nutty ones are left). There seems to be a lot of baby-making going on in my social and work circles, but I don't know if I can see that in my future any more. Both my paternal grandparents died, in my grandmother's case after a very distressing few months for her with dementia and weekly trips to A&E with a circulation problem.

With the last funeral only three weeks in the past, the sad/bad things feel like they've been stacked at the end of the year. But that's just an arbitrary point, like someone said above. And I realise that I was very fortunate to have all of my grandparents alive when I reached 30 and it shouldn't be that surprising that I am down to 50% at 31.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Well I was very glad to see the end of 2012. Not that 2013 started wonderfully, because I have been sicker than I've been in a very long time thanks to a nasty rotten virus.

Even though I am a very laidback person, and am extremely contented and secure, when I look back over the last 3 decades of my life, there have been two years that stand out as being very hard going. 1984 was one, and 2012 was the other. Not whinging. Not bitching. Just fact.

And sincerely hoping there's at least another 26 years to the next annus horribilus. My sympathies, Sir K, Robert & Amika.
I can only surmise we are meant to go on, as the good Lord has not chosen to call us home yet.
 

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Posted by Mad Cat (# 9104) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Banner Lady:
....there have been two years that stand out as being very hard going. 1984 was one, and 2012 was the other. Not whinging. Not bitching. Just fact.

And sincerely hoping there's at least another 26 years to the next annus horribilus. My sympathies, Sir K, Robert & Amika.

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quote:

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I can only surmise we are meant to go on, as the good Lord has not chosen to call us home yet.

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To me this reads like a battle cry - what courage, and amen!

[ 07. January 2013, 22:34: Message edited by: Mad Cat ]
 

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Posted by St Everild (# 3626) on :
 
Not a good year for me either. Two burglaries at my home, which is also my workplace.
The sudden death of my father (following the death of my mother in 2011).
The death of my uncle whose funeral was the week before my father died.
The death of a much loved and missed cat who we had had from kittenhood.

It might be called "Two burglaries and too many funerals"...

However, I am grateful for the friends I have, and there was rather a good Shipmeet in May to look back upon...

Here's hoping 2013 will be a much happier year, personally. And for all of us.
 

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Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
I empathise completely with those who had a horrible year '12. Our's was considerably better than 2011, which was the only year ever I wished and asked God to damn me rather personally for eternity versus what the year wrought on me and mine. I had thought 2006 and 2009 were bad (family deaths).

For those who had a rotten 2012, apparently, he says reluctantly with his third finger up and his tongue out at God, things get easier with time. Though I'd still punch Jesus if he showed up. And on the other cheek too, as well as one to the gut and I'd give him a knee too.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
2013 not too bad so far: given up some bad habits, had a bit of work and temporarily took up a new sport - as a participant - drag racing!

 

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Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by no prophet:
Though I'd still punch Jesus if he showed up. And on the other cheek too, as well as one to the gut and I'd give him a knee too.

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no prophet, you're my kind of Christian!
 

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Posted by Beautiful Dreamer (# 10880) on :
 
Teddybear, that is *great* about the kidney! I can't even *begin* to imagine what it must have been like before you got one.

Speaking of getting new things, I was finally able to get the hip replacement operation I've been needing. I'm not sure how many here know about this, but I was in a really bad car wreck in 2005. I broke my pelvis and spent a month in the hospital...I should be grateful to be alive at all and most of the time I am, but I've definitely had a lot of moments (or days) of self-pity because of the way the damage from the wreck basically put our whole lives on hold. I couldn't have kids, couldn't work a whole lot (for that and other reasons), couldn't...well, you get the idea. Now I can do a lot more with a lot less pain!

We didn't get my hip fixed because we couldn't afford it...I'm in the US and let's just say that the hospital fees alone for an operation like that are more than what my household makes in a year. We had insurance and Medicare and that helped a lot, but the fact that I had to wait seven years for this really bothers me.

I'm mostly glad to live where I do but it's things like this that make me want to slap the living crap out of the next person who implies that people who are on government benefits are only there because they don't want to work. I'd *love* to have been able to work all this time...then maybe I wouldn't have had to wait so effing long.


(tangent)
Just out of curiosity, how long do you think I'd have had to wait if I'd been in the UK or Canada? Australia? Anywhere other than here?
(/tangent)

To echo the others who lament about having kids...I'm 35 and afraid I won't be able to have them either because we waited too long...that wait was forced on us, but the end result is still the same. So, I'm there with you...

2012 was a decent year for me...I wish for everyone to have a better 2013.
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
I can just imagine Mudfrog's reaction to events 2000 odd years ago. "So, your leader's been killed? Don't you know the Romans sometimes wipe out whole villages or towns? You should be grateful they only killed the one of you. And you've got your old jobs to fall back on. In fact, you've had three years of sponging off others. Be grateful for that, and then stop whinging and do some work!"

[ 13. January 2013, 21:43: Message edited by: Robert Armin ]
 

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Posted by Carys (# 78) on :
 
2012 was a good year for me. In mind 2010, boyfriend and I called it a day because of distance, then on the same day I was served notice on my house and warning of possible redundancy. I was then unemployed for 18 months. A year ago less a week I was interviewed for a job as a verger. I was offered out and started in march and am loving it. Was confirmed in post in September so feeling settled for a while at least.

Carys
 

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Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Beautiful Dreamer:


(tangent)
Just out of curiosity, how long do you think I'd have had to wait if I'd been in the UK or Canada? Australia? Anywhere other than here?
(/tangent)

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Here, you would have to wait until a suitable donation became available, whether you were being treated as a public (i.e., no charge) patient, or one covered by private insurance. Then, you'd get perhaps 8 hours notice and off to the operating theatre.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Aren't hip joints artificial?

It says here 'maximum of 18 weeks from recommendation' - though getting to that stage could take several months. Plus there are other factors, such as being able to choose which hospital. But on the NHS, it seems less than a year would be a reasonable expectation.
 

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Posted by maryjones (# 13523) on :
 
You use donated hips?! Hip replacement here uses artificial hips!
 

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Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Beautiful Dreamer:

(tangent)
Just out of curiosity, how long do you think I'd have had to wait if I'd been in the UK or Canada? Australia? Anywhere other than here?
(/tangent)

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quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
I can just imagine Mudfrog's reaction to events 2000 odd years ago. "So, your leader's been killed? Don't you know the Romans sometimes wipe out whole villages or towns? You should be grateful they only killed the one of you. And you've got your old jobs to fall back on. In fact, you've had three years of sponging off others. Be grateful for that, and then stop whinging and do some work!"

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quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Armin:
And please don't equate insensitivity with compassion.

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