Another year over (almost)

Well give it 8 hours or so and we will see the back of 2010. It's been a curious year for ,me much of it dominated by knee pain and the swallowing of heroic doses of Tramadol - at least up until the end of August when a second operation sorted out the residual damage. Now ll I get are twinges from the arthiritis.

Once the knee pain was out of the way I discovered the
joys of methotrexate, It seems to be clearing up my psoriasis (slowly) but it is no fun to take. Even at the low doses used to treat skin problems I feel crap for a day after I take my weekly dose. Hi ho.

It was ultimately health issues that made me decide to take voluntary redundancy- that and the prospect of massive job cuts across the civil service over the next few years. I revived a reasonably good settlement so I do not need to work for a while but not enough to set me up in a life of ease until my pension comes, dagnabbit! So I need to find some new employment but not until the new tax year. Whatever I do I intend to try and make at least some of my income from photography

But I repeat myself. I won't make any new year resolutions as such. If things go a I intend the 2011 will include a lot more photography oh and and some other stuff too. I have it in mind to improve my French, reacquaint myself with basic and a bit more than basic level statistics, improve my Excel, Word and Powerpoint skills, write a CV for the first time since the days when Olivetti typewriters roamed the earth and also lose some of the weight I've gained during my forties. Heaven knows I might even have a shave for the first time since September! I suppose I had also better keep abreast of things in the accountancy world too

As for the Poor Mouth keeping it going has been a chore at times. I hope to sum up the energy to deal with some of the things that have always particularly interested me. That means more photos posts but also getting back to the backwaters of history I love so much. Expect more on Ireland in WWII (including a major slag off of the IRA), some of the obscure far right parties of the time, minor British collaborators and at long last the end of the Red Cushing saga!

Come April The Poor Mouth will be five years old. Around the same time, or maybe a little earlier it should get its millionth visitor. I suppose it goes to show that there are connoisseurs of (ahem) culture out there!

Anyway, enough of this here's wishing both of my readers a very happy and prosperous new year, despite all attempts by the Toalies to thwart this objective!