So That Was 2011, Was It???

And here we are once again at the beginning of a New Year, with seemingly-endless days stretching before us and the promise of spring and, hopefully, summer to come before the neutrinos inevitably mutate and John Cusack gets chased by lava (Dara O'Briain has the inside track on this - trust me).
And it's been a stressful year, both in and out of work, as may be reflected by my somewhat sporadic postings over the last twelvemonth.

So what have we had?

• Earthquakes - quite a few, but none so powerful as the one that struck Japan in March;
• Tsunami (it is its own plural, isn't it?) in many areas, most notably South-East Asia;
• The removal from circulation of several big names on the planetary wanted list,  including Bin Laden and Ghadafi, with Mladic and others facing justice in The Hague;
• Popular (with the people) uprisings, the so-called 'Arab Spring', North Africa;
• Unpopular (with the Establishment) uprisings, the so-called 'Occupy insert city-name here Protests', worldwide;

Here in Ireland, we saw a number of things that would have seemed either unlikely, if not impossible in previous years:

• A state visit by a reigning British monarch;
• Ireland beating England at Cricket - how bizarre was that?;
• The near-annihilation of a political party that's been in government for over sixty of our years as an independent nation following a near-revolution by ballot box;
• Beating reigning champions Australia in the Rugby World Cup (group stage);
• Qualification for the 2012 European Football Championship finals.

A somewhat punitive austerity Budget in December ensured that the economy will suffer in 2012, but that's institutionalized-short-sightedness for you.

On the work front, things look like being busy, with a reduction in the workforce and an increase in the workload. We're told to think of it as 'challenges and opportunities', but it says 'heart attack by June' to me.

For me, hopefully 2012 will be the year I move house. The suburbs are calling, and I think it's time to listen. We'll see how things turn out.

In any event, I hope your year, in whatever form it's measured, will be a good and positive one for you.

Above all, always remember - be excellent to each other...