Happy New Year !!

Happy New Year, everyone! Let's hope it's better than 2011, but realistically it'll probably be more of the same. The global economic depression is likely to continue, rubbishy hip-hop and R&B will continue to dominate the charts, students won't stop being rude to their teachers, and Chelsea will almost certainly sack another manager!

But looking back at last year, I must say it was an incredibly eventful one for me. In fact, I can hardly believe that I packed so much into a year. I visited Africa twice, attended my father's funeral, experienced riots and a dose of tear gas here in Bahrain, met up with an old school friend I hadn't seen for 40 years, started making some serious progress with my singing and guitar playing, and finally got engaged to Rhoda, a Filipina girl I met here in Manama! Not bad for a bloke pressing on 60! In fact, time definitely seemed to slow down for me last year, which is surprising, since generally it seems to accelerate the older you get. No doubt the reality is that it is us who are slowing down rather than time getting faster!

So here's to hopefully an equally eventful 2012!

All the best,

Robert