Notes to Self for the New Year 2023

I'm letting the fabulous women of La Mujer Obrera do the talking this new year ...

‘They want to determine what I do in my day, and how we use our creativity, they want to keep us in survival mode, right? But in this other vision, hey, we set the timeline. And we make our plans about how our day is gonna look like as well, right, at least part of our time, as much time as we can take. So that's why it's important to [think] how do we have a little bit of freedom, even if we're living in this chaos, right? And if that's a meeting, if that's an event, if that's us hanging out with the neighbours, if that's playing with the kids, us playing too in the dirt in the community farm … we taste a little bit of freedom.' (Lorena Andrade, La Mujer Obrera)

(The Trouble with Freedom, https://thetroublewithfreedom.wordpress.com/)

Notes to Self for the New Year 2022

1. When the temperature hits -11C, stick 'Defying Gravity' on the iPod, put your sneakers on, get outside, and keep moving.
2. When yet one more person points out that America's problems are the fault of godless, childless academics teaching kids to hate their country, stick 'Defying Gravity' on the iPod, put your sneakers on, get outside, and keep moving.
3. When no-one else is left to go dancing with, put your sneakers on and get down to 'House of Yes' on your own. If there is one advantage of hitting menopause, it's the capacity to stop giving two fucks what anyone else thinks.  

Notes to Self for the New Year 2021

I think it's fair to say that the world has had a collective aneurism. In 2019, which was so bad I couldn't bring myself to post the annual 'Notes', we yelled and spat at each other, threw up walls and fur balls, voted for the venal and the bordering on fascist, forgot history and the capacity for reasoned debate. Maybe it was just as well in 2020 that we locked ourselves down for a while ... and so as we emerge from our splendid isolation, freshly vaccinated, I offer these notes to myself for the New Year:

1. Be European, no matter what the Brexit legislation says;
   
2. Ignore all cries of 'Pollyanna' ... optimism is a political act (so says Angela Davis so it must be true);
   
3. Do not feel bad when DuoLingo or any other artificial life form tells you you're being relegated a level; it's not real!
   
4. Join riotous assemblies and chorus lines, and remember that even when someone in the chorus line is being a total numpty, singing out of tune, stepping on your toes, collectively that line will 'propel transformation, incubate possibility, and sustain dreams of the otherwise' (Saidiya Hartman); 
   
5. Don't forget to dance, even if it's still in the kitchen for just a few more months.
   
   

Notes to self for the New Year 2019

Always remember that miracles can happen ....
It‘s 1.30am NYE, and tens of thousands of people are trying to get home on a sporadic night bus service. But lo ... what is this I see coming towards me down the street ... Yes! A taxi with its light on. Now it’s a whole block away so I think there’s no way it’s going to reach us before one of the throng of thousands hails it down first. But it gets closer and closer and I start to edge inconspicuously up the street past the bus queue trying not to draw any attention to it as my heart starts to beat faster at the possibility of a ride home (or from the several cups of coffee I now need to stay up past midnight) until, with just 20 metres or so to go, I unleash the inner seagull (that taxi/chip is mine, mine, mine) and sprint, throwing myself in front, and while the cabbie jams on the brakes, grab the door handle (rules of London cabs - they who hold the door handle own the cab) and throw myself and the Navigator inside. We are not allowed to spend any money for the rest of the month in order to recoup the cost but it was worth every penny. 

With such a good start to the year, what could possibly go wrong ....

Notes to Self for the New Year 2018

Okay, it really could get worse but if in need of rescue try the following:

1. Salzburger Nockerl ... and don't even think of anything less than the full eight eggs.

2. Engage strangers at nearby table to accomplish task, proving that conviviality is possible if there is common cause.

3. And if it really does go to hell in a handcart, then, and only then, take the dumpling of last resort ... the Germknödel. Yes, that is a Brexit/Trump/Office for Students/having to deal with 'men who use feminism as a stick to beat Islam' proof dumpling the size of a soup plate, covered in a mound of poppyseed and sugar, sitting in a pool of butter, with a spiced plum jam reservoir in the middle. My arteries, like the rest of me, will go down fighting.

Notes to Self for the New Year 2017

1. Keep things in perspective: remember the Cold War when we learnt how to hide under a desk in the advent of a nuclear attack (although I was always a bit sceptical that hiding under a desk was going to be much use). There was never a 'golden age' of progressive liberal ideas nor will there ever be. Every civil liberty and law against bigotry we have now has had to be fought for and the coming years are just a continuation of that struggle.

2. Prepare strategically: the next five years is an endurance event, not a sprint. Carbo-loading is necessary, as is a flask of tea. Avoid chafing, and anything liable to fall off or breakage will need to be strapped down.

3. Pace yourself: fight one battle at a time, and fight it well.

4. Hang on to the belief that there is no way 2017 can be as interesting or as tragic as 2016.

5. Put on repeat ... 'not to compromise, not to collaborate, but to understand': remember that there is a reason why people do the things they do the way they do them. Just because someone votes against their own interests does not mean that they should be shunned, laughed at, or insulted. That would just be an indication of my own fear shining through and what generally got us into this mess in the first place. It is not beneath my dignity to engage in dialogue .. not to compromise, nor collaborate, but to understand.

Notes to self for the New Year 2016

1. No matter what happens, do NOT assume the brace position. Given the amount of crash landings imminent on the horizon this will only lead to rigour mortis setting in. Instead follow Wonder Woman's example and engage deflector shields to ward off as many of the slings and arrows of fear and wilful ignorance as possible, and keep moving.
   
   
2. Look up. Find other people looking up. Go have coffee with them. But do NOT drink red espresso. Whoever thought of running rooibos tea through a coffee machine, adding milk and honey, should never be let into an independent coffee house ever again.
   
   
3. Go to the nail salon once a month. It is the last refuge of organic conviviality in East London.

Notes to self for the New Year 2014

1. Rage.

2. Rage against the machine, against mediocrity, against bigotry, against everyday sexism, against lazy journalism, against economists who use the word 'rational'. ('Playing rationally in a game with madmen is madness itself', Mark van Vugt). Rage against sclerotic institutions, meaningless dichotomies, political expediency, denied hypocrisy, self-defeating nihilism, cynicism, and acrylic yarn.

3. Stock up on tea and chocolate digestives.

Notes to Self for the New Year 2013

1. 

Must learn to fly ...

Blame Fuerzabruta ... I would be more than happy to run off with them to create wanton playgrounds and random adventure ... as long as I get to wear a harness and run through the air smashing through walls (you really have to see the show).

2.
Must never use diet coke as a substitute for flying ...
That stuff must have so many 'e' numbers in it you may as well just have a disco biccie. I was home by a very respectable 1am only to find myself still dancing alone in the living room at 4am after just one can bought in haste. As I now repent in leisure I reflect on the fact that nothing is more guaranteed to generate that particular strain of British passive aggression than someone dithering at a bar with a crowd 20 deep behind them.

3.
Must honour my toe nails in the pursuit of flying ... at the speed of jog ...  for this could be the year they never forgive me and refuse to grow back .... Wadebridge to Teignmouth, 100 miles in under 48 hours. Bring it on!

4.
Must shed unnecessary baggage in order to achieve flight ...
This includes cupboards full of clothes I never wear, scraps of paper whose purpose I've long ago forgotten, a yarn stash that is out of control and the argument with the real estate agent over guttering. No matter that, two weeks later, I can now think of half a dozen devastating retorts to his egregious (what a word) fibs. He will soon fade from view like the taste of diet coke and I will be left with my own little apartment with Dingo Baby as my lodger.

5.
Remember that all women need room of their own if they are to fly ...
 
 

Notes to Self for the New Year 2012

1. Remember that the world will not end ... It will just be different.

2. Remember that we have survived numerous governments in the past who have replaced spine with political expediency or which have been held upright by torrents of irrational venom. They too will pass.

3. Remember that said spineless or vengeful governments do cause injury to those vulnerable to their Manichaean world view and, while they will pass, the damage they wreak in the present must be challenged at all times. Occupy, reappropriate, land, words, hearts and minds.

4. Remember that all real dissent takes time ... Patience really is a virtue and real change is not fast food.

5. Take the 66 days holiday owing to me ... Work will not fall apart if I'm not there.

6. See more live music (I know I say that every year but have just discovered the very funky jazz cafe in Camden, and the uber-funky 'tortured soul' from Brooklyn, NY, not to mention Jazzie B as the late night DJ - my feet hurt from the dancing).

7. Make more chutney.

Notes to Self for the New Year

1. Convince government of the error of their ways ... scales to fall from eyes of David Cameron, taxes to be raised, public sector cuts reversed, massive investment made in libraries, the arts and education.

2. Win campaign for electoral reform ... remember to vote in the referendum on May 5th ... that's a YES for AV. Then do something about the House of Lords and Lordettes.

3. Remind several Cabinet ministers and prominent businesspeople to pay the taxes they technically, ethically, morally, justly should pay in the UK.

4. Darn those socks that have been sitting in the sewing basket for weeks now.

5. Don't get too excited about the conference in Hawaii in March ... but it's never too early to check I have enough sunscreen and find my swimmers.

6. Knit more, practice cello more, run more, practice French more, drink less coffee.