It's December the 24th, and there's no Christmas lights or decorations. There's a couple of presents wrapped up in a carrier bag for the kid's grandparents but that's the only sign of Christmas. Christmas is or families and young children, and we made a decision over ayear ago that we wouldn't bother with it. When the kids were still youg, and we were a family there was a point but they're now both nearly adults and since "she" has decided she doesn't now have children that does away with the family bit.

 

Tomorrow will see us set off about 7.30 am for the long drive to Harlech, where the boys will stop till Boxing Day, while I return home in the evening. It's going to be a strange day and the first Christmas spent with Tracy and her parents in nearly 20 years, and harder still for the boys. OK Matt and Tracy have got to know each other fairly well over the last few years but to Chris she's still an unknown quantity. Not surprisingly neither of the kids have had even a christmas card from the person who promised always to be there for them, and while it hurts to see them abandoned like this it's no surprise.

 

It's been a hard year, with a lot of changes pretty much friom the off. January commenced with the ill-founded and illegal search by the police instigated by a ststement now being investigated for perjury. The initial results were potentially catastrophic with seizure of every PC, mobile and PDA leaving work in chaos. It took 5 months and a court order to get the equipment returned, and that was just the start! Now a report lies on the Deputy Chief Constable's desk listing a catalogue of breaches of UK and European law, and a hefty compensation claim underway.

 

Next casualty was the TGO Challenge. After months of preparation and planning a last minute decision to insist on exchanging Finacial Settlement documents by the other side meant pulling out. Of course they knew all about the TGO Challenge and how important it was to complete, and had made assurances that early exchange would be easy.....

 

Mid summer broght a conclusion, of sorts, to the divorce. Eventually personal possessions started finding their way back......though not without pushing deadlines to the limit and beyond! The day it was sorted out came the strangest occurence of the year, as the other side's solicitor told me how I had "been a saviour" in the early days and how they were "not bitter but sad it had come to this" followed by a "you never know in a couple of years" when I said I would have done anything to avoid this. Yeah, just what I needed at the time!!

 

The end of year has been all about the Independant Poice Complaints Commission and their reports into the events of January. With luck I'll get the response before the end of the year, though no doubt it will carry over into next year at least for ensuing court cases. Matt, Chris and I have already had to give statements that we will be prepared to give evidence,

 

New project of the year is the Eunos, and even with a few months to summer work has already commenced. A new "cubby box" under the new stereo, an ashtray to fit the seat divider and new double-power headrest speakers are all fitted and plenty of new additions lined up. The orihginal alloys are a dirty grey, by design not neglect, and are due for a change, so a nice new set of 15" shiny 5 spoke alloys is due in the spring. Tonneau cover and roll bars are the next biggies, along with a trip to cambridge to have the seats properly restored. Throw £450 in for a hardtop and there's plenty to keep me going. For now I've still got the Laguna if I need the space, but 2008 will see this go to be replaced by a camper van.

 

 

It's been a good year for renewing old aquaintances, first meeting up with Cathy after about 12 years. I first met Cathy about 19 years ago, just before Matt was born, when we both lived in Crewe. I was with Tracy and she was with someone, and though we kept in touch for the next 5 years on and off we eventually drifted apart through moving house, marriages and kids. She's still a lovely lady, and though we did give it a go in the early summer I think the damage was too raw and being able to trust was too much too soon. Then there was Lisa! Lisa and I lived together when the boys were very young, and has always been "the one that got away". If there were one woman who could restore my ability to trust it would probably be her. She never did anything wrong, but unfortuanetly her kids and mine just didnt like each other so we went our own ways. For the next few years my ex sister in law would tell me how Lisa was, whilst telling Lisa how I was and we knew how the other was without ever being in touch. So after almost a year of talking on MSN and email we finally met up. She's with someone, of course, and I've certainly no intention of rocking the boat as I'm just happy she's happy, ...... but there's something still there.

 

 

The home front started with the infamous Trina and the sga of the 400 year old bench, pole dancing and ..........well some things hould remain private lol. Though distance to Devon put paid to taht it didn't get any easier when Maria came on the scene.If Devon's a long way then Russia's really keeping it at arm's length. Meeting up in London was more convenient than the foothills of the Caucausus Mountains, but both have their plus points. Cathy came onto the scerne like a breath of fresh air, but demanded more than I could give at the time. There's someone who's starting to become important again, and maybe 2008 will be the year I can start again, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Work's been as up and down as the rest of the year, with the massive setback of January still having effects as late as Octber. Lost contacts, lost work and lost stock features and pictures all took their toll in haltingthe increasing commissions and it meant reverting to the old faithfulls. Outdoors Magic work increased steadily throughout the year, and there are assurances that next year will finally see the introduction of the new Routes System. PDA Essentials has been another good regular over 2007, with more reviews and features to add to the helpdesk. Whilst the Everest work dried up this year thanks to every contact being unavailable thanks to January, luckily work increased with TGO. The new computer proved essential as the old one came back broken. By December things had finally got back to a similar position to a year ago.....losing all the advantages of the Everest expedition work from 2006. It hasn't helped that over half my stock photos are now useless. For legal reasons I'm not allowed to write about a partner in many walks and scrambles, or publish any image containing them. A bit ironic really after I warned them about insecure email accounts and they did nothing. Now it means either re-walking routes, sourcing "related" pics from commecial and freeware libraries, relying more on OM Gallery for the weekly routes and even turning to P2P at times. It's amazing just how many pictures of the outdoors there are, but there's a big difference between having a photo of the actual route and one of "in the area", and of course there's copyright issues. The OM Gallery is just about worked out now for the weekly routes, and libraries are only OK for generalised shots of ranges or mountains at best. Google Images is a great source of pics for some of the popular areas, and usually has information on the copyright holder, whereas P2P is best suited to those "unidentifiable" shots like birds and plants. You do have to be pretty specific though, as dawn from snowdon may not bring you the expected results....and dont make the mistake i made of mixing up places and putting warrington when i was looking for a photo of the purple screes as heather from wasdale!

 

So tomorrow's Tuesday in this house, when I get back from Wales it's accounts day. With Chris turning 18 in less than 3 months it's all change on the financial front too. It's looking like the new routes section for OM will kick in just about the right time and take over from the payments I lose as he turns into an adult (allegedly). The idea at the moment is for us to hire a room in a pub or club somewhere in town for the evening for his 18th, with all his family and friends invited. Personally I'm amazed the pair of them have made it this far given the issues along the road. It can't be easy feeling abandoned by one mother, but when it's two it must start to make you wonder what you've done wrong. Luckily they've both grown up to realise that it's not their fault at all, and it'll be great to have their real family around to mark a special day. Before then there's Matt turnin 19!

 

Over the next week I'll take a look at next year, and the start of plans for 2011 and the "Big birthday". Plans at the moment range from crossing America on Harleys with the kids to trekking in the Himalaya. Even if I can't forget the past, or forgive certain things, there's a lot to look forward to and a lot I can still do alone.

What a warming sight - a caravan put to perfect use