So That Was 2016 (in words)

Posted By on 29th December 2016

Whatever words history uses to describe 2016 I don’t think ‘dull’ will be one of them. Locally, nationally and internationally it has been remarkable. As words go ‘remarkable’ doesn’t seem big enough to cover everything that has happened, but it will have to do.

Here at ‘Grassy Bottom’ the garden has undergone monumental changes, then just when we thought we’d made it through all the upset, Leonard died. We were both devastated.

Back in June we had the shock of ‘Brexit’. Since then there has been a procession of — well I don’t actually know what the correct word is, perhaps there isn’t just one, so I’ll use several words instead such as, ‘customs union’, ‘free movement of workers’, ‘border control’, ‘trade deals’, ‘single market’, etc. etc.

Adjectives to describe ‘Brexit’, which started off as ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ are getting ever more colourful. The last I heard it was going to be red, white and blue. Then there were Mrs May’s expensive leather trousers (brown). I wonder if they’re a metaphor??!!

Not being one who would normally say ‘I told you so’ remember what I wrote a couple of weeks before the referendum? Here’s an extract.

‘My natural instinct is to vote for the UK to leave as I believe we are perfectly capable of making it on our own.

Indeed if the ‘leave’ campaign won and at midnight on June 23rd someone could flick a magic switch so that when we all woke up on the 24th we were completely disentangled from Europe, that is exactly what I would do.

However, there is no magic switch and when I think of all the money and time that would be spent/wasted on the subsequent battle to disentangle ourselves, it makes me shudder.’

I’ll say no more.

It hasn’t been a good year for ‘celebrities’ either. It seems like every other day there has been news of another sad loss. Indeed in the last week alone we have lost, Rick Parfitt, Richard Adams, George Michael, Liz Smith, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. I can’t remember a time quite like it.

Then, just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, we now have the spectre of President Trump waiting for us in January. How can anyone take him seriously? And yet we must. How depressing is that?

What will the New Year hold? Judging by the last 12 months, it’s probably best we don’t know!

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