Dave's Progress. Chapter 99: Now That It's All Over.

OK, so the title of this post may sound a little bit like a song title, and if it isn't one already, then it should be. But of course I refer to the recent debacle that was Christmas and the New Year. I hope yours went well, because, somewhat surprisingly, mine did. On Christmas day I visited my brother and also saw many of my cousins who I had not seen in quite a long time. It was nice to see them all, having grown now into mature adults, all doing their own thing and making their way in the world; some as teachers, some as burgeoning academics and others who were simply travelling the world and trying to see all they could before being bludgeoned back into their everyday lives.
And so it was that at the back of my mind my old friend "status anxiety" began to kick in. My cousins are all younger than me, but despite this seem to have achieved far greater things than I. One, in particular, has virtually travelled the world now, speaks two languages fluently, has written a book and will probably be involved in organising events throughout next year's Olympic Games when they arrive in jolly old Britain. I could not help but feel, then, a slight twinge of not just status anxiety, but the plain old green-eyed monster himself, jealousy.
But then, a feeling of unassailable hope overtook me. They had all grown into such nice people, and they all made me feel, despite knowing about my own troublesome and unhealthy past, welcome and indeed, somewhat pampered. It kind of warmed my cockles (ooh err, missus) to know that none of them even paid the slightest attention to what I have been diagnosed with, and I was to them just "David", a member of their extended family.
So, if any of them ever read this blog, may I wish Ruth, Beth, Peter and Tom all the very best for this year. And particularly to Tom, as he has had to put up with health problems of his own for the last few years. And to their parents also, who I have known since I was born, really, and have always been generous and supportive and who remind me often of years gone by when things seemed so much simpler and the older generation of our family was still around.
Basically, then, it's warm and fuzzies all round, and now that it's all over I think I'm feeling confident that 2011 will be a good year, despite, to end on a political note, the unnecessarily severe and stringent cuts being made by old Dave Cameron and his government. A friend of mine recently referred to the now incumbents as the "bankocracy" and feels that the cuts being made are not only unnecessary, but are a way of undermining the welfare state, a process which he refers to, in true Marxist fashion, as a process of "accumulation by dispossession". But let's not let that deter from the positivity I feel. After all, with students now enraged, who knows how many others will be, and as my friend said- "aux barricades"!
That's all for now from your normal, average paranoid and delusional man.