I have no idea where this year has gone. It truly has flown by. It's November 30th and I'm sitting in the business centre of a hotel in Rosario in Argentina writing this GORR and by the time I get back everywhere will be festooned with Xmas decorations. It was only the end of summer really when I went over to America to work with Jon on the USA tour and now it's winter and Xmas!
December is never really as quiet as I expect it to be. I have five more days here in Argentina before embarking on the rather long trip back to Norfolk.....(from leaving the hotel to walking in my front door is around 25 hours, and I can't sleep on planes!)
The shows in Argentina have been wonderful. The people who have come to the shows have just been amazing. So welcoming and appreciative and that is so infectious when you're playing and Guy Protheroe and myself have just had permanent smiles on our faces since we arrived and had the first rehearsals.
When I get back though it's not "sit back and relax" whilst waiting for Xmas day, far from it. There's a piano show in Worthing, my annual Xmas show at the Granary in Beccles and a guest appearance on the 6th at Durham Cathedral for my great friend Sir Tim Rice, plus various other bits and pieces which pretty much fill every day up until Xmas Eve.
But preparation has already begun in earnest for next year and I am determined to set some goals which on paper may seem impossible, but with belief can hit reality. My new year's resolution is to listen more to "me" when it comes to the creative side of things and not people who really want to live their ideas through you. That doesn't mean I don't listen to anybody though as I have lots of very creative friends to bounce ideas off, it's just a matter of being polite to those who are not....and then ignoring them!
Looking back over the year it has been very full of positives and those are the areas I want to take into 2012. There's lots to hopefully look forward to and undoubtedly there will be a few surprises along the way. I'll do a proper forecast for the January GORR of both sensible and ludicrous predictions and then check them out at the end of the year to see how I did!
I very much want to thank everybody who has supported all the different areas I have been involved in and quite genuinely, I couldn't do any of it without your support and I do hope you're all still there at the end of 2012 or else I'm stuffed!!
Have a wonderfully fulfilling and happy Xmas and a new year of dreams fulfilled......and think of me still on the diet when the mince pies appear!!
Cheers,
Rick