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Well, that's Christmas over and done with and already it's a new year - I've only just been getting used to 2006 and already twelve months have passed and it's time to start greeting colleagues, friends and family with the very mortal phrase of Happy New Year. I always like this time of year, there's a brand new, clean, unsoiled twelve months spread in front of you and you hope that this will be the year in which all your wishes for the future will come true; it invariably never quite goes the way you want it, but at least you can dream. Now is also a really good time to see what you've done in the past twelve months (since you last got drunk and sang 'Auld Lang Syne' at the top of your lungs) and see where you made mistakes and where life has taken you.

I look back at the past year and see quite a few changes. 2006 was very much like 2004 for me in at least one way, as it was another year filled with moving house. Big Ben had barely finished chiming in the new year and already I was spending hours packing crates, hiring removal vans and lumping and dumping everything I owned from one house in Stamford to another house in Stamford; exactly 42 paces away from each other. Then hardly a month after my birthday move number two began, we yet again packed up all our worldly possessions and put them into storage as we looked for a new place to live whilst staying with my very patient and understanding father in Bedford. Move number three came at the beginning of November and took about a month to complete as negotiating the two large staircases to our new flat in London was not something to be taken lightly. So 2006 was very much filled with crates, boxes and a lot of sweat, swearing and tiredness.

2006 was also the year that we added to our collection of household possessions and bought a Sofa; the house after move number one didn't come with one and after some months of sitting on the carpet the need to buy one of our own became all too apparent. We also welcomed back a old friend, after they had been away for a year, and said goodbye to Bryan Burrough; a pillar of Soho's community. 2006 was also the year that saw both [Neil], [Steve] and I take a keen interest in Urban Exploration (Urbex), with the infiltration of the [disused Old Warden railway tunnel].

Looking back, I've found that although my immediate surroundings have changed quite a lot we have still managed to hold on to some of our more ordinary habits which include going for a walk on Saturday mornings and preparing our evening meal together. I have to say that moving to London hasn't exactly been what I had hoped for and still find myself longing for the days that I lived in Stamford, but I'll see how things go and hope that 2007 isn't filled with any more house moves.

Happy New Year!