As we wind down towards new year and 2024, I am sticking with the old Barneteye tradition and having a look at the year in blogs. One from each month as the year progressed, trying to paint a picture of what 2023 was like. Yesterday I looked at my musical year. This is always less fun (for me at least) but possibly more enlightening.
This was a blog I'd been thinking about writing for the best part of a decade. It has come back to bite me as my son has been frantically decluttering ever since. I have realised that people who declutter are not artistic. Artists love mess.
A few thoughts on the 15 minute city concept and how living in Mill Hill is a realisation of that dream. This is why I have no desire to "move out" to the country and have a large house in a boring rural setting.
Regular readers will know that a long shadow was cast over this year. It was a "C" shaped shadow and this was where it all started to go pear shaped. I wish I could pick another blog for March, but sadly this, for me was pretty much the story of 2023.
One of my fave blogs of the year, from my London Symphonies series. I was given a box of old tat by my mate Richard Wilkinson, and I thought it would make a great episode of my London Symphonies series to enlarge on the story behind the pictures.
The moment when I realised that the situation regarding my cancer was far worse than I had hoped and an operation or radiotherapy were order of the day. It is a difficult blog for me to read back.
The big thing for me in June was the Mill Hill Music Festival, which was a brilliant success. A week of amazing music and I was pleased that I had no time to contemplate the other things in my life.
The most important blog of the year. My old mate John Sullivan had something very important to say about the death of his daughter. I wish I didn't feel obligated to write these sort of blogs, but what would be the point of it if I didn't. Six months on, John has had no answers and no justice. I guess the Covid enquiry has shown we were governed by narcissistic chancers, but we knew that already.
I had a radical prostatectomy in August. I wrote this blog on my back from the pre op assessment. In a funny way, it was one of the happiest moments of my year. I felt peaceful, I was resigned to what would happen and it was a beautiful day. Taking solace in such moments is what gets us through.
It seems only right to pay tribute to our guest bloggers by picking one for the round up. Sadly, the one I picked is Mark Amies. This whole thing has been going for far too long. As long as Mark sees fit to continue his campaign to save the hotel, we will support him.
Sadly, both the Tories and Labour seem intent on conspiring to force us to choose between two people I personally wouldn't trust running my whelk stall. I genuinely believe that if the Tories picked a credible candidate, they would win. Sadly Ms Hall is simply completely unelectable. Khan has been the worst Mayor by far. He never seems to speak for London, just his own narrow interests and agenda's.
A subject close to my heart. My views on why the licenced pub trade is dying on its feet. Sadly, I had a bitter reminder on Boxing day of why I wrote this. I went to a local pub and waited for 15 minutes whilst a rather surley member of staff stacked glasses before serving me. He was then extremely petulant towards another customer, who had been served cold food. I want our pubs to succeed, but what part of the word "Hospitality" do they not understand.
I wanted to finish this with some sort of affirmation that I'm still alive and kicking. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog. The fact that the False Dots are still going and releasing new music after 44 years is a miracle, so should be celebrated as one!
As we wind down towards new year and 2023, I am sticking with the old Barneteye tradition and having a look at the year in blogs. One from each month as the year progressed, trying to paint a picture of what 2022 was like. Yesterday I did my fave blog of the year and looked at my musical year. This is always less fun but possibly more enlightening.
January - Barnet Council Tories come clean on the failure of Capita.
It seems like a very long time ago when we had a Tory council. I beleive the damage they have done to the Borough will last for decades. In January, they finally came clean about the abject failure of Capita. Of course you had to read the council papers, it was never somehing they would trumpet, but sad person that I am, I did read the papers.
February - Boris 'Napoleon' Johnson faces his Waterloo!
An odd one, a blog that I started writing as an explanation of why I rejected a guest blog, morphed into what I thought was a pretty good analysis of the mind of Boris Johnson. The Daily Express was full of stories yesterday that Boris is coming back. Nothing would surprise me with the Tories, but they'd be bonkers, given that he landed them in the mess in the first place. February was around the time I realised that Boris's days were numbered.
March - The Greatest hits of the Barnet Eye week - Day 1 - Friern Barnet People's Library
March 22nd 2022 marked the 15th anniversary of the conception of my blogging career. I sent an email to Phil Crowther, editor of the Barnet Times, suggesting I could write a column about local music. After a years worth of nagging, I started writing a blog on the Barnet Times. The rest is history. I celebrated this last year, with a series of blogs andthis was the first. A blog about the Friern Barnet Library campaign. It was important to me, not least as this year was the 10th anniversary of the Friern Library campaign
April - Congratulations to Hadley FC on their promotion to step 4 of the Non League pyramid
This was a massive highlight for me. Hadley FC are my local non league team and this was a wonderful moment. I've been there for the journey and it was amazing.
May - TFL and Barnet Council conspire to cause traffic chaos in Mill Hill
The big news in May was the fall of the Barnet Tories after 20 years, but the blog I've chosen is one that had a far more immediate impact on hundreds of residents in Mill Hill. The absolute chaos and lack of planning by TFL and Barnet Council, who closed Pike Road to allow TFL to do Bridge repair works. Much of Mill Hill ended up in gridlock, as the true effects of this failure became clear. This blog lead the campaign to sort the cock up out.
June - I shed a tear as the Lancaster flew over Mill Hill for the Queen's Jubilee flypast
Back in June, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Jubilee and the Battle of Britain flight flew over Mill Hill. As my dearly departed Dad was a bomber pilot, I always shed a tear at this sight. The blog finshed with the words about my Dad.
All I have to remind me is a Lancaster passing over my head. Forgive me
my little tear. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is just about the last link I
have with that era. Long may she reign.
July - The Saturday List #353 - My Top Ten Ice creams, Ice Lollies and Ice Pops
Every so often I write a blog and it grows legs. This particular one inspired Mark Amies, a good friend of this blog, to do a slot about Ice Cream manufacturers on his slot on The Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London, that was very well received! It is noce when a fun blog hits the spot.
August - Happy Birthday to me - The big 6-0 arrives
This was big news for me, if no one else. It also included a taster of The Burnt Oak Boogie, which has become a massive local hit with it's accompanying video
September - Time to shake up BBC1's evening schedule - What I'd do if I was Director General
Regular readers will know that I am a regular listener to BBC Radio London and I'm none too chuffed with the changes the station's bosses and the schedule changes that they've made. In September I appointed myself Director General of The BBC and made some changes to the BBC1 TV schedule. It caused quite a stir amongst my Facebook friends, particularly one who was the Head of Light Entertainment at The BBC responsible for orignally cancelling Dr Who!
October - Guest Blog -Mill Hill memories - St Vincent’s Orphanage on the Ridgeway Mill Hill by Chris Fanning
In October, I was spoiled for choice, it was perhaps my most interesting monthly selection. I've chosen this wonderful guest blog by Chris Fanning about St Vincents Orphanage in Mill Hill. It is well worth a read.
In November, I chose to dicuss how a tragedy inspired my band to put together a great album. This blog is as much about supporting your friends as it is about music.
December - The shocking truth about the health care for vulnerable people in the Borough of Barnet in 2022
This blog is nothing if not about trying to right some of the wrongs in the Borough. We started with Capita, a folly that has destroyed the finances and the public spirited ethic of Barnet Council. We end with an appalling tale of bad housing, that hopefully we are on the way to sorting out.
If I am honest, this has not been a classic year for the Barnet Eye and the blogs I write. There's been some good stuff here, I've said some important things, but in truth I am more frustrated than ever at what is happening in the Borough. I am totally appalled at the lack of proper opposition to Barnet Labour from The local Tories. If they don't do their job properly, then it is good for no one. I've talked to a few local Tories and they say the same thing "It's terrible in opposition, you can't get anything done". This drives me nuts. I've stood for council three times and as someone who is a Lib Dem, the chances are that had I been elected, I'd always be an opposition councillor and I would love the platform to sort out some of the issues I blog about. They have to stop sulking, pull their finger out and get stuck into doing proper scrutiny.
I'll leave you withe the Xmas edition of The Burnt Oak Boogie video. If you like to see how our locality looks, check it out
In the intermission between Christmas and New Year, as a tradition I do a series of blogs where I reflect on the previous year. Generally, once I write a blog I forget all about it. So it's a good reminder for me as much as anything. Today we look at the year in blogs. I pick my favourite from each month of the year.
January.
A sad month for me. I lost my cousin Tessie Fanning RIP , who was my age and was a little ray of sunshine in my life. Tessie was born with Downs syndrome, the ninth of my Uncle Jimmy and Aunty Josie's ten kids. Growing up, her brother Greg, a year older than me, was one of my best mates. Although he's a Man Utd fan we've always got on well. I'd spend a lot of time at his house and got to know Tessie. You couldn't ignore her. I didn't realise it for many years but Tessie was proper punk rock without ever realising it, which was probably why I lovred her so much. In a house of Utd fans, she was an Arsenal fan. She never took any bullshit from anyone. If someone was droning on or irritating her, she'd tell them in no uncertain terms. She wore the clothes she wanted and did the things she wanted. I used to take her to Lourdes with HCPT group 560. She'd throw a strop if I didn't push her wheelchair or didn't sit next to her at dinner. She'd tell everyone I was her favourite cousin. She was mine (and I have a lot of them!). God Bless you Tessie. She taught me the most important lesson of all. Everyone matters, no matter who they are and what their challenges are. Tessie was in the care of Barnet Council social services. That is one reason why I've written this blog. For her and her friends.
February.
If I thought January was bad, February was terrible. The son of the drummer in our band took his own life. With lockdown, we couldn't give Graham the support he deserved or needed. His son was the second child of a close friend to lose their life. Another blow was that the other friend got the coroners verdict on their daughter in the same month. The family were not happy with the verdict. It tried to sum up my feelings in Suicide and young people - The unimaginable grief I'm not entirely sure I succeeded, but I tried. I actually shed a tear rereading this.
March
In March, I took the rather extreme measure of shaving my head, to raise awareness of suicide and mental health issues. I felt I had to make a statement to express my solidarity with my Graham and my friends Chris and Elaine who'd also lost their daughter - Suicide - Where can you get support when you need .. - did it do any good? I've no idea. In hindsight, I think I may have had a mini meltdown. I just felt that I needed to do something, but was completely impotent in the situation. In truth, the first three months of the year were horrible beyond belief. On putting this list together, I thought long and hard about whether I should feature these. In truth, I'd be totally dishonest if I'd picked one of the others. This was all I thought about at the time.
April.
So in April, I wrote a blog about how the past of our fine nation has given us the building blocks for a better future and why we need to honour the past and preserve the best of it, so we can learn the lessons. The blog The past is done. Lets fix the future gave me the opportunity to say a few things I've wanted to say for a long time about how we can use the building blocks of the past to make the future better. The blogs is primarily about architecture and how our local authority is at risk of making the same terrible mistake BR's management wanted to make in the 1960's when they decided to demolish St Pancras station, a decision that Sir John Betjemin lead a successful campaign to reverse.
You may be shocked by my answer. It is not enough.
June.
This was the month when normal life started to return. I saw my first gig for 15 months, the rather wonderful Ray Gelato at Ronnie Scotts - Lunchtime set 20 June... Whatever happens in the rest of my life, this will be a moment I will remember with affection. Ray was the perfect gig to mark my return to real music (ie with musicians playing in front of you). Ray is a wonderful guy. His music ain't gonna change your life, but it will damn well put a smile on your face. God Bless you Ray!
July
July was the month that I wrote the blog that got the best ever response. It was the 10th anniversary of the passing of Amy Winehouse and I wrote a blog about the Amy I knew. Amy rehearesed at our studios and we loved her. Total strangers sstopped me and thanked me for writing it. What more can I say The Amy Winehouse I knew at Mill Hill Music Complex...
In September I wrote a blog which really hit a nerve. I explained why I've never felt so terrified for the future in my life ... it's another one where people start telling me that they are glad I said it. It[s one of those moments that validate the efforts I put into this.
October
In October, the band went to Portugal to record an album. It was a blast. It was needed by all of us. It got me back to feeling like a human being. Needing a reboot when you are fifty nine, fat and falling apart ... My advice? get yourself a reboot. It was only reading Septembers choice that I realise how much this was needed.
November
It was a tough choice picking a blog from November. It is clear I'd got my mojo back! So I chose I may have taken my best ever picture of Mill Hill... which is something I'm proud of. There are some other crackers there.
