End of year missive 2004

"Hello all"

Will 2004 be a landmark year? I have been angry and depressed by World events but happy and elated in my own little World. Oh! Dear, how pretentious, I have to be careful what I say after all the comments on Radio 4 about Christmas 'round robins'.
After an extended Christmas holiday I finally washed up on the shores of the Liverpool Design Initiative, a small organisation that promotes the designer/maker creative industry. Great office in the Tea Factory, one I share with the Arts Council, Royal Institute of Architects and the Liverpool Biennial Art team, great colleagues and a great job but one that is so frustrating because the opportunities are great and no one shows any initiative! However, the Designers Block exhibition in London was great, a week of hard work but it was like a cross between a design show, the Edinburgh Fringe and Glastonbury - even the music was good and the beer was free.
Pacificstream has landed more EU projects and I have enjoyed trips to Burgas; Bulgaria, Bilbao, Larrisa; Greece and Lisbon. The visit to Bulgaria was interesting with a 6 hour rail journey across the country to the Black Sea - walking on the beach 70ºf in February! Joan accompanied me to Lisbon and outside the meetings we were able to explore the city and wonder at some bizarre religious art
Ellen had a very successful GCSE year and is now at 6th Form studying, maths, English, French and environmental science, as she is an avid reader of the Ecologist she could be going in this direction. She is also a member of Shropshire Youth Orchestra and off to the Edinburgh Festival next year.
Little Joe is still growing and is the size of a small dog - in fact I think he thinks he is a dog, he is still bringing sticks in!
Joan is still pursuing her research - and is down at the British Library as I write; though not enjoying it as she has the flu. She has started some part-time teaching to Foundation art and HND students at Runshaw College, Chorley. The new band, Tomcatz, is great with superb musicians, Phil ex sound engineer for the Smiths (and Andy Pandy!), Roger on vocals ex mate of Mark Almond and Trevor the guitar wheeling hairdresser
" …driven along by our own Lady Joan who gets better all the time and does not need to rehearse like other mortals!"
All are looking forward to the Christmas Eve gig. Joan has new Rickenbaker JetGlow guitar, purchased from Ebay which included an adventure to Glasgow to pick it up and yes it was there, we weren't mugged and it’s the genuine article.
We had visitors from Norway at the beginning of the year when Geir and Anita were over and in the summer Mark, Feng, Jenny and Glynn were over from Oz. This included a trip to St Michael's and fortunately the weather was good.
The New Year is a new adventure for me as I start my own company, I move into Digitalinc a business unit managed by John Moores University. I will be supporting design firms wishing to be involved with EU research and development funding - sounds a bit dull but I will be working in a very motivated environment with young companies and there is a lot of funding available. I need to take advantage of the last years of Objective 1 money for Merseyside and exploit the initiatives that will engage with Eastern Europe. I'm hoping to work on a project with Western Siberia!
Hey! Almost the bottom of the page without mentioning the US elections - what a disaster, what a fool! How could they do it…?