The Year in Review: January 2009

So I've decided to try and make a start on practising regular blog writing by giving a review of some of the highlights/lowlights/no-particular-strong-feelings-either-way-lights of 2009, both for me personally, and for the world in general.

The idea I have is that I will write about each month of 2009 on the corresponding day of January 2010 (e.g., I'm writing about January on today, the first, July would be on the 7th, December on the 12th, etc). Though I'm making no guarantees about that - it could be very difficult as I have no internet access at home, and I'm planning on handing this computer (at work) over for upgrading/maintenance in the next couple of days. But we shall see.

So, without further ado, here is the year in review.

January

1. Return of the prodigal daughter.
On a personal level, the most significant part of January was that my time overseas came to an end. I spent New Year's at Hogmanay in Edinburgh, then meandered back south to London via Whitby and Middlesborough to catch my flight back home. Post-Whitby this was complete with an extremely heavy and gigantic ammonite that I found there - all the way back to Australia in my hand luggage.

See my Flickr photostream of Whitby.

I had a great time overseas, but by the time I left I was really ready to be home. I think the longest I stayed in any one place was about a week, and the constant moving araound, not to mention the schlepping of my giant and very heavy suitcase everywhere, had me really ready to just be in one place. And if it's got to be one place, there's no place like home, right?

2. Barama: A New Hope.
I heard a journalist stumbling over his words one time call Barack Obama "Barama" - which I enjoyed so much that I like to resurrect it every now and then. As far as nicknames go, I think it's a catchy one.

This was a significant event, not just for the US, but pretty much for the whole world. Regardless of how the term of office actually turns out, it's moments like these that keep people believing in government - moments of idealism when it seems that politicians can make the world a better place - can, and will, and will erase the mistakes of the past with their vision of the glorious future. Of course, in actuality it rarely turns out like that - we discover that every politician must compromise, we don't agree with the decisions they make, we want them to go further with things . . . But there'll always be that moment of heady optimism when it seems anything is possible.

3. Global Financial Crisis
The continuation of the GFC meant that worldwide, jobs were folding, banks were foreclosing, and it seemed the sky was going to fall on our heads. Like other places in the world, wide-scale recession seemed imminent for Australia, and there was a general feeling of waiting for the storm of impending doom to hit.