Project 365 #365: 311223 History Repeating

On Christmas Day in 1990 this lucky boy got his first car. My parents got me a 1.6 Litre Mk5 Cortina Crusader. This year they did the same, albeit it at a somewhat different scale! The mighty Wolf was white, whereas this model is silver but otherwise Corgi have done a brilliant job on their Vanguards series model. The paint is a bit iffy in places and the plastic bumper trims don’t really line up properly. It’s incredible that they’ve captured that degree of realism in such a small model! A lovely gift to add to my collection. An interesting legacy of that gift is that to this day, 33 years later, my insurance renewal date remains the 25th of December!

As is my tradition this is the day when I post a little bit of a round up of my year. I feel like we’ve not had much to celebrate in recent years, so I should start by recognising that 2023 has, despite a really shitty bout of Covid, been pretty kind to me. Given the turmoil of the twenties so far, that’s definitely important to note!

We should probably start in September, when I celebrated a milestone birthday and enjoyed a very lovely daytime party. That of course meant that my peers were doing the same, with Si in November and Viki in December, of course not forgetting Bex who in her blooming youth is ten years behind me.

In seemingly every year there are some sad partings. In October Everton lost their Chairman, Bill Kenwright, as recorded in one of many football related notes from our Postman, Steve, who is a staunch Red but without the hatred that often goes with it. Closer to home, we shared some pain with Karen in June when she lost her Mum in difficult circumstances. July would also bring me what proved to be my final photo of Viki’s venerable cat, Bramble. Other friends have experienced profound loss this year too, and my thoughts are with them all.

More welcome than the partings are the meetings, and this year I was happy to make the acquaintance of Apex the lizard, and Viki’s new furry houseguests, Luna and Leda. I met some other people too, but not on camera!

I don’t think I got to any weddings in 2023, but I did crash a wedding shoot, or maybe an engagement shoot, and I offer my best and warmest to this happy couple in Helsinki!

Another year sees the kids getting older and taller, as
demonstrated by Ethan, Olivia, Robert and Niamh!

This is always a good opportunity to celebrate firsts, and 2023 did bring me a couple. Somewhat dragged by Kylie, I went to my first WSL football match to see Everton’s women lose to Aston Villa. I don’t think I’ve seen them win yet, so I’m not a good omen but it was a great experience. Kylie must have thought so too, as it was her first game as well and she’s now a season ticket holder at City! A lovely Christmas present from Mike was a full service on the car, and on that day I got a loan vehicle and drove my first electric car. It was a very positive experience - I just wish I could afford one! My other really memorable first was reaching the Arctic Circle for the first time. That was a wonderful trip. Incidentally, and pretty much by total accident, in the same week I also attended my first political protest!

My trip to Finland in February saw more new exploration as we went to ride the new tram system in Tampere and had great fun exploring the new Metro stations on the Western Extension.

It's never a good year when I don’t get to see Jonemac at some point, and this year I managed it twice. On the second occasion we were at a historic rally event and it rained. A lot.

And speaking of weather, we got two or three days when we saw snow, but the day in March was just bizarre! Conditions were treacherous, even from such a light fall, and our efforts to clear it were only making things worse. We ended up closing the school, which was absolutely the right decision. And yet six hours later...all gone. Crazy.

As I’ve perhaps lamented too often, what I’m very light on this year is beautiful photos. I’ve taken some good stories, but not many photos that I’m particularly proud of artistically. Still...I can pick a favourite, and it’s this one. We live in a world where our senses are increasingly assaulted by ever noisier, shoutier, flashier things. This shot across the frozen sea at Kalasatama actually forces the viewer to stop and look, just to see what’s going on. Maybe that’s a lesson we can all take to heart.

It's not my defining shot of the year though. This year we saw two big occasions, both in May. The first was the Coronation of King Charles III. Whatever your thoughts on the King, and the monarchy in general, this was - historically - a big deal. For most of the population it was the first coronation they had seen and, as people at historic events have often said, it’s hard to realise the magnitude of the occasion when you’re there! It’s true that we’ll not be waiting seventy years to see another one, but I think we honoured it with the right sense of occasion.

The other massive event, in Liverpool at least, and my defining moment of the year, was Eurovision. For all of its high campness and frivolity, Eurovision 2023 was a genuinely momentous occasion. Liverpool is no stranger to foreign visitors, and I certainly have warm memories of visitors to the Euro 96 tournament. Most of our hosting is sporting, and with sporting events, particularly football, there’s always that little bit of needle. At Eurovision, everyone just wanted to party! The visitors were SO diverse and SO friendly, and the City invested balls deep in the opportunity. The vibe around the city was just incredible, and so warm. It was light years away from the horrible, divisive political nonsense that the last six years or so has brought us, and it felt good to be alive. I learned later that one of the things that made Liverpool such a spectacular place to host was the fact that the competition venue, the contestants’ village and accommodation and the amazing fan zone were all right next to each other, and that’s not really been able to happen before. I remember speaking to a couple of women from Newcastle who said “We were on the shortlist, but we’d never have been able to deliver that. Liverpool has been amazing.”

What a lovely note to end the year on! If you’re still reading, thanks for staying with me. Happy New Year!

Taken on: December 31, 2023

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Corgi Vanguards

Mk5 Cortina

Model

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Sets appears in: • Project 365 2023

Camera: motorola moto g 5G plus, f/2.4, 1/50 sec, 1.9mm, ISO 269 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	motorola moto g 5G plus
Aperture:	f/2.4
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	1.9mm
ISO:	269
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Light Source:	D65
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Picasa
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