Annual Review 2007

It's time for a news round-up, once again.

2007 was a busy year for us. We moved house, travelled a lot, had many guests and celebrated a couple of important occasions. This was also, for me, the best year of my writing so far.

Here's the quick update :

January

• Returned from India trip,
• had my first essay published in the CSM,
• another one in Releasing Times and
• moved house.
• Saw a breathtaking performance of Swan Lake on Ice.

February :

• Writing-World.com published an article
• Feature on meditation published in an Indian in-flight mag
• We had heavy snowfall
• Saw the exhibition on Chola Bronzes at the RAA.
• We had a disastrous VD dinner - next time we stay at home, away from conniving restaurants.

March:

• Saw the marvellous Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery
• Saw'Becoming Jane' at the local cinema.
• We go to a concert by the Berlin Phil at the Barbican
• See a performance by the LPO at the QE Hall.

April :

• A second article published by Writing-World.com,
• we started a Save the Tiger blog and
• spent Easter in sunny Venice.
• We spend a Sunday at the London Zoo (and come back with a few hundred photographs - the zoo is a must see for anybody.)
• Saw a wonderful performance by Joshua Bell at Reading.

May:

• Bank holiday trip to Granada.

June :

• Our local church celebrated its 50th anniversary - Mr.R played the violin at the concert.
• My family came to visit and hopefully had a good time.
• Elsewhere, England drowned in summer rains.

July:

• I passed my theory test with 100% marks.
• An essay on the countryside was shortlisted in a contest.

August :

• Proms on.
• We spent a fun afternoon at the Roald Dahl museum,
• my blog was listed on the Guardian Abroad site,
• we travelled to Berlin and Florence/ Pisa.
• Read the last HP book with bated breath and was disappointed - liked the 6th book more.
• Got hooked on Facebook.

September:

• Went to a performance by the Vienna Phil ,
• painted my first oil,
• went on a hot air balloon ride.
• The first of my career columns appears in an Indian inflight mag.

October :

• Travelled to India.
• Celebrated Mr.R's mum's 75th birthday.
• Went to B'bay to help with baby brother's wedding preparations.
• Mr.R takes an adventurous trek to the Dudhsagar waterfall.
• I have three articles in print in an Indian in-flight magazine
• Mr.R receives his first magazine credit for his photographs.
• While on holiday, I'm asked by the editor if I can write one of the cover stories for the Dec issue, which I do.

November:

• Baby Brother & the Namesake get married.
• Mr.R gets conjunctivitis two days before the wedding and (almost) recovers just in time after major panic.
• We come back a few days later.
• My career column continues to be published.
• Dignity Dialogue mag reprints one of my articles.
• The Guardian emails me to confirm acceptance of an essay.
• We see a fantastic performance by Perlman at the Barbican.
• And I loved watching Chak-de.

December :

• My copy of the Countryside Tales Winter Edition arrived, with my essay.
• We spent the month enjoying our first Christmas in England (including carol singing at shopping malls)
• Took a weekend trip to Bridgnorth to be with friends,
• had a big Christmas lunch and
• spent NY's eve with friends.
• Midnight mass was lovely with carols and all, but I was surprised to see people rather 'under-dressed'. In India, Christmas is the big day and (almost) everybody wears new/good clothes. Here it was like regular Sunday mass - jeans, tshirts and cardigans. It was only the oldies (or it seemed like) that brought out their suits and good coats.
• The shock of Benazir Bhutto's assassination still lingers.
• My Dec cover story in the inflight mag looks great!

Here's looking to 2008! May this year bring us health, happiness and lots of writing contracts :)

Annual Review 2006
Annual Review 2005