So here I go...

"This year has been rubbish."

"What? What? How can you say that? We've survived school, faced plenty of trials and tribulations, and we're all just fine. And we won the Ashes!"

"We did, didn't we? We really did. Who'd have thought that Kevin Pietersen would have been the source of my happiness this year?"

. . . . . . . . .

And so it's nearing the end of yet another year. Therefore I'm perfectly justified in being just a little philosophical about everything that's happened because, as someone once said, whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

And so, in no particular order, here are just a few of the highlights of my life from this long, laborious year:

1) Indeed, we won the Ashes. Now, I know very few people (certainly the ones I know) actually care about this. But in my house, for us cricket fans, it really was a big deal. We needed a hero. Who thought five years ago that it would be Freddie Flintoff? Indeed, who thought it would be Kevin Pietersen?

2)And hopefully forever entering the fold of competitive cricket went my own personal hero, my brother Matt, wicket-keeper extraordinaire, and his band of merry men. Spending the summer afternoons with them was a joy, as was hanging out at them at the festival:

And so I should introduce you: on the front row, left to right, is James, Prykey, my brother Matt the glovesman, Alex, Ali and Marcus. And at the back, Lalit, Theo, Will, Reece, Harry and the fabulous Ash. And of course, on the very end, my Dad. Ahem.

3) I've survived year 11 of school, the toughest year of my school career, and I've come out of it with more knowledge than I will ever need to use in real life. I've finished my formal composition, and even managed to perform it, vomit-inducing though it was. I've worked hard, and I'm proud of what I've done. It might be a pain in the arse, but you have to go, so you may as well learn something, right?

4) I've, for the first time, properly made friends with Simon, and promptly fought and fallen out with him. But we end the year on good terms: I shall start 2006 as I wish to go on.

5) And as for all my other friends? Well, they've been as fantastic as I could ever have hoped. And I love them all to bits.

6) I've discovered Kate Bush, and started on the long pathway to eccentricity, singing Aerial all the way... 'What kind of language is this?'...

7) Matt and I are finally as close as our parents wished us to be; to say I'm proud of him is an understatement. He is, in my opinion, the best cricketer in the entire universe, bar none.

8)Thanks to Mr B, I've painted more paintings this year than I would ver have thought possible, and thanks to the collective efforts of every English teacher, I've read a freakish amount of books. And my recommendation, my favourite of the entire year, would be: well, there are two. Stanley and the Women and Regeneration.

9) This year I had the best summer I can remember. It was wistful, and peaceful. It was full of optimism for everything ahead; the kind of time I used to have when I ws young, before I had so many worries and adolescent problems. Just knowing that I can still have that kind of time, even now, gives me so much faith in the future.

10) And, schoolwork aside, I've learnt something. And, as Johnny Borrell so eloquently sings: "You can do anything you want because darling, it's your life."

And it is.

. . . . .

"Don't go round the houses...

...Just come back to me."

Merry Christmas!