2017 - a year of round anniversaries

This year will see several round-number anniversaries which have a personal significance for me.

On 6 February, I will have been living in Jeziorki for 15 years. A very good choice of places on this planet to live, given its proximity to the thriving Capital City of Warsaw and yet its near-rural character. Over the years Jeziorki has done nothing but improve, albeit at a pace that could do with acceleration (cf. pavement for ul. Karczunkowska).

This Lent, which begins on Wednesday 1 March and ends on Sunday 16 April, will be the 25th one in a row I've done seriously, quitting alcohol and various other indulgences for 46 days. If I live to be 110, this will be the one factor that I shall proclaim led to my longevity. That and genes. For which I'm truly grateful.

On 1 April, I will have been blogging for 10 years. When I started, it was only meant to have been a year-long experiment, but through blogging more than any other social media, I have found my voice - and realised my limitations. I know I can write and take photos reasonably well - but I cannot work with moving pictures or with sound recordings. Ah - and in late February 2007, I bought my first digital camera, so ten years of digital photography too. More on this later this year.

On 22 July, I will have been living in Poland for 20 years. I'll be posting now and then over this year about some of the contrasts that have occurred over since 1997.

Sometime in September, I will have been working for the BPCC for 15 years, and the BPCC itself will be celebrating its 25th anniversary. Next year, in September 2018, I'll have been working here for 16 years, beating my 16 years at the CBI (September 1981-June 1997).

On 4 October, I turn 60. [A biggie this, brought home to me with force by the fact that from that day on, for the rest of my life, I am eligible for a 30% discount on rail travel in Poland.] A bit of "ARRRGH!", a bit of  "Thank God I'm wiser than I was".

2017 is the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, hippies and the counterculture revolution. Which I vaguely remember from old black & white newsreels.

2017 is the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Punk, which I remember totally because I was there. [Incidentally, I missed the 40th anniversary of my first punk gig, the Sex Pistols supported by the Clash at Lanchester Polytechnic. This appears to have been in late-November 1976.]


This time last year (apt for this anniversary-related post):
Walking on frozen water

This time two years ago:
Fireworks herald 2015 in Jeziorki

This time three years ago
Jeziorki welcomes 2014

This time four years ago:
LOT's second Dreamliner over Jeziorki

This time five years ago:
New Year's coal train

This time eight years ago:
Welcome to 2009!

This time nine years ago:
Happy 2008!