The rain pours outside the window and the wind howls early morning, but in a few hours the panels will be generating electricity, later this week new windows and doors will be installed as another step in making our home more energy efficient.
Looking back 2011 was the year when AFC Wimbledon returned to the Football League. The joy of Manchester in May and the initial pleasure of autumn has now been replaced by a new realism. Promotion has meant that we are minnows in a much better stocked pond. As I write we have taken just 3 points out of a possible 36 from our last twelve games. Our early season form is keeping us away from the relegation places, but the pack below are closing fast and we are being dragged towards the trap door. The next few months will see the story unfold. After 9 years of a near continuous upward march, the project may well stall. Fans accustomed to success need a sense of realism. There is the chance that we have founded our natural level. Ultimately we are a small club with approximately 3500 supporters, we are fan owned without any major source of outside finance, we need to understand that football has altered since our previous incarnation , Wimbledon FC progressed from the old 4th Division to the top of the league between 1977-86.
2011 saw Surrey CCC restore its position in the cricket world, winning the CB40 trophy final as underdogs at Lords, and probably of greater significance gaining promotion back to the top flight of 4 day domestic cricket. Good times have returned to the Oval. In August , England became the world's top test match playing country. This has been achieved over a number of years, but was confirmed after a 4-0 victory over India climaxing with the final victory at the Oval. It gave me real pleasure to wear an England cricket shirt when I visited the Sydney cricket ground in late November.
2011 saw us visit Greece as well as Australia and Singapore. At home in England we had time in Norfolk and Wiltshire. Gradually I'm becoming aware that it isn't the distance and amount of time away from home, that refreshes you. In the future short breaks may well replace the lengthy holidays.
In 2011 I had the pleasure of attending some excellent concerts. In no particular order, Rihmond Fontaine, Jason Isbell, Drive by Truckers (2), Elton John, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Madison Violet, Jim White,and Laura Marling. It was the year that I found the music of Laura Marling, her album " A creature I don't know " was bought by chance but has been played many times. Venues have ranged from the small Borderline for Madison Violet to the open space of Sussex County Cricket ground at Hove for Elton John, but the concert that stands out above all others was the appearance at Shepherds Bush Empire in May of Drive by Truckers. I'd missed DBT's last London show a couple of years back, and so I was backing up for lost time. The track that stands out for me from 2011 comes from the Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit album "Here we rest", it's the opening track "Alabama Pines". American artists are able to sing about their home areas in a way that seems to evade British singer songwriters. Alabama is a state I've never visited, but Jason Isbell is able to create images in the mind of the listener that a great piece of tourism marketing.
Finally 2011 has been a year of political disappointment. However more of this will unfold in the days ahead, the Christmas/New Year period sees politics take a breath, while the media tends to focus on other matters. So I'll do the same, and leave political analysis till later into January.
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