"To be an ideal guest, stay at home"

Wise words from E.W. Howe and I shall be following them tonight. It is the traditional time for reflection and so, for the the first time in the history of this blog, I shall indulge myself. [The Rhetorical Pedant is out of the office until January 6th and therefore has no comment to make.] Has it been a good year? Well if I ignore the no family, no home, no job stuff and overlook the bad case of shingles that I had then I can't really complain. As this blog's patron once said "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters" and, let's be frank, on this occasion Epictetus was talking out of his arse.

Anyway, on to a cultural round-up. Highlight of the year was without doubt Leonard Cohen. As I tweeted at the time (@gralhill should anyone be interested) I gave it seven stars out of five, which given that I'm a qualified accountant whose first degree was in maths is a bit embarrassing. Nonetheless it was that good. Theatre of the year was 'Tristan & Yseult' by Kneehigh at the West Yorkshire Playhouse which, I don't mind admitting, made me cry. Which considering that I'm a qualified accountant whose first degree was in maths is a bit embarrassing. [The Rhetorical Pedant's assistant is also on holiday.] Opera of the year is more difficult. As much as I enjoyed the Britten season and Opera North's continuing Ring Cycle, I am going to plump for Handel's Joshua.

Gaming wise it was a bit of a bumper year, both figure gaming and boardgaming. Wargaming wise I got to do a couple of things that I hadn't before - play with James' galleys and take part in a demo game at a show - and even from time to time felt that I had some grasp of the rules being played. My favourite was probably the Italian Wars stuff (Cerignola in fact) leading up to Triples, but it was all good. Boardgaming was always enjoyable although I would like to have played more games at the heavier end of things. Virtually everything I played was new to me and there weren't many that I wouldn't play again. I'm going to go for Love Letter as this year's game - and I know that it is anything but heavy so the Rhetorical Pedant's assistant's assistant can sit down again - because it is so minimalist and yet so good.

It only behoves me to say, once again, Gut Yontiff and to wish you all the best for 2014.

"Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which every man has some." - Charles Dickens