So here we are: the best of 2008!

Here is a brief & hurried best of 2008, in no particular order.

Kanye West with Olivia
Such a cool cool birthday present! Olivia and I went to see The Roots and Kanye West at Bercy in November. Highlights include the Roots playing "sweet child o' mine" by G 'n R and doing an epic, orgasmic 20 minute long bluesy, electro multi-vocal hysteria song. KW was just sexy and awesome : a massive one man show; especially loved Gold Digger ("but i ain't seen a woman in yeears" - Here I am Kanye!! scream two thousand women), Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Jesus walks and, of course, the Faster, better, stronger at the end when Bercy became a huge nightclub floor. Delighted to have converted Olivia a little bit more ;)
Brussels with Chook
And Lucyna of course. Great weather, a lovely city; the sites, the beer, the royal gardens, the walks and of course Europe Day, where we, Belgian, French, Polish and English drank and got stoned together outside the EU commission.
The drunken walk with the guys at Ampus
Epic standards of drunkeness in the countryside with my buddies. Never too old to be a careless teenager.
The travaux in the building
Our block of flats is now up to 21st century standards : repainted, no lead, with electric wires in the wall rather than swinging around, varnished staircase and repaired windows.
The beach in Bulgaria
Getting slapped by huge waves on a sandy beach in very hot sun with the Chook, does not get better...
Seeing my parents sing in the South
I should add very, very drunkenly, swaying and laughing wit their old friends. Nice, though cringeingly embarrassing at the time.
Runaway 1&2
The best point and click games around. Funny, tropical and insane. Hoping number 3 will come out in 2009...
Faites rentrer l'accusé
A cult programme for nerds in France. You follow the story of a murderer, serial killer, rapist or other. The programme starts with the crime and follows all the police investigations (and cock ups), the media reports, the interrogations, the arrests and of course the whole legal kaboodle, from trial to verdict. Great stuff and am firmly addicted.
Finding a job I enjoy
Teaching rocks, despite my contract not getting renewed. The rumour has it that I am too "revolutionary" and that my employers feared I might join the Union to complain about salary and other aspects. They're mad. This is probably due to the fact I mentioned it was illegal not to pay us for training and made sure everyone read and understood their contract before signing.
Seeing James and Pak in the summer
I don't see these guys often enough, bit it was great to meet Pak and be able to have a long drunken conversation by the canal in summer with my fave Dude.
Diminishing coffee intake.
Incredible. No longer feel nauseous, depressed, sick. No more diarrhoea and can sleep at night! A revelation.
Barack Obama
Nuff said about that.
My fave books of 2008.
Salmon fishing in the Yemen, A thousand splendid suns, Pillars of the earth, What Einstein told his cook, Waiter rant.
Oysters in Bordeaux
Chook and I are sitting on the banks of the Gironde in Bordeaux, on a terrace by the food market and close to an oyster stall. We slurp oysters and eat brown bread bought at a bread stall, drinking a cold white tavernier wine from the Gers (6 oysters and a glass of plonk is 6 euros). The december sun is blazing and we eat, read and drink in a crisp, warm, drunken stupour.

and the worst: my Samsung phone(why didn't I buy Nokia??), regularly getting up before dawn for work, coming down with flu for the first time in three years, swiss chard in the veggie box, putting on about 4 kilos, getting "fired' for the first time in my life.