2009 ... the strangest year of my life

As I sit here in a snow bound house my thoughts have turned back to last year.  What a strange and eventful year it was.   Not a type of year that I would like repeated any time soon!

The year was only a few months old when I should of guessed this was not going to be the best of years.  Through my old job I used to get invited to the Commonwealth Day Reception at Marlborough House in London.  This reception is attended by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and in 2008 I had actually got to meet the Queen.  As an aside I was also introduced to President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda but had no idea who he was at the time!  I was invited again to the 2009 reception but had to cancel at the last moment as my youngest daughter was unwell.  It seemed disappointing to miss out at the time but this all seemed insignificant in the days to come. 

We took her to the GP but were told it was just a bug that was going round and that she would get better.  A couple of days later and she had got worse and was no longer drinking and her nappies were dry.  I was at work and my wife took her to the doctors again.  I set off for home but got the call that this time they had referred her to the hospital and diverted to meet them there.  After finally getting seen by a consultant she was admitted as she had a very bad case of tonsillitis, had a fever and was not taking any liquid.  After going home to change I returned to stay at the hospital with my daughter.  I have to say that it was one of the longest nights of my life watching your daugher stripped to her nappy being given regular doses of medicine and liquids almost hourly.  I never felt so helpless and worried.  Fortunately the treatment worked and she is fully recovered with no lasting consequences.  However I still worry what would have happened if we had just taken the advice of the GP that it was just a bug and not to worry and not taken her back...

Work throughout the first half of 2009 had been a struggle.  The downturn had made the market difficult and we had a fair share of disappointments with bids and tenders usually ending up a close second.  Well this had seemed to turn around with a couple of high profile wins in June.  However this was too late to save me and I was made redundant along with a significant number of other partners.  At the time it was a real knock to my self confidence.  I had never been out of work in my career and had no idea what the future held.  But before long you quickly realise that you are not the only one.  Not only did my fellow blogger and good friend Paul get made redundant earlier in the year but both my and Mrs D's sisters husbands have been made redundant and other people I have know.

What made it a more uplifting experience was all of the positive words that I received from friends, colleagues and clients.  This really helped and I can only say thank you to everyone who did for making the time to do this.

On a less positive note it can begin to feel a very lonely place when you are out of work.  As I said back in an earlier blog (click here) you can feel forgotten and a slight disappointment was that despite a few excellent exceptions (Paul and Kev to name a couple) I didn't hear from many people for the period I was out of work.  A phone call, text or a quick email was all that was needed.  I definitely felt like old news at times.

I also loved having quality time that you never normally get in your working life to spend with my family and to be able to do the school run for the first couple of months of my eldest daughters first year at school (see link to original blog).

More positive news came with the consultancy project that this blog has covered in depth and then the year ended on a high with me getting a new job that is exciting, very different to anything I have done before and so varied every day (due to confidentiality agreements I cannot say anymore on this blog!).  I know that I have been very fortunate compared to others in a similar position and I am very thankful for that.


I am not sure how I will look back on 2009 in a few years time but now I quite glad to have left it behind in the old decade and be in a new year.  2010 should be a challenging but very exciting year ahead!