First post, the past...

We have to start somewhere I suppose. And on starting my first blog, where better than the beginning? Or at least, the recent past, so that anyone who chooses to read this will have some idea of what makes me who/what I am.

I am, at the time of writing this, 44 years old. Widowed in 2004, I am bringing up two children on my own. And as any parent knows, it's hard! Not wanting to become a drain on society (we've too many of those already) I work, as a writer & marketing consultant. It means I can work from home, and have reasonable flexibility in my working hours etc.

When I say to people who ask, "Mustn't grumble', or 'Things could be worse'. they sometimes look at me as if they're wondering 'How, exactly?'. But hey, it's the truth. Plenty of people out there have got things a whole lot worse than me and my fearless brood. The kids are smart, and for the most part they're happy. I think. I hope!

So why blog? Part of me thinks 'Why not? Everybody else is..' But that's probably not a good enough reason to do anything - if it were, I would also be phoning up Big Brother to tell them which housemate I'd like to not have to watch on TV any more, instead of just changing the channel when the really offensive ones come one. Which is not to suggest that many of them aren't offensive, of course!

But there needs to be a reason to share your thoughts with the wider world. When my wife first died I got into the habit of sending what are rather gauchely called 'round -robin' emails to friends and family, just to let them know how I was doing, and how the children were handling the huge shock they'd been dealt. But I think that in fact it was also to give me a channel to share my thoughts and feelings, and sometimes just to vent about how unfair the world sometimes seems (is?).

I noticed that I always felt a bit better when I'd sent off one of these missives to everybody I'd ever met, or spoke to, or had the email address of. So, how much better might this be, to write a blog? People can choose whether or not to bother reading it. They can even comment on it - though I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that idea. Like most people who write for a living, I don't respond especially well to criticism! Hmm, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

So what will it be about? My thoughts on what's happening in the world, I guess - hopefully written in a vaguely entertaining way. And why call it 'Whatever happened to..'? Nothing to do with the Likely Lads, I'm afraid. Homage to the Buzzcocks, maybe. Certainly a nod to the idea that, hey, everything changes. Sometimes too fast for us to appreciate it. But (he says with barely disguised irony) life goes on.