Feeding the ducks in Chelyabinsk

I went out for a walk just locally, everybody is really tired today after last night's celebrations so I have spent the day alone in my hotel room listening to music thinking, writing some song ideas.... and I went for a short walk to take some photographs.

I'm enjoying Boy George's new album, Petula Clark's new album, and Passenger today.

What what a year 2013 was I've listed all my international trips and gigs in reverse order!!!!
Chelyabinsk x 2
Malaga via Alicante (Christmas with family)
St Petersburg
Moscow
Manchester x 2
London x 7 including Pride in Trafalgar Sq
Cruise ship Bilbao to Lisbon
Albufeira Portugal
Riga Latvia
Brighton x 2
Yaroslavl Russia
Rostov On Don Russia
Rochester Kent
Novosibirsk Siberia Russia
Prague Czech Republic
Krasnodar Russia
Bali Indonesia
Sydney Australia
Melbourne Australia
Ekaterinburg Russia

On the home front Max's daughter Lola turned 18 this year, Zebedee turned 13 in Bali and Gulliver turned 10! My sister Alexandra also turned 50!

Zebedee changed secondary schools, it was quite tough for him but has proved to be the right decision and he is now really happy and doing very well at school which is great! Zebedee has also taught himself stop frame animation, he makes all the characters himself and animates them and puts them to music, he is so talented.
Gulliver is also doing well at school he has a reading age of 13.5, he just loves reading books and writing stories and he's also doing really well with his karate, I'm very proud of both of them.

I spent a lot of time in Brighton helping my mother clear her house which was a very emotional experience going through all the family history and spending time with her something I would like to do more of this year as well.

I bought myself a Pashley Britannia bicycle which I've named Penelope which I love.

I released quite a few records including Tears with the Freemasons which we also made a video for so I spent quite a bit of time with them this year they are fantastic people.

We had an amazing three-week holiday in Bali with the boys and met up with our friends Rachael and Kevin and daughters Caitlin and Lauryn there which was so fantastic. They also came to England and rented a house in Wimbledon for the summer so we were lucky to spend a lot of time with them and Rachael also came with me to Portugal with me which was such fun.

My brother Tom continues to improve post leukaemia having ultraviolet light blood transfusion treatments so I spent quite a bit of time with him after his hospital appointments in London, he also completed his short film this year which we sort Soho house which was a great moment share.

We have spent many happy hours in bushy Park and also at Kew gardens with family and friends, I also joined the Victoria and Albert Museum this year and I've loved all the exhibitions.

I've started a long time jazz project with my old friend Julian Nicholas which I'm really enjoying.

Thanks to my lovely friend Kate looking after the boys Max and I went to Stonehenge to celebrate my birthday which is on 21 June, the Summer solstice.

We used our bell tent in Wales for the first time where we stayed with my oldest friend Simone and her husband Nik and son Finlay in their garden, we saw badgers for the first time and laughed so much with our friends.

My friend Emma gave me four tickets to see The Wall at Wembley and I took my brother Tom and the boys it was the boys first big concert and they loved it.
Max and I have also seen Wilco Johnson, Stiff Little Fingers, Tenpole Tudor and the Men They Couldn't Hang... all fantastic gigs.

One of my gig highlights this year was performing for London pride in Trafalgar Square in front of 12,000 people with the stunning backdrop of the National portrait gallery.

I sang the title track to the Hollywood blockbuster Gravity and went to the cinema with Max and the boys and our friends Kate Tim and Charlie see it, it was really amazing!!

I had surgery on my shoulder - subacromial decompression - which took about a month out of my hectic schedule but it's healing well so that was good.

The sad things are...

My dear friend Jeb who I lived with when I first moved back to London when I was 24 who ran a nightclub called Singers and taught me so much about performing and songwriting and life died unexpectedly this year and although I haven't seen him for a long time it totally threw me.

The saddest thing of the year that has tainted everything is that we still haven't seen Ruby, Max's eldest daughter who is 25, we had an misunderstanding about three years ago with her and her boyfriend which has blown out of all proportion and nobody really seems to know how to put it right anymore. I sincerely hope that this year we can start to heal the rift because Max is so troubled and saddened by it and the boys really miss her and often cry about it. Max is in contact via email and they've had some nice exchanges over Christmas so fingers crossed.

I have so much to be thankful for, my amazing friends, family and colleagues, the indomitable and long-suffering Stewart my PA who is a rock but most of all my Husband Max who keeps me grounded and strong. His photography is going from strength to strength as is his artwork - I honestly don't know how he does what he does, he is without doubt one of the most talented people that I know and I'm very privileged to be married to him, he is amazing and I love him very much.

So Happy New Year to everyone, I wish us all peace, love, heath and happiness, healing, progress and new experiences in 2014 xxx