365 in the fish bowl...

Well it's 365 and what a Blippin' year it's been.

Blip has been amazing, such a fantastic community with so many talented photographers, many thanks to Joe and all concerned at Blip.

Well it's been a journey alright, as Missing hinted it was the catalyst for our departure from our mundane jobs (30 years combined) but it's brought about an exciting challenge too.
My 200th blip resulted in several members of staff being hauled into the MD's office to explain our actions! Imagine the scene, the MD, my boss and 3 other colleagues sitting in a room with 'the line up' on the screen! Interesting, however it was judged to be an excellent and humorous picture, but not welcomed in work time. Missing wanted me to appear with just the pants on, now that would have been embarrassing!
Missing and I discussed the situation and decided to activate our plans sooner rather than later. We had known for some time that our photography activities were being monitored but that just fueled our desire to leave. Our creative passions were slowly being squashed with a complete change of work style making us very unhappy. Resignations followed and after several attempts by our boss to make us reconsider, accepted with their best wishes for our future. Months of pondering resulted in an instant result, Karen and Sarah (the ladies in our lives - 1 each you understand) were fantastic and totally supported our actions 99.91%.

Life is too short to be so unhappy which leads me onto another reason for our change...
on a more serious note, this year has seen my dear friend Colin (my BEST MAN) beat his battle with cancer (apologies for my lack of commenting over the last few months but this has taken priority). I'm glad to say he is on the mend, in remission and is looking forward to spending christmas with us. This really hit home, one minute your up the next your knocked sideways, but that's life. Colin has been amazingly strong throughout his treatment and an inspiration to us all, in so much pain but fighting throughout. He enjoys viewing Blip (as he lives in America) and often comments on it's quality and it's source of 'home' news.

Thanks everyone for the escape that Blip gives us, the insight into peoples lives both good and bad, and for the laughs on those boring days! It's great to have someone who listens, well several hundred actually!

Special thanks to Sea Urchin, Red, Hope, G, Wingpig, Missing, Treegonk and Blip Mummy Chick Flick for their kind words over this year, very much appreciated.

Now go on, get on with your work before you quit your job too!

A few of my top snaps (in no particular order as they say):
Bluesheep
Kamran
dieseldaisy
Sea Urchin
Winpig
Sp33dway
Treegonk
T H O Giulianova
Joe
benek
MINE!!
Anonymoose
Jens
Croz
Jamielife
Dublin Shooter
Buddy Yamaha
Red
Hope
Flick
Mack
chaos
A Dog's Dinner
hiraeth
Somethings Missing
bugsman

Best comment:
'Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.' ?W. Clement Stone
- Sea Urchin