2026 has arrived. 2025 can now finally piss right off.
I had a lot of ideas for this first post of the year, but - now that the day has arrived - I am a bit lost in the direction I'd like to take this.
First things first, I usually have the 'Year in Preview' post put up each January 1st. That's all written up and ready to go live on the 2nd.
Another thing I'd like to point out is the fact that, as of today, this very blog is twenty years old. It's hard to believe that, isn't it?
And now I get to give 2025 a send off.
It wasn't a good year.
It saw me lose a few childhood/young adult favourites in Sabu and Hulk Hogan. I know that the latter became a controversial figure over the past few years. I cannot overlook the fact that he was the guy I rooted for when I was a child. I would not be the wrestling fan I would later become were it not for Hogan.
Going by memory, other names we lost last year were David Lynch, Ricky Hatton, Brigitte Bardot, Ozzy Osbourne, Jim Irsay, Adam the Woo and other folk I am sure I'll remind myself of over the coming days.
Personal to me - I lost my aunt in the latter part of '25. She was the final aunt I had left after losing a handfuls of relatives over the past five years or so.
I cannot and will not write about 2025 without mentioning the loss of one of the people who became one of the best friends I'll ever have: Vicki.
Yes, I wrote about Vick's passing over the summer. I'd like to share one final story about Vick and 2025 today.
As I've already told those who read the post after Vick left us, she and I would play in a weekly NFL pick 'em contest she signed up for with a local radio station to her. I'd give the guesses and she'd enter. It was always fun to get together and occasionally wind her up when I'd get her to bet against the Bills (I gave my reasons!) but I feel I fairly bet against the Colts (I suppose I did that more than bet against the Bills) if the need arose.
I had to find a different contest this season. I entered it using the name 'Picks For Vick' which are the words I have as a reminder on my phone that would go off each week to summon me to get our picks in. As I wrote in August, it never came to the point where either of us forgot, I just had it scheduled just in case.
Anyway, I found a new venue and kept the reminder on my phone to alert me to get the picks in.
In late-September, I received an email from Jack Daniel's. I have been on the company's mailing list since the 1990s. I was quite popular with that company (if I say so myself) because they'd send me gifts every now and again. The gift giving ended quite some time ago, but I'm still alerted - by email - to new products whenever they become available.
The autumn communication pointed out that there was a new blackberry flavour coming out. To find out where it would be exclusively sold, I had to click on the link in the mailer.
It directed me to the Tesco website. I looked around and came across a little advert on the page for the drink. Take a look for yourself.
'For Those Who Know How To Pick Em.'
'Wow, ' I thought. 'I have to try a bottle of that. For Vick'.
It got even more funnier, though. A bottle was £25, so I thought I would buy it with some of the royalties I had received from the sale of my book (one of the only shining lights from 2025 to be fair). All I had to do was wait for the time when I'd order a Tesco delivery.
I didn't need the royalties money, though. A few days after coming across the bottle, and knowing its price, £25 randomly appeared in our bank from the Premium Bonds. We did not win £25 that month, so I had to ring up to see if they had made a mistake. The persons I spoke with on the phone couldn't work out where the money had came from so it was all a bit confusing. I wanted to draw attention to it just in case we got into trouble for not informing them of a potential error in their system.
A day after I phoned them up, so I likely should have waited, I received a letter informing me that a prize I had won in January 2025 had been re-estimated and I was due an additional £25.
So - that's where it came from.
It was a bit surreal. I needed £25 for the bottle and £25 magically appeared in my account. I know there are some out there who might disbelieve this story, but I swear this is, to quote Tupac under his Makaveli alias, 'the realest s**t I ever wrote'.
With that all said, when the bottle was finally added to my trolley, I purchased it for £18.50 because of a Tesco Club Card discount.
Double bargain!
I have had the bottle here with me since the top end of October. I thought the only appropriate time to have the first glass of it had to be to toast Vick as we saw off 2025 and entered 2026.
To quote 2Pac yet again, I'm going to 'pour out a little liquor'. Here goes:
Oh wow. It's nicer than I had expected.
There's a bit of a blackberry hit immediately after you taste the whiskey, which is quite pleasing. I genuinely thought I would dislike the taste, so had a can of Pepsi on standby just in case. I may as well put the cola away because this is a decent drink.
I haven't touched Jack Daniel's whiskey in a long time. The most recent occasion - that I can recall - was when I was given a small box of miniatures for Christmas many moons ago. I had never ventured into the special flavour JD wilderness until this morning. Or, to be precise, when I bought the bottle in October.
You know what would be better than Blackberry, though? And Vick would know where I'm going with this... blue raspberry!
Heck, I've had a few sips of this and I'm now wondering what it would taste like with Pepsi added. Ha, I'm going to try that even though I decided against it a few paragraphs ago.
Hmm, nah - I prefer it without cola. The sweetness of the blackberry hit I mentioned from the straight sips are lost with the addition of Pepsi.
That's me done for the night. I did what I wanted to do: toasted my friend as the new year began.
One of the things I would always say to Vick whenever January 1st strikes is that I was 'in the future' because of the five-hour time difference. I must have done it every single year because I saw it in one of our earlier text exchanges and know I did it in a Twitter direct message last year.
I can no longer brag to Vick about being beyond her in the sense of being a year ahead (albeit for five hours). I'm okay with that. Vick is ahead of me now.
