2022 is dead. Long live 2023!

After a seasonal break, GG is back with a review of 2022 and a look into what 2023 has in store for the pod. A slight change of focus to make the show a little more relevant - but retaining the same mixture of humour, anecdotes, nonsense and insightfulness that you have come to know and love! Speaking of which ..... have you ordered your GGYLB tea/coffee/horlicks mug yet? And who do you think might become the show´s new Ambassador? Lot of exciting stuff to come ......here we go folks. Enjoy the ride!

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Transcript

Hello and a very Happy New Year to you all. I trust you had a great time – if you´re anything like me you probably ate and drank too much and never quite got out for that all important, Boxing Day 10k run? Or maybe I´m doing the GGYLB audience a major disservice and you are, indeed, an extremely disciplined bunch whose heads rule their hearts! We´ll never know – unless you tell us that is! Anyway, old Ginger Gerald here had a fabulous Christmas & NY thank you very much. I´m delighted to report that all of those family festive traditions we talked about a couple of weeks ago did indeed take place very much as expected and as dictated by years gone past! I trust you saw the video of the annual Christmas Day swimming pool dip on fb & Instagram – this year it came complete with an accompanying, choreographed dance no less!  Not so cold this year I have to say – and the air temperature here in Mallorca´s been around the 20 Centigrade mark for the last week or so – not bad at all! And did you see my latest reel on Social Media? My daughter gave me a black coffee mug for Christmas. But it has magical qualities! Now I´m not going to give anything more away – but please look up GGYLB on Insta, FB or even twitter and all will be revealed. Once you´ve seen it, and loved it, you´ll surely want one of your very own. So just send me a little note saying how many you want, they cost 19,99 a go which you can pay in Euros, Dollars or Pounds, in theory they are all about the same at the moment tho nobody´s got round to telling my bank that yet (time to get a Revolut card), and as long as I get a minimum of about ooooh 100 or so orders, then I´ll have them produced in best Stoke on Trent China pottery, or maybe just in China I´m not sure yet, and I´ll get them sent out in plenty of time for Christmas 2023. I think I might have just opened the flood gates there – that´ll keep me busy and out of trouble for a few months – I´ll keep you all posted. 

Now, I have to tell you that I was a bit disappointed to have missed out on the New Years Honours list this year. After all the media talk about David & I finally getting our knighthoods as some form of public recognition for all of our hard work, dedication to the cause and overall positive impact on people´s lives – well it ended in, as I say, disappointment for us both. I´ve not spoken to him or Victoria recently but I guess he took it on the chin and just got on with his normal daily life in Miami or London, probably in the very same way that I did – you know, you get up, do the washing up, clean up behind the ageing dog, and go off to work, you got it. I reckon we´re like two peas in a pod me & David. Thinking about it now in retrospect, I´d probably have refused the award anyway – that way people might have confused me with a really iconic David - David Bowie.

But, don´t you worry, 2022 wasn´t all disappointment for GG! After all, the huge event which the entire world was waiting for (even if they didn´t know it at the time), was the global launch of the now household brand: GGYLB!  And didn´t it get off to an absolute storm when it finally kicked off in August 2022 – life-changing for so many people out there, I know, and yet surprisingly under-reported by the mainstream media. Maybe it didn´t fit nicely with their political agenda…….anyway, come on GG, don´t get all giddy on us now, and let´s take a little look at what went on in 2022 and then we can focus on what we can look forward to in 2023 from an International person / international family perspective of course – we´ll be calling it the “lucky barstard point of view”.

First things first, finally, finally, during the latter stages of 2022 the key travel restrictions and complications that has been driving us made for so long were lifted following the Covid debacle which appears to have been going on forever. So that´s made family trips much, much more feasible in both directions. No more certificates or tests needed to see your own Mum or son or daughter or any other family and friends. At one point in 2022 I was delighted to get Covid just so I could be awarded a recovery certificate with validity for 6 months. Surely that can´t be right. There are some remnants of those “bad old days” of course – like the wearing of masks on public transport, in pharmacies and even on Spanish airlines flying in or out of Spain – that seems a little odd now but I guess it´s not the end of the world. But weird no? I was on a flight to the UK with Air Europa just before Christmas and we were constantly nagged about keeping our masks on at all times – except, of course, if you chose to purchase one of their very expensive (and crap) sandwiches or coffees and then, if you did make such as purchase, you could do what you like – freedom! Oh, but please try not to eat and drink at the same time as your neighbour! You really couldn´t make these rules up could you! I almost got done for shoplifting the other day. I needed something from the chemist but when I got there I realized that I hadn´t got a mask with me. But with my beady eye I spotted that they had packs of masks for sale just inside the shop door. So, stealthily and at a moment when I thought that all eyes were elsewhere, I opened the door, grabbed a pack and closed the door again. I stood in the porch of the Chemist, quickly ripped open the pack, shoved a new mask on and promptly walked in happy as Larry and delighted to be fully compliant with their rules & regulations – and was almost knocked over by one of the staff running out to check on me thinking I was stealing them!  Don´t worry pal – I´ll be paying my €1, 50 when I get to the counter.

And what do you all make of the British Royal Family – 2022 has been yet another shocker for tghem hasn´t it? It´s all been kicking off. I can´t even bring myself to talk about Randy Andy, but the Queen, after 70 long years on the throne, passed away and I read that about 37m people watched the funeral on TV in the UK alone. That´s amazing. And we know that the Americans love a bit of the UK Royal family so you can add a good few millions more to that number. 

Now, I´m not a big Royalist myself, it has to be said, and I´m not usually one for following Royal or Celebrity gossip (to be honest, I don´t know who most of the celebrities are unless they play some sort of sport) HOWEVER, and this is a big HOWEVER, I have to confess to you that I´ve rather intrigued and entertained by the whole Harry & Meghan Netflix saga. And my interest stems from a personal connection! Prior to this particular drama kicking off I contacted Prince Hazzer to suggest that he may be interested in being the official Ambassador for GGYLB. After all we look very similar (and if you don´t believe me have a look on my Social Media accounts – you´ll barely be able to tell the difference between us)! We´re both ginger up top, we both have a ginger beard (maybe mine´s a little more white/grey/mature/sophisticated than his – but his time will come quick enough)….and very importantly we are both lucky Barstards – though maybe not quite for the same reasons! I pointed this out to him very clearly and very politely in a beautifully scripted private message……he´s not actually answered yet but I´ll be letting you know just as soon as he does.

And 2022 ended up with two iconic pieces of history: firstly, Argentina overcame all and won the first ever Winter Men´s Football World Cup and perhaps the most controversial one at that given Qatar´s Human Rights record and FIFA´s “Let´s-line-our-own-pockets” strategy – have you seen FIFA Uncovered yet? Now, I like to pretend that the Globe trotting fraternity are in a pretty good place when it comes to International Sporting events because we can  justify following more than one team and can shiftily and surrepticiously switch our allegiances as our “team” or “teams” get kicked out! So how does that work? If England play anyone, then I support them – in whatever sport. And if the team is Great Britain or UK instead of England, like in the Olympics for example, then I support them. But if England or GB get knocked out, I can always fall back on my other nationality of Irish (something that might come in pretty useful for the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament coming up soon). But, to be fair, in my particular case, I´d get a whole load of stick for doing that as everyone who knows me also knows that I´m a “fake”, Brexit Irish passport holder really. But what about those many, many people who are born into 2 or more nationalities or are brought up in 2 or multiple countries? In our family and extended family alone we´ve got justifiable and genuine birth allegiances with England, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Turkey & Mexico….take your pick! That´s not such a bad selection box! And what about the USA & Mexico – there are literally millions of dual nationality and dual heritage people right there. And typically, if you support one you are supposed to hate the other – and vice versa! So it´s a tricky one. Now I think we need some legislation here and you should have to publicly declare who you´re going to support in any given tournament before it gets going so if or when you jump cos your primary team have been rubbish – then at least you´ll be subject to the same stick that most people get who don´t carry such confusing International baggage! 

And the second iconic event which took place at the very end of 2022, and which for many was very much on a par with the FIFA World Cup, was the release by the BBC of the Reality TV series “The Traitors”. It was absolutely riveting! Apologies to those who´ve not seen or even heard of it (although Social Media´s been full of it). The concept was really very simple. You had to see just how well and for how long someone could lie. The more deceitful and dishonest the better and the more rewarded you were. Perfect! I´m starting a campaign to get The Traitors introduced to schools as a mandatory part of their National curriculum – primary school would be best – let´s get those values firmly established nice and early I say, it´ll make the World a much better place! It´s a shame that Bumbling old Boris isn´t still around – he´d have supported that one. Anyway, scepticism aside for a moment, the star of the show for many it seems, was none other than Maddy Smedley, who revealed that as a child acting prodigy she´d once been cast as a shed in a Nativity play. I absolutely loved that – and it made me feel so much better about my son being cast as a bucket in his Mexican school Nativity Play all those years ago (as you all know from the festive episode of GGYLB: “It´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”! ) Wow – it´s very difficult to keep up with so much excitement and activity!

So it´s a wrap on 2022 and I hope that it ended in style for all of you GGYLB fans and followers out there. I hope you didn´t argue too much about which country you celebrated in, or how many days you stayed at one set of in-laws versus the other set. That you didn´t buy or receive too many prezzies that won´t work in your country of residence or are so big that you had to add another very expensive suitcase to your homeward flight booking! Now´s the time to fess up if you actually left it at home or, worse, gave it way to someone else on the quiet!!   

So, hello 2023! And I have to say, so far, it´s been like the Bahamas here in Mallorca – people are in their swimwear on the Beach, they´re out on their bikes in shorts and short-sleeve tops, the terraces are packed – lovely stuff! I feel bad for those who´ve headed up the mountains, or those who live up there and like a bit of Turn of Year skiing – not so much snow in a lot of places I understand. Let´s hope it comes soon for you all and for all those who depend on it for their livelihoods.

Now then 2023 – listen up. We don´t want any more of those Covid restrictions nonsense ok? We´ve always got ill, and so have our kids, it´s normal – you don´t need to start picking on each other and calling each other names. Let´s just learn to live with it, like everything else that comes our way.

So, I hear you asking yourselves, what are Ginger Gerald´s Top 3 New Year resolutions? Well, you´re in luck because, as if I knew you were going to ask me, I just happen to have defined them as follows:

1.       To convince Prince Harry that he really needs to join the GGYLB train before it pulls out of the station without him – he´ll be sorry if he misses it! 

2.       To travel a little bit more. Travel is great. It´s life enriching. It´s rejuvenating, and spending more time with family & friends is great too, wherever they happen to live. So let´s do a bit more of it and feel better. It´s one of life´s greatest pleasures and we had a fantastic reminder of that when T & I headed back to México a couple of months ago and I told you all about it in the episode “Mexico Revisited” 

3.       To get relevant! I spent 2022 introducing you to Ginger Gerald´s life and the characters in my life in a semi-comic, semi-insightful, always tongue-in-cheek sort of a way. I looked to enrich your lives and engage with you via shared stories, experiences and feelings. Well, now we know each other a little better, it´s time to take things a step further and blend that same tone and anecdotal style that you´ve grown to know and love with current international affairs, events, themes & challenges. So, still funny, not too heavy, and we´ll still get personal don´t you worry about that – but now we´re going to apply all of that to the Big Bad Global World we are all currently living in. Are you ready for the ride?  

And that ride will be kicking off next week when our first, new-style, “Ginger Gerald you lucky Barstard” will be exploring the Internationally important and relevant theme of the Cost of Living. Why can´t you still just save up a few French Francs from a season or two working in the Alps and then pop down a deposit on a flat? And why does going to Maccy D´s feel like a posh dinner out? And how does this cost of living crisis impact us overseas folk – or do we get it easy? That and much more to entertain and enrich…don´t forget to check out the GGYLB Twitter, Instagram or FB accounts – not only to keep up with the what´s going on with the pod – but also to decide how many mugs you´re going to order or if you can actually tell the difference between me and Prince Harry (it´s a tricky one!).