GOODBYE 2009

Here we are again on New Year's Eve and ready to say goodbye to 2009 and the noughties. Looking back, it's been a great year for me. I finally finished 3 years of nurse training and although now have letters after my name, the flipside is a frightening overdraft and a penchant for shopping at Aldi and Netto.

2009 also saw England winning the Ashes, rain falling every day throughout the summer, the break-up of OK magazine's perenial favourites Katie Price and Peter Andre, Swine Flu, the Su-Bo and Jedward phenomenon, the collapse of the banks and worldwide recession, banking executives receiving eye-watering pay-offs, MP's getting away with eye-watering expenses, and the first African-American become the 44th president of the US. Sadly, we continued to see the heartbreaking sight of the townsfolk of Wootton Bassett turning out in their hundreds to pay their respects to the bodies of British serviceman and women returning from Afghanistan...

2009 also saw the deaths of many well-known figures, some of whom died tragically too young....

Wendy Richard (65) EastEnders actress, Natasha Richardson (45) actress, Jade Goody (27) reality tv star and campaigner for early screening for cervical cancer, Danny La Rue (81) female impersonator, Farrah Fawcett (62), Charlie's Angels actress, Michael Jackson (50), King of Pop, Sir Bobby Robson (76) former England manager, Patrick Swayze (57) Dirty Dancer, Stephen Gately (33) Boyzone singer, Maggie Jones (75) Corrie's Blanche, Brittany Murphy (32) actress, Albert Scanlon (74) Man Utd Busby Babe.

As 2010 approaches, happy new year and here's to a summer ahead of finally seeing England lift the World Cup in South Africa and a new series of Katie and Peter; the Next Chapter...