HOW I LOOK BACK ON 2018

By johanne James

How I look back on 2018.
In some ways it was very positive in the sense that Threshold had quite a busy year. America twice, Canada, Italy and Hungary, then off on tour, and a good time was had by all. Let’s hope for more of the same in 2019, which is coming about very quickly indeed! I may well be writing a column on 2019 faster than I’d like to, I’ll cross that bridge when and if I come to it.

What were the events that stood out for me?
Well, some parts of the year seem to have been a blur as they did race by. France winning the World Cup sticks in my memory, especially a young man by the name of Mbape, who at the tender age of 19 burst onto the world scene and even scoring a goal for France in the final. He’ll be dining out on that moment for the rest of his life, and I think with the right guidance he’s going to be around for a while. But that was a fairly recent event and I’m struggling to remember anything else that was significant. We have the Brexit fiasco, where it seems that no one can truly agree on anything! So much for democracy as it creates divisions, and the country is now divided! So goes the narrative. Another referendum, simply because a certain group of people didn’t get the result they wanted, we should do it again. Imagine playing a game of football and losing, to which you say, “That’s not fair, we have to do it again until we get the result we want”. It makes no sense, but there you go. We now have to wait until March next year to find out what the true effects will be. It may affect how we travel around Europe touring, who knows, time will tell.

I did a fair amount of travelling this year.
And have been to places that have made me smile. I have met some wonderful human beings, I think that’s what you call them, one in particular who travelled from Detroit to Quebec to Montreal to Gettysburg to Essen to London to see us. Now that’s what you call a super fan and deserves a backstage pass to any Threshold show.
You can coast through life with the occasional highlight, or you could race through life with the occasional lull. The best parts of the year have been the ones where I have been doing what I love and do, being onstage pounding out the rhythms. They bring me to life! But as mentioned before, so much has been a blur and with time speeding up, I won’t have to wait long before I’m writing about my thoughts of 2025? Now there’s optimism for you.

Thanks for listening and hope you’ve had a good year, and here’s to the next.

Good health.

Johanne James