2005
Another literally seismic year for the planet with several powerful earthquakes in the middle and far east, and deadly hurricane Katrina in the US. London experienced its first terror attack in years with the July tube bombings.
We had change of pope with the death of Pope John Paul II, to be replaced by the odious and regressive Joseph Ratzinger. Meanwhile, despite plummeting approval ratings, Blair secured a historic third term as PM and W Bush was regrettably re-elected in the US.
Our friends Steve and Ian owned a palatial house in Queensbridge Road, Dalston which they shared with their beautiful but neurotic cat, Koshka. Steve was asked by his work to set up and run a Moscow office of his law firm, meaning the two of them were to move to Russia for several years. In need of a house – and cat – sitter, they asked us if we’d like to move to Dalston. Funnily enough, we readily accepted.
It was a big year for Matt, who finally obtained British citizenship, attending a ceremony at Hackney Town Hall at which, to Will’s amusement, he swore allegiance to the queen.
We also got in some good travelling, starting with Rome in March, with friends Stuart and Kent, the former of whom is conveniently fluent in Italian.
Next was a return to Kefalonia in June, accompanied this time by Matt’s mum who got to dance on a table for the first time in her life.
In early September, we went with friends Little D, Roger, Dominic, Iain Clarke and Glynn to see Steve and Ian out in Moscow. They had a vast appartment in the centre of town with more than enough space to accommodate us all.
We closed out the year with probably the best holiday we’ve ever had together : three weeks discovering the west coast of the US. Starting in California, we moved on to Nevada for Vegas, Arizona for the Grand Canyon, Utah for Arches national park, and ended up in Colorado visiting Matt’s uncle and aunt.
