2012 Review

Well the end of 2012 is almost nigh.  It's usually nice to look back over some of the highlights of the year and ponder what there is to look forward to in the coming year.

I'm going to go through a few of my highlights of the year and then review my New Year's Resolutions I set myself in January.  I'll do another blog in the first week of January to do a bit of a 2013 preview.

A personal highlight of mine was finally running the London Marathon in April.  You can read about that in more detail by checking out the post-run blog post.  It had been an ambition of mine for over 20 years and the feeling of achievement as I crossed the line was incredible.

Mile 25

In May, we flew out to Krakow for the wedding of some friends of ours.  The entire day was wonderful and we had a great time.  I'd never been to Poland before but had an amazing time.  We'd managed to rent an apartment right on the Old Town Square and saw so much of the city in just a week.  I also did a day trip to Auschwitz which was an incredible but very sobering experience.  If you're looking for a city break holiday, I'd definitely recommend Krakow.

Saint Mary's in Krakow

I managed to see some incredible gigs in 2012 and picking the best isn't easy.  One of many highlights was the Watch The Throne tour in Manchester over the summer.  To see two of the world's biggest music stars in Jay-Z and Kanye West together on stage for over two and a half hours was incredible!  Watching Pulp play a home town arena show to over 12,000 fans was also pretty special and a great way to round off the year!

Jarvis on stage

The end of the 2011/12 football season was also something to celebrate (for once).  I was at Hillsborough to watch Sheffield Wednesday beat Wycombe to confirm promotion back to the Championship, ultimately at the expense of city rivals United.  Whilst the current season is a bit unpredictable (to be diplomatic), the wild celebrations at the end of the season was incredible.

Some people are on the pitch...

It wouldn't be right to review 2012 without mentioning the Olympic and Paralympic Games and I was incredibly fortunate to get tickets to see events at both.  I took my dad to see Olympic football at Old Trafford, my wife and daughter to see tennis at Wimbledon as well as taking in Handball at the Copperbox and Volleyball at Earl's Court.  It was incredible to see the wave of support our athletes had.  Whilst the summer gave us a lot of memorable moments, I personally won't forget the drive back from Legoland to Sheffield, to get home just in time to see Jessica Ennis in her final event.  Watching her cross the line and win gold was my moment of the Games.

Inside the Copperbox

Olympic Stadium for the Paralympics

Watching the Olympic torch go past the end of our road (and the incredible number of people that turned out to see it) really got me hooked on the Olympic spirit, and getting to hold one of the torches later that summer was an amazing feeling.

Obviously there were a few other newsworthy events in 2012 such as the Diamond Jubilee celebrations (I'll never say no to an extra day of work, thank you Ma'am), but one of the most iconic moments for me was Felix Baumgartner's freefall from space.  I told my wife it was our generation's Moon Landing, and while that might be a bit of hyperbole, I'll remember my daughter sat on my knee on the landing watching it with me on my laptop.

And so onto a review of my 2012 Resolutions...  I posted a half-year review (in that link) but it's worth doing a final summary to see how well this year went:


1. Run the London Marathon

A pretty easy one to tick off - 5:30:41! 

2. Raise at least £1000 for charity

Yes.  People were incredibly generous with their donations and I managed to raise over £1500 this year which I'm very proud of.  Thanks again to everyone who donated - it was very generous of you.

3. Get a photograph published or sold

I'm counting this one as a success.  I mentioned in the half year review that I'd done some promo shots for a great Wakefield band call Skint & Demoralised and I followed that up with the cover shot for their single "When Saturday Comes".  You can listen to and download that song here (as well as seeing the 

4. Carry on training to run the Sheffield Half Marathon 2013

I eased off the running in August after a 10k race as I was starting to feel a bit of pain.  I did however switch to an exercise bike to keep fit (and managed to lose over 30lbs in the process).  I start running again this week and I'm all ready for the Sheffield Half Marathon in May! 

5. See at least 12 gigs

I think I ticked 13 off in the end which is quite a good effort.  Obviously I've mentioned some of the highlights above, but also seeing Ladyhawke at The Leadmill in Sheffield was incredible.  Here's to a few more in 2013

6. Read at least 10 books

I think I said at the time this was a pitiful number to aim for, but at least I managed it.  If I can finish off my current book in the next few days, I'll have a clear 11 to my name for this year.  Must try harder next year!

7. Continue my blog after the marathon

This was a tricky one.  After all the effort of blogging on marathon training, I felt at a bit of a loss for what to write about.  I dabbled a bit over the summer but I feel like I've finally got back into a bit of a groove towards the end of this year.  I've also been really lucky to be able to write a monthly blog for Diabetes UK which I'm really looking forward to continuing next year

8. Support the community via sponsorship/donations etc

I'm chalking this down a success as well, though just barely.  I sponsored a mini festival a friend of mine staged for charity earlier this year.  The amount of work and effort she put in to making the day a success was incredible and sponsoring the event to ensure it could go ahead was a real privilege.

9. Expand the smaller areas of my company

This is my first failure, partially through lack of effort and partially through lack of time.  I realised that diversifying from my main business can be good, but the amount of effort required compared to the return doesn't really make it viable.  I'm having a rethink and a re-plan for next year so we'll see what comes of it...

10. Make some friends

Another tricky one.  I've definitely built up some excellent relationships over 2012 - no doubt about it.  I think what's proved trickier is to make those mainfest themselves in a non-digital environment.  I do feel lucky to count some of my Twitter acquaintances as friends but should possibly try harder to turn some of those into "real life" friendships.

So there we go - 2012 in a nutshell.  A fairly large nutshell, but nevertheless.  If you made it this far, then thanks a lot.  I hope you've had a look back at your 2012 and remembered some of the good times you've had.

I'm still pondering what 2013 might hold but I'll be back again in the first week of January to talk about that.  In the mean time, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year

Speak soon

Andy x

Auschwitz

Hi

I mentioned last time that I'd write a post about my visit to Auschwitz, and this is it.  it may be a bit long and I apologise for that in advance.

I'll say at the outset that I'm not sure I'll be able to articulate the experince as well as I'd like but I'll do my best.  I've included a few photos below but nothing too upsetting (I hope).  I've changed them to black and white images because it was a gloriously sunny day when I visited and to me, it sort of seemed strange to show it in the sunshine.  I'm also going to try and refrain from going over too many historical specifics where I can because I'll only get things wrong and muddled and that, of course, is not my intention.

The tour I went on was around both the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps (those are the German names of the Polish towns Oświęcim and Brzezinka).  There is another camp in Monowice (Monowitz in German) quite close by - a labour camp at a chemical plant but the tour doesn't take you there.  I'm not sure if you can visit it of your own accord.

The tour is split with two hours at Auschwitz and a further hour at Birkenau.  We started out (as did all tour parties that were there) just outside the main building, next to the camp kitchen where our guide Evaline gave us some history about when the camp was built and it's purpose (a prison for Polish political prisoners in the first instance).

Camp kitchen (left) and main building

Looming in the background is the gate to the camp and the ominous "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" sign above them.  I found myself holding my breath a lot as we walked into different blocks of the camp.  I didn't take as many photographs as I normally would because it ultimately didn't feel like the right thing to do.  You are allowed to take pictures virtually anywhere (it's forbidden in a few select places) but I didn't want to reduce my experience to a load of "holiday snaps".  It's worth pointing out that other people on my tour group didn't have as many reservations as I did, but it's each to their own I suppose.

Entrance to Auschwitz

There were 20 original blocks at Auschwitz whilst the Nazis built an additional 8 during the war.  The tour took us round 4 or 5 of these which are open to the public.  It's worth pointing out here that Auschwitz-Birkenau is an official museum and as such some of the blocks house exhibits, photographs and documents - the way in which it's organised and preserved is incredible.

The earlier exhibits focus on the deportations to the camp from across Europe as well as explaining the "selection process" that was followed at Birkenau.  Whilst the atrocities are well known and documented (and are certainly not for me to go over again here), the guide still told us things that I certainly didn't know - for example, some people actually voluntarily bought tickets to Auschwitz believing that this would offer respite from the war and, whilst still being under Nazi occupation, they'd have a better standard of living.  Those tickets are on display for you to see.

The tour carries on with the exhibits that do their best to bring home the scale of what happened.  One room houses a 100ft long display case with two tonnes of human hair that was shaved from the heads of prisoners (the Nazis sold it, using the money to fund the war).  Another shows hundreds of suitcases with names written on the front (people were never reunited with their possessions) and one room has 40,000 pairs of shoes that were taken from prisoners.

Shoes taken from prisoners

Blocks 10 and 11 are particularly moving.  Block 10 was where women and children were held and subjected to 'experiments' by Dr Josef Mengele (who died a free man).  Across the courtyard is Block 11, the so called "Death Block".  Here, the Nazis held court over prisoners who had broken camp rules.  They were invariably sentenced to death and taken out to be shot in the courtyard between the two blocks.  Inside the walls are covered in photos of prisoners who died at Aushwitz. 

The lower level of Block 11 contains the cells where prisoners were kept, including standing cells (where prisoners could do nothing but stand all night and then go back to work the next day) and starvation cells (where prisoners were locked away without food or water until they died).  The cells were also the site of the first test of Zyklon B gas where about 850 people were killed in 1941. The tour lets you see these cells for yourselves.

Courtyard between Blocks 11 (left) and 10 - windows boarded  up to prevent prisoners seeing out

After that we walked back towards the entrance, passing the gallows where Rudolf Hoess was executed for his role as First Commandant at Auschwitz.  The house he lived in with his wife and child is visible but not part of the tour.  It lies about 30 feet from the fence around the camp and about 150 feet away from the gas chamber and crematorium.  The final part of the tour leads you into the gas chamber and then into the crematorium.  Whilst it's not for very long, walking into a gas chamber is an incredibly sobering experience and something that's incredibly difficult to forget.  The full horror of what happened was recounted by our guide but I don't think it's appropriate to go into it here.

We then got back on our mini bus to go to Birkenau (it's about 2 miles from Auschwitz).  What really strikes you is the sheer scale of the place - I'd say it's at least 4 times the size of Auschwitz (though I'm happy to be corrected).  Birkenau was mainly an extermination camp (Auschwitz predominantly being a labour camp) and approximately 1.1m people were killed here (up to 450,000 in one summer in 1944).

We walked down the train tracks that bisect the camp (where the 'selection process' took place) and saw one of the original carriages that brought people to Birkenau.  On the right is the remains of wooden buildings that were torn down at the end of the war - brick chimney stacks are all that remain (though a few buildings have bee reconstructed) and stretch out to what feels like the horizon.  On the left are the original brick buildings where the women where interned.

Train tracks at Birkenau looking back towards to camp entrance

The tour walks down to the far end of the camp where the railway line comes to an abrupt end and there now stands a memorial. There are 22 separate inscriptions, each in a different language (one for each of the nationalities that suffered at the hands of the Nazis).  On either side of the tracks are the remains of 2 gas chambers and 2 crematoria (the Nazis destroyed them as they fled from the Soviets).  The rubble remains untouched.  At the side of one dilapidated chimney stack are two pools where ashes were dumped (and still remain to this day).

Demolished crematorium

The final part of our tour took us through 3 of the brick buildings that were used as sleeping quarters, wash rooms and toilets for women prisoners.  We were told that thousands of people would queue twice daily for the toilets (as that is all that was allowed) and were given only 10 seconds before being moved on.  The sleeping quarters were continuously rife with lice, rats and disease.  Prisoners were fed approximately 800 calories worth of food per day, a lot of it rotten.  A number of people who survived the camp and were freed by the Soviets died shortly after as they ate too much too quickly - history was not equipped to understand how to save people that were so utterly malnourished.

Chimney stacks of the demolished buildings

It's difficult to put into words how the experience makes you feel.  I knew of what happened before I visited, but it all seemed so abstract in a way.  Knowing the facts and figures of the Holocaust is one thing, but to be there and see it is something else entirely.  It's still hard to translate what you see and hear into understanding how hundreds of thousands of people could be murdered in such a fashion.  It almost seems trite to say that it's an emotionally exhausting day - living through it is unimaginable - but seeing only a fraction of the camps and hearing only about a number of the atrocities that were carried out is completely sobering.  I'm glad I went and if you ever have the opportunity to visit then I'd recommend that you do.  But I don't think you can ever be prepared for it.

Thanks for reading - I hope that was of some interest to you.  Apologies for how long it went on.