The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

2018 has been a rough year in many ways. Much loved celebrities have turned out to be sexual predators, in the US Donald Trump is still somehow president and in the UK we've had endless talk of Brexit without any results whatsoever. The weather has been too cold and then too hot and then too wet. Personally too it's been a pretty bad year for one reason or another but thankfully we've reached the end of this depressing year. I thought it would be nice to end on something of a positive note and so I'm sharing some of the things I've enjoyed most this year (all items were released this year in the UK so far as I'm aware). Best TV Show: Killing Eve In any year with a Doctor Who series I expect that to be at the top of my list and as much as I enjoyed the new series with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor it didn't make the top spot. Other highlights include the BBC's two Agatha Christie adaptions ( Ordeal by Innocence and The ABC Murders ) and conspiracy-th...

One of the most familiar Christmas traditions is little children performing a nativity. The kids look cute in their costumes mostly made from towels whilst their parents sit on plastic chairs being either bored or tearful depending on their personality. Teachers work extremely hard to put it all together and one of their biggest challenges is trying to give all the children roles in a show where there are at best about ten human parts to play.  It's for this reason that modern nativities often have a range of obscure animals turning up to witness the birth of Jesus Christ. I suppose that just because the bible does mention some lobsters being present in the stable does not mean there weren't any. One of the most obvious choices to fill roles is sheep. The shepherds famously watched their flocks by night and the word 'flocks' is a useful to those casting a nativity as it allows many of the children to be present on stage covered in cotton wool and occasionally ma...

I was driving to work last Friday when it hit me. On this occasion I am not talking about an epiphany, I am talking about being physically struck. "It" can refer to any noun but this time it refers to an airbag. It was a gloomy morning with the sun still rising and failing to make much of impression through the December rain. 'Close to Me' by Ellie Goulding, Diplo and Swae Lee was playing on the radio as I turned the corner to join the dual carriageway as I do everyday. It seemed to be quite busy, probably due to the poor weather, and the headlights refracting off the rain made visibility poor. I had to really concentrate to confirm it was safe to pull onto the road and eventually I concluded it was. My foot pushed down on the pedal and the car began to accelerate. WHAM! "WHAM" is never a good noise to hear when you are in a car. I sat for a moment inspecting my surroundings. My car was now motionless on the edge of the dual carriageway with other vehicl...

You may have seen or heard about a video this week which shows a teenage boy bullying a Syrian refugee. This attack was clearly motivated by race but across the country and indeed the world there are people bullying others over any differences they might perceive. There were several reasons I think I was bullied as a child. I was fairly bright and enjoyed learning, something which inexplicably is not deemed as cool. Being dyspraxic, though I didn't know it at the time, meant I was generally awkward and useless at anything remotely practical. In films or TV shows the format is fairly clear. You are bullied by one person, sometimes with help from their friends, for years until eventually you crack or end up gaining superpowers. My experience was never quite like that. For me, it was more a series of disturbed personalities that sought me out as a way of making them better about themselves. Usually it would last until they got bored or the school would change the classes around....