The bells of 2024 are ready to be rung, another year has come to an end and a new one just begun. What will the new year bring us? Will you be making any new year’s resolutions? In many ways this year has been one to forget, so this should be a time for optimism, as every new start is.

We started this year becoming much more European, with a new currency and border-free travel. Will 2024 bring more such moves?

A New Year, a new you? But before we plan a new beginning we need to have a benchmark. So I’m going to look back at this year in numbers, a mathematical approach (not my specialty) to my personal statistics, and these are in no specific order, just the order that my brain remembered them.

I guess I should really start with zero as that’s the number of New Year resolutions from 2022 that I actually kept, but let’s start on my favourite pastime.

6 – the number of foreign countries I visited, although thanks to Brexit I managed to get my passport stamped countless times! This has to be a number to improve on in 2024.

5 – times I went to a funeral (a new record for me and not one I wanted); I guess this is an aftereffect of getting older.

1 – times I sat in a dentist’s chair, and that is one more time than I would have wanted, although I fear that number won’t be heading south any time soon. 

360 – approximate number of times I (not including my wife) have fed our dogs; you could probably double this number or treble it if you include our cats. And it is roughly the same number of daily walks (cats not included). Again roughly that means around 1100 kilometres of dog walks.

52 –weekly columns, or around 37,000 words (it’s no wonder my finger joints are aching and my glasses get stronger every year).

1 – times I got completely sunburnt in 2023, my skin is still itching just thinking about it.

54 – the age I became in 2023. Or ten years away from my pension, not really a landmark I am looking forward to, but as I can’t do anything about it I am not going to be overly concerned, although this also seems to be the same number of times I get up during the night to have a pee!

And another anniversary happened in 2023 – 25 – I reached a quarter of a decade of living in Dubrovnik. You’ll notice that the local patriot in me says Dubrovnik and not Croatia.

1 – another travel related one, the number of flights I took. Having dogs means that alternative travel arrangements are required. Whilst on the one hand that may be a challenge it has also opened a whole new world of slow travel, a form I greatly enjoy.

Another 1 – the number of times I was drunk last year. I am not a big drinker so this was an increase on the past few years.

And another 1 – I got a new King in 2023.

However, that one was quickly followed by 89 – the rough number of times I sang the national anthem and had to correct myself after singing “God Save the Queen.” This is probably a number that will increase this year. Keeping in the pet them, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks!

1 – the number of new UK Prime Ministers in 2022, you might think this is a strange one but after having three in 2022 it was a drastic improvement.

On a side note – 2024 will be the biggest ever election year with over 2 billion people in fifty countries able to vote. Could it be a year of political upheaval?

6 – the number of times I went to buy bread on a Sunday only to find that the bakery was closed due to the extremely frustrating new Sunday opening (or rather non-opening) hours.

And another 6 – it was a good year for visiting my absolute favourite destination in Croatia (and beyond) – Mljet. If that number had been 60 I wouldn’t have minded at all!

All of these numbers have fried what is left of my brain! First New Year’s resolution – stop counting!

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous, happy and above all healthy New Year to you and your loved ones. See you all next year!

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to

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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik