Our Predictions for 2015...

Well that’s it; Christmas is done. No more saccharine & twinkly tunes eulogising peace and togetherness; no more tinsel or chaotically blinking lights; evergreens now go brown at the bottom of people’s drives - waiting for some mysterious collection (from who?) - and Christmas jumpers, once the source of such giddy joy and silliness, have now been discarded or buried in the deepest recesses of the wash basket or in someone else’s wardrobe.

So here we are 2015, or MMXV for our Roman numeral followers, but a few days in and already we're blanketed in white cloud cover with lots of water coming out of them. During a happier time, before Christmas, we asked the team for their predictions for this year and the results were varied, bizarre, philosophical and downright positive. We thought we’d share them with you here.

Note: You will notice that ‘prediction’ and ‘hope’ share a common semantic ground and have become interchangeable, particularly when it comes to football and passing driving tests.

Louise, our resident Southampton fan, predicts a Champion League qualification for her home town team. They are currently in fourth position so not a bad at all and averaging at 3/1, the odds are in their favour for sure. Louise also foresees a move from Lib-Con to Lib-Lab  and a girl for Kate & Wills, although names have not been suggested at this stage...

Next is Debbie, who enigmatically opts for “I have no predictions – whatever will be, will be”. Now Deb, in considering her position, could be thinking of either the song Que Sera, Sera (sung by Doris Day - bizarrely - in Hitchcock’s 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much) or could be working from the philosophical  doctrine, fatalism, which subjugates all events and actions to fate, therefore rendering us powerless! Knowing Debbie and her bright and ever-positive demeanour I suspect the former but you never know...

Relative new-starter Adam hopes for the godfather call-up (the non gangster kind); predicts general ‘good times’ while ‘smashing’ up Fiji at his brother’s wedding in June. I think we should alert the authorities there. Adam, who also likes his football , hopes he’s not watching Aston Villa – come August – in the Championship.

Our other relatively new starter Lucy simply hopes she passes her driving test . As I type she has had 3 lessons and facial expressions/body language communicate a lack of confidence at this stage but it is early days and sure she’ll do great! Do they still do the handbrake turns on the test?

Sophie, who has a big year ahead (getting married) predicts – although accepts the long-stretch aspect of this – a win for England in the Rugby World Cup; something called Serial 2 to “blow our minds” and her cat, Champ, to continue presenting a list of dead common garden creatures  for her and her fiancée. When asked for her thoughts on this, Sophie is quoted as saying "Yuck!".

Fellow marketer and lover of all pop music from 1986 to 1989, Natalie, opts for the responsible and considered answer suggesting Technology  will lead the way.  Nat predicts that Google Glass will do rather well and that driverless cars will be hand-break turning all on their own in after hour supermarket car parks this year.

I (me) had fears that Oasis might attempt ‘the comeback’ and that flares will make a sartorial  return – yet again! But on the positive side, I predict amazing things from JJ Abrams and I hope Robert Plant will shed any nebulous objections to a Led Zep reunion and give Jimmy, JP and Jason a ring (in that order) to get the band back together for one last blues/rock/funk/folk hurrah on the world circuit.

Helena, wisely, goes for the ‘I have no idea what’s going to happen’ stance – thus avoiding any embarrassment for any wildly misguided forecasts but does hope “for a healthy and successful year with lots of positive world news  for a change”. Totally agree with you there Hel!

Tim Gold, brother to Nick, and resident and property  owner in Kentish Town hopes Kentish Town house prices “rocket” and becomes the most “hip” location in London. Basically the Shoreditch of the North then!

And Nick Gold, our leader, who – one suspects – was pushed for time when asked for his predictions, anticipates that Christmas will come at the usual time this year.

So as I alluded to at the beginning, a varied response, swinging recklessly between the serious and the indifferent. We’d be interested to hear what your predictions are so please get in touch below or via the usual social media channels to share with us.

Whatever they may be, we do hope you have a happy, peaceful and productive 2015.