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I hated 2006, it was an awful year for me. I have never been so happy to see the back end of a year as I was to see out 2006. If there ever was an, ‘annus horribilis’ in my life, it was 2006.

The year just did not get off to a good start, what could go wrong did go wrong right from the start despite my trying to re-assure myself it would get better. Ever since I was kid, I’ve always felt that year’s ending in even numbers were better than year’s ending with odd numbers. Don’t ask me why, it’s just something I’ve always believed in. Well, in 2006, I was proved wrong.

Of all the bad things 2006 brought about, there were two that featured heavily in my life, the first being, in early August, my wife spent 5 weeks in hospital with one thing going wrong after the other, she’d come out for a day after she’d supposedly recovered from a particular ailment, and then go back in the next day for something else, this happened on three occasions during those 5 weeks, and what could go wrong did go wrong. It was a terrible time, my wife celebrated our daughter’s 3rd birthday in hospital and her party was postponed 3 times during this period. I was literally a single parent with a spouse in hospital for that entire time. I coped though because I had to, but it is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. Friends and family were wonderful, but at the end of the day, they have a life to lead and also have to go home when the sun sets. There were quite a few other serious family issues from early on in the year that no doubt added to this debacle and I have no doubt fuelled the situation.

The second major debacle of 2006 and prior to the first happening with my wife, I decided to be a little adventurous and started renovating the outside of my house. What was supposed to take 15 working days, 8 months later is still not finished! A simple little exercise has turned into a nightmare of note, doubled in cost, and has resulted in Attorneys becoming involved at a huge cost. I’ve subsequently had to engage the services of a third party to solve the recurring water problem, so I’m almost there. What I envisaged as the final product has left a very bitter taste in my mouth and something I will never try and attempt again, and that is to have extension’s done to my house. The funny thing is, the builder who attempted to do what I wanted, and one of the 3 I initially had in, came with excellent references.

I must admit, that during these two major events in my life last year, as well as trying to run my own business, which was not doing that well even before these two occurrences, as a result of market conditions and which continued to go from bad to worse during these two upheavals, as well as trying to keep my home and personal life together, two things came through for me.

ABBAMAIL and the support from those who knew what I was going through and of course ABBA.

There were many times when I thought to myself, I simply cannot do this anymore, be a devoted ABBA fan as part of ABBAMAIL as well as a Columnist, it was just getting too much, there was just too much going on around me, and this horrible even numbered year was getting on top of me.

The whole Universal Music/ABBAMAIL debacle also came about during the middle of all of this and that really got to me. After all the years of being an ABBA fan, this felt like a real kick in the solar plexus. Thankfully, through the support of ABBAMAILers the world over, as well as with some divine guidance, ABBA, once again, came through for me and today I’m glad I persevered and found the will to carry on. I also realised at some time during all of this, that there are others worse off than me and with far greater problems that are simply far more insurmountable than mine.

For the most part of my life, and for as long as I can remember, ABBA have always come up trumps for me, and thankfully in 2006 they did so once again, even if it was with nothing ‘new’. There were some things that were ‘new’ for me and I’m grateful for that.

There was the amazing Frida book, which is just so lovely and a treasure in any collection! So much time and effort went into that and the pictures are so beautiful. I’m proud to say that I’m very glad Frida endorsed and appreciated the project.

I also loved the ‘From ABBA to Mamma Mia!’ book. A bit costly from my shores, but worth every worthless South African cent! I just loved the pictures and the stories behind some of the songs. I must admit I was expecting more than what we got. It was purported to be the real story behind ABBA, but did not quite go there. I guess we’ll never know.

It is such a pity that Agnetha and Frida were not included in the project, as I honestly feel that their input with ABBA should have meant something more than what is being portrayed by Benny and Bjorn. I question why they should always get the credit, if it were not for Agnetha and Frida, they most certainly would not be where they are today! Yes, Agnetha and Frida do get given some very great accolades in the book by Benny and Bjorn, but not enough, they should also have been asked to participate, maybe they were, who knows. I doubt it though, these days Benny and Bjorn fob ABBA off, it’s all Mamma Mia! The foreword of the book even makes reference to the fact that there is no evidence of their ABBA past around either of them. Still, it is a nice coffee book to show to many ‘closet’ ABBA fans.

There were a couple of other CD and DVD releases in 2006, not many to write home about, and I must admit that one release that I never bothered with was ‘Lycka’. I’ve never been into Benny and Bjorn’s pre-ABBA work, so the re-issue of ‘Lycka’ was not on my list of must haves. I bought the CD in the UK a few years ago and I think I’ve listened to it once. If it were a Frida or Agnetha pre-ABBA release, yes I would have gone for it most definitely. Somehow I feel that Benny and Bjorn progressed into what they are today during the ABBA years.

One of the biggest highlights ABBA wise in 2006 just had to be the ‘Arrival – 30th Anniversary’ release, and an awesome one at that. I just fell in love with ABBA and this album all over again when I got it, at a time when I really needed it.

I just loved the bonus DVD with the interviews, promo clips and extra’s finally made available to us. I found it so amusing in the interview when Benny was asked where ABBA would be in 30 years! Little did they know, and no doubt, along with all of us fans that they would still be loved, adored and popular 30 years later. Now a musical based on the songs of ABBA is selling out the world over, it’s quite an achievement actually. I still, like so many others, have the original ‘Arrival’ LP which I take out every now and again to remind myself of the good old ABBA heyday and what an LP used to look like. Just another fond ABBA memory!

I must confess, I gave in and bought the UK release of ‘Number One’s’. I was only after the DVD, but thought I might as well go the whole enchilada and get the complete package. The CD is the same old music in a different track order, but the DVD with the extra footage floated my boat.

It is a pity that classics like ‘The Day Before You Came’ and ‘When All Is Said and Done’ did not make it to the top of a chart in at least one territory during ABBA’s career. It would have finished this collection off nicely and it’s a pity that they aren’t there, but then I suppose if the song did not hit number 1 anywhere, it didn’t earn it’s place on this collection. This is not the definitive collection of ABBA hits, and is really quite incomplete, but then this release is obviously aimed at the public and not the fans, who were given the opportunity to buy the DVD on it’s own which the general public might not have found the need to acquire.

It was an awesome experience to see the extras on the DVD for the first time in such good quality. I must say, it was so nice to see ABBA in 1974 singing their hearts out at Eurovision with ‘Waterloo’ and nearly a decade later singing ‘Under Attack’ in one of their last ever television performances. Once again, and for the last time, ABBA together, looked as fresh as they did when they won Eurovision in 1974. Bjorn and Benny playing their instruments and having fun, Frida enjoying herself and Agnetha having lost her ugly ‘One Of Us’ appearance and obviously enjoying herself belting out a wonderful and yet underrated ABBA classic. It’s a pity that a month or two later it was all over for ABBA. Thankfully, their dream has lived on, and over twenty years later, they are still working their magic on me and in the process keeping me going through both bad and good times.

Thanks to both ABBAMAIL and ABBA for getting me through 2006, without both, I don’t know where I would be today! I have no doubt that it most certainly would not be here!

2007 might end with an odd number, but hey, it has got to be better than 2006 with it’s even number ending, and whatever the year may bring ABBA wise, I’m looking forward to it!

Neil