PHUKET: The year 2014 in Thailand and on Phuket fell into two not-so-neat halves - before the Army takeover and after the Army takeover.

At Phuketwan we had good reason to note the change with approval, having supported the notion that reforms should happen before the next election in Thailand, and having feared violence on the streets if the military did not intervene.

We heaved a sigh of relief with intervention, even though the action came the day before we were due to meet in a mediation session with the Royal Thai Navy, and the mediation session was cancelled.

Being sued by the Royal Thai Navy before the takeover simply proved that even within good organisations, there will always be one or two people who are prepared to act on bad advice.

Rather than shut down Phuketwan, which is what those one or two people would like us to do, we intend to keep reporting on the exodus of the Rohingya from Burma and human trafficking in Thailand.

As we have said, the only way to stop us is to kill us.

Despite the distraction, Phuketwan continued in 2014 to cover local, regional and national events, always with an eye to the big issues.

Here, then, are the stories we rated as the most noteworthy or quirky on Phuket in 2014 before May 22.