2023 in review

Happy New Year friends and followers,

Home move

With so much going on, this year felt even shorter than the last. I definitely feel life is racing by ever quicker as each year passes. It began with three months that flew by of unpleasantness chasing solicitors and estate agents to complete the sale and purchase, moving from my countryside abode to the bright lights of London.

Fast-forward to early March, and I moved in to my newish-build apartment in Wimbledon where I've spent the rest of the year settling in. There's a lot I miss about my old home's location, but in balance I prefer the home I have now. I'm better located for my needs in terms of work and leisure access, and although the space I've now, is smaller, it has all the fittings and functional features I need without needing extensive work to modernise.

Travel

The past year I travelled to places not yet visited including Bamberg, Bucharest, Stockholm and Malmö. I returned to some old favourites including Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh, Nuremberg and York. Briefly I visited Dublin too, but admittedly I don't really like going there unless I really need to.

Work

My employer's financial performance hasn't been great over the past year following a big recruitment drive in recent years but with fewer big contract wins more recently. This had some impact on my own role, perhaps for the good. Rather than face redundancy, I was moved to another business unit and signed a new contract as an interaction designer. I retained my unofficial role as part-time accessibility specialist. I'm happy to say this change has helped me drive forward with supporting an internal team project to work on an accessibility manual for the company.

Health and fitness

Once again I caught coronavirus. I was probably exposed to it during a conference I attended in Nuremberg. Thankfully, my booster did its job and my symptoms were unpleasant for a week but manageable. I self-isolated for five days, that it seems many others aren't doing any more, sadly.

One downside of moving to London is that I've not been out cycling as much. I still try to keep up with some occasional hiking too with a friend a found through a hiking group that I joined last year. Over the summer I was able to boost my exercise a little and helped out with some dog walking of Pita who I found through BorrowMyDoggy website.

And so to 2024

Looking ahead, in just a few months I'll be heading to Chile, South America with my partner. I'm immensely excited about this and learning a little Spanish in preparation. Hopefully there'll be time and funds to fit a few other smaller trip in 2024 too. I certainly need to restore my routine of being more fit and active in the coming months, and trying to get outdoors more. Fingers crossed that 2024 is the year we say adios Sunak et al!! and to the disastrous 14 years we'll have endured under the Tories here in the UK.