Back in February 2024, my wife Christine described the preceding January as ‘the Januariest January that ever Januaried’. And whilst January 2025 was also something of a slog, for us at least, this January hasn’t been so bad. I think it’s helped that I had a few days off work at the start, and so wasn’t back to work until the 6th. But also, we had some days out, including Hardwick Hall and the Thackray Museum.
And so to this February. Usually when I post something on the first of the month, it’s to tell you what we’re up to this month. Which, based on a glance at my calendar, is not a lot. Valentines Day is next Saturday, which means no hope of a nice but affordable meal out anywhere. Not that we’re big on Valentines Day – normally we just exchange cards. Our 2014 surprise jaunt to London was very much an exception. We may do a nice meal at home, although how romantic we can be with a ten-year-old in the house is questionable.
Speaking of the ten-year-old, they are overdue for a birthday party so we’ll be organising that this for this month. Even though their actual birthday was a few weeks ago. We haven’t done a birthday party for them since they turned seven, but turning 10 is a bigger deal.
I have a few blog posts already lined up, so there should be plenty to read about on the blog this month. We may even manage the occasional day trip, depending on the weather. We’ll see.
There seems to be some nostalgia for 2016 at the moment. It mostly seems to be about the music of 2016, but apparently it’s also because people have started putting filters on their TikTok videos like we used to with Instagram photos in 2016.
I did a review of 2016 at the time, so you can read that, I suppose. 10 years ago, our 10-year-old was, well, a newborn baby, and so whilst they were born in 2015, most of the first year of their life fell in 2016. So it was quite a memorable year for us in that sense.
2015 had been a big year – we’d bought a house, I passed my driving test and bought a car, and we became a family of three. So 2016 was more of a consolidation year, with Christine on maternity leave for the first half (and me having the whole of January off on paternity and annual leave). I changed jobs twice – securing a secondment doing timetabling in early February, and then moving to a new permanent role in August. I’m (essentially) still in that role now.
Our house that we bought in 2015 was (and to some extent still is) a work in progress, and so in 2016 we had a downstairs bathroom installed, along with a new boiler and a Nest thermostat – our first piece of smart home technology. And despite having a small child, we did manage some trips – I went to London twice, we had an overnight trip to Liverpool, we went to see two friends get married up near Durham and had a day out in Oxford.
The photo at the top is a then-and-now comparison; not having a newborn means I’m less tired, but I’m a little wider nowadays and need to wear glasses. Also, there’s quite the difference between the front facing camera on the iPhone 5S (2016) and the iPhone 13 Mini (2026).
So on the whole, at least for us, it was a good year. Although the Brexit referendum, Trump’s first election and all the celebrities who died that year were less good outcomes.
I’m not expecting any other trips away, although we may be in London at some point. Christine is starting her studies for another qualification at one of the London universities, and whilst it’s primarily a distance learning course, there are some in-person teaching events. Depending on when they are, it may be that we can go down as a family. As it was, I didn’t get to visit London last year; Christine did, but only for work-related reasons.
New tech
As Christine will be starting a new course, we’re using it as an excuse to replace the laptop that we share at home. We currently have a Lenovo Ideapad 320S, which was bought in 2018 when Christine started a previous course, so it’s eight years old now and positively ancient in laptop terms. I upgraded the RAM to 16 GB in 2022 (previously it had just 4 GB), which goes some way to explain its longevity, but it can’t be (easily) upgraded to Windows 11. And as Windows 10 is literally on borrowed time, it’s about time for an update. I’ll write more once we’ve got it.
Home renovation
We’ve owned our house for 10 years (11 this summer). We bought it with the intention of renovating it, and before we moved in we renovated most of the downstairs. At the end of 2020, we had our (then) four-year-old’s bedroom renovated, followed by our kitchen in 2022.
The next big project is the bathroom. We’d planned to start looking at this in 2026-27, but for various reasons we’re probably going to bring this forward to the first half of 2026.
So that’s some of the things that I expect we’ll get up to this year. There will always be things that happen that I never expect – like last year’s work trip to Athens – but it looks to be a busy, and hopefully productive year.
It’s New Year’s Eve, and so, as per usual, I review the things I’ve done and written about over the course of the year just gone. You can read my previous posts from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.
January
2025 got off to a slow start, not least because of heavy snow that was around for over a week. Our nine-year-old had two days off due to the school being closed, which saw me take short-notice annual leave. January was also the start of Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture, and so I wrote about that.
January also had its goodbyes and hellos. We went to a funeral for a family member, but also re-connected with relatives who we haven’t been on speaking terms for some time, which was nice.
Whilst January was short of days out, in February we went to Magna near Rotherham, and also went to see the Dogman film at the cinema. I also wrote about a crowdfunder for the Bradford Playhouse – this was successful, and it now has a shiny new lift installed, making it fully accessible for the first time.
March
As per usual in March, we went to Sci-Fi Weekender in Great Yarmouth. It was another good event this year and we’ve already booked to go again next year. On the way down, we called at Thaymar Ice Cream, which has a lovely little café and is just off the A1. Sadly, it doesn’t have electric car charging facilities and so we probably won’t be able to stop there next time.
We also went to the cinema in April, this time as a family to see A Minecraft Movie. I stand by my review of it being basically fine – great if you’re a Minecraft fan but neither terrible nor a masterpiece.
More travel was to come in July, as we went on our holiday to North Wales. Whilst we were only there for a week, we squeezed a lot in, to the extent that I was still blogging about what we did in September. Our holiday was also a test run for our new electric car that we bought in July. We managed pretty well to say that we’d only had it a week when we set off. We still really like the car, and have no regrets about the switch to electric.
I bought myself a new iPad at Costco, making it my fourth overall and the first new iPad in seven years. Speaking of Costco, we let our membership lapse in November, as we’re pretty well stocked up at present. I imagine we’ll re-join some time in the new year, once we’ve finally used everything up.
At the theatre, we saw the Rude Science show – I’m hoping to finish the book before the end of today – and I met the Map Men in Leeds. My copy of the book went to my Dad as a birthday present but I’ve listened to the audiobook.
November
We received a big upgrade to our internet at home after we got fibre broadband installed. A couple of months on, and it seems better than what we had before on the whole. We also put up our Christmas tree super early.
Back to the cinema again, this time for the second instalment of Wicked. We also had another family celebration, this time for my cousin who had her 25th wedding anniversary. Dress code was black tie, so I hired a suit for the occasion.
I finished work for Christmas on Friday 19th, to coincide with school holidays, and so we went to Quarry Bank Mill last week – our fourth National Trust property of the year. Christmas itself was, as usual, spent with my parents in York.
All in all
Overall, 2025 has been a good year for me. Going to Athens was definitely a highlight, as was our holiday in Wales. Let’s hope 2026 is just as good.
By the power of a scheduled post that was written last Saturday, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas if you are celebrating today. As per usual, we’re staying with my parents in York for the Christmas period, having arrived last night.
As for our gifts to family, this year Christine has made most of them herself. She took up crochet in a big way earlier this year, and so our relatives will have opened a selection of blankets, hats and gloves this morning.
Christmas is also an opportunity for us to relax and recuperate. I’m off work for two full weeks, having finished last Friday. As our past two summer holidays have been a single week, this is actually the longest time I have had off work since our 2023 summer holiday. Thankfully, my workplace closed at lunchtime on the 23rd, and doesn’t open again until the 5th, so I shouldn’t have too much work to come back to.
This is the first year where our nine-year-old doesn’t believe in Santa. It means that they know their gifts were bought for them by people close to them, and not just provided by a mythical being.
Once again, I hope you all have a great Christmas.
It’s the 1st of December today, and so begins a busy month for us.
At work, we have our winter graduation ceremonies, and so I’ll be helping out with these, as well as meeting some colleagues visiting from another university. Due to school holidays, I’m only working the first three full weeks of December, and then I have a nice two week break over the Christmas period.
Next weekend, we’re celebrating a family member’s 25th wedding anniversary with a big meal and a party. I’ve hired a dinner suit for it – I own a couple of suits, but the dress code mandates a dinner suit – and Christine and our nine-year-old have treated themselves to new outfits. In fact, I’m probably spending more on hiring my suit, which I have to return, than they did combined on new outfits that they get to keep. Oh well.
We also need to fit in time to see Wicked: For Good. It’s been difficult finding a time when all three of are available to see it, especially as it’s over two hours long and so not really suitable for a weeknight. Christine and I both love the stage show, having seen it in London’s West End many years ago, and our nine-year-old really liked the first film.
In terms of blog posts that I’m expecting to write – I have a couple in mind to follow up our fibre broadband installation. One is about changing ISPs, and the second is about the new router hardware. These should be going live over the next week or so.
I quite like doing these round-ups of previously unblogged minor things at the end of each month. You can read what I wrote in October, and now here’s November:
Peter Pan-to time (oh no it isn’t)
We’re off to see Peter Pan at the Bradford Playhouse this weekend. It’s the annual pantomime from one of the local amateur dramatics societies, The Bradford Players. It also marks ten years since I helped backstage with Sleeping Beauty, a previous pantomime production. We don’t see a panto every year, but we know some of the cast and so we want to support them. Some tickets still available for the performances taking place today and tomorrow, but be quick.
The Bradford Playhouse is hosting another panto next month – Cinderella. By contrast, this is a professional production – several showings have already sold out but others have good availability. It’s cheaper than many mainstream theatres, and by booking to see it, you’re supporting smaller independent theatres.
I suck at soldering
In last month’s unblogged update, I mentioned how I was playing with a ESP development board to add Wi-Fi control to an existing non-smart device. In the end, I gave up, as my soldering skills just weren’t sufficient to keep the wires soldered to the contact points on the circuit board. If you’re interested, the device I was modifying was an Ikea Uppåtvind air purifier, and I was using this guide. To be fair, even if it had worked, I was using a much larger board than the D1 Mini recommended and so there’s no guarantee that I would have been able to re-assemble it anyway.
York Christmas Market
Whilst we were in York last weekend, alongside visiting York’s Chocolate Story, we also had a browse of York’s Christmas Market in Parliament Street. Even on a Sunday morning, it was very busy, and overall the city was the busiest I’ve seen it (remember, I grew up in York). Indeed, people have been complaining about how busy it is.
Christmas markets can be a bit hit-and-miss – I remember going to the Manchester Christmas market several years ago to find it was basically the same four stalls repeated across the whole city. York’s market is mostly local businesses, and it’s a good mix of food, drink and gifty things. We always buy a litre bottle of barbecue sauce from The Chilli Jam Man when we go.
Black Friday
I literally only bought two things on Black Friday this year, both from Amazon:
A 3 way plug with USB-A and USB-C(sponsored link). Christine has had one of these for a while and uses it daily; I’ve bought a second one because I want a charger for the bedroom that doesn’t have any LEDs on it.
The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook(sponsored link). This is the latest cookbook from Poppy O’Toole, aka Poppy Cooks, and it’s reduced to £10 (from £22) in their Black Friday sale. We already have her Potato Book and Slow Cooker books and use them both frequently.
Well, it’s the 25th November, and so Christmas Day is only a month away. We’ve already put our Christmas tree up – indeed, it’s been up since the Saturday before last. Now that is exceptionally early even by our standards, but we’re running out of free weekends between now and Christmas and we had the time. I sorted out the lights (and the smart plug running ESPHome) whilst our nine-year-old decorated it. At least with it being up early, we can appreciate it for longer.
When it comes to presents, we’re making good progress. Christine has a week off work this week, and so she’ll be doing the majority of the work. Which is fine, and what we agreed – our plan is for many of the gifts to be handmade this year.
As for my gift to her, I’ve already got something sorted – again, exceptionally early by my standards. I’m 99% sure it’s something that she’ll really like, too.
Due to the school holidays, I’m taking leave in the run-up to Christmas, and so after the end of this week I’ll just have three full weeks at work to go. Unfortunately, Christine is working Christmas Eve, and so it’ll be a late-ish start to the festivities. We’re planning to spend Christmas with my parents in York, as per usual.
Good grief, are we really almost at the end of 2025 already? I can’t believe it’s November now.
We had a quiet end to October, as both Christine and I had bad colds. Indeed, we had several days booked off work together, and the best that we could manage was a trip to Costco in Leeds.
For us, November promises to be a busy month. We have a couple of weekends already accounted for, including a trip to Thought Bubble in Harrogate. We went last year, for the first time since 2016, although I didn’t blog about it at the time. You can read about our first visit in 2014, if you like.
We’re also off to York, to visit my parents, on another weekend. As I hinted last week, we’re planning to see Matilda when it comes to Bradford, provided we can pick up some affordable tickets for the three of us.
At work, we’re starting to interview people hoping to enrol on courses for next September, and so I’ll be busy with those.
This November is also another anniversary of sorts, as it marks 15 years since Christine and I moved in together, and therefore 15 years of us living in Sowerby Bridge. That means that, in early 2029, I will have lived in Sowerby Bridge longer than I’d lived in York.
Every now and again, we have an ‘away day’ at work. This time, it was hosted at Fountains Church, located on Chester Street in Bradford, pictured above. I’ve been in the building before it was a church, as it used to be three separate nightclubs: Revolution (the national chain of vodka bars), Walkabout (the national chain of Australian-themed bars) and Dr Livingstone’s, a nightclub themed around Dr David Livingstone, a colonialist and explorer. I visited them all regularly back when I was a student.
It was weird seeing the building now used as a place of worship.
A blue postbox in Manchester
On the way back from seeing Brains, Bogies and You, we walked past a blue postbox on Liverpool Road in Manchester. Normally, British postboxes are painted red (or occasionally gold), so this one is unusual.
Fortunately, a plaque on the side explains all. Originally, blue postboxes were more common, as they were used for air mail post. Nowadays, air mail no longer needs to be sorted separately from domestic post, and so all but one of these have been removed. The only remaining genuine blue air mail post box is outside Windsor Castle. This one is actually just a regular post box, painted blue.
This specific post box was painted blue because it sits next to what was the Manchester Aerospace Museum. This later became the Air and Space Hall of the Museum of Science and Industry, but was permanently closed a few years ago.
Playing with an ESP development board
Back in July, I picked up an ESP development board(sponsored link) to use as a firmware flasher. I’ve been experimenting with it, to try to add Wi-Fi control to an existing non-smart device. Let’s just say that I need more soldering practice, but I’m hoping to write more about it should I succeed.
Danny Boyle in Sowerby Bridge
I didn’t spot the film crew myself, but Danny Boyle has been filming scenes for his new film Ink in Sowerby Bridge, near where we live. It’s a biographical film about the early life of Rupert Murdoch. It’ll be interesting to see if we can recognise the filming locations when the film comes out.
I’ve also re-instated a number of old blog posts written in October 2015 from the Web Archive. These include Losing the Language of Love, which I quite enjoyed reading again, and several posts from a trip to London that month:
We also went to Crossness Pumping Station on that trip, but unfortunately my post about it was never indexed by the Web Archive and so it’s probably lost forever. It’s a shame – it’s a very interesting place. It’s not often that a sewage pumping station would be Grade I listed, and it’s only open on selected days of the year.
