Even though our wedding is all paid off, I expect 2014 to be another expensive year for us – namely because we’re intending to buy a house. So far we’ve been renting, which is fine when you’re still getting established as a couple. But in the long term, it’s expensive (our mortgage repayments are likely to be less than we’re paying in rent), and it’s restrictive – we can’t really decorate, for example. We’d also like to move out of a flat and into a proper house with a garden.
My parents gave us quite a bit of money towards a mortgage deposit as a wedding present, but we’ll probably need a bit more. Also, something else has to happen before we can buy: we both need to learn to drive.
Learning to drive
Right now we’re restricted to living close to Sowerby Bridge railway station, and on a main bus route, as neither of us can drive a car. So we are both going to learn to drive this year, allowing us to choose a home a little further off the beaten track. Those of you who have read this blog for many years will know that I had driving lessons in 2006-7, however, after failing my practical test twice I gave up, and haven’t tried since. Though I won’t be starting from scratch, there’s a lot that I’ve forgotten in six years and so I’m not expecting to be qualified until the summer. I also need to re-take my theory test; though I passed it last time, it was only valid for two years and so has now expired, and it has got more difficult since.
So learning to drive will be one of my New Year’s Resolutions. Another will be going to the gym more, as that has fallen by the wayside somewhat since the wedding (not helped by a series of colds since September). Whilst giving up lactose has helped me feel less bloated (and so clothes fit better), I could still do with losing a bit of weight and improving my fitness.
May, as well as being our first wedding anniversary, will also play host to my 30th birthday. Which is a somewhat daunting prospect.
Weddings
We have been invited to two weddings this year – one in March, in Nottinghamshire, and another in the summer, in the Lake District. Hopefully one of us will be driving in time for the latter but we need to sort out transport for the former very soon. As many of our friends are at the same stage in life as us, I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up being invited to more weddings this year. I’m just pleased that I won’t have to organise one again.
We haven’t yet booked a holiday for this year but we’ve talked passively about a trip to Ireland. I’ve never been but Christine had family living there for a while so she has spent quite a bit of time there as a child. We also have tickets for a concert in Manchester in March. And we’ll be spending New Year’s Eve (i.e. this Tuesday) with friends, probably drinking the leftover champagne from our wedding.
So, to all of you reading this, I would like to wish you a very happy, prosperous and loving new year, and my best wishes.
This time every year I do a blog post looking back at the year that has just about finished, and all of the things I did. So this year it is the turn of 2013 to be analysed. You can read my previous posts from 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.
January
We started 2013 with friends near Blackpool, playing the tabletop game Last Night on Earth (the zombies won). We had a trip to Manchester, to visit the Peoples’ History Museum, and again later in the month to set up our wedding list at John Lewis in the Trafford Centre.
With two months to go until the wedding, we sorted out the flowers and received the remaining RSVPs from guests. We belatedly discovered The IT Crowd, and have since watched every episode (including the new, final episode broadcast this year). We later moved on to Black Books, and I got the complete box set of Father Ted for Christmas, to complete the Graham Linehan set.
At the beginning of April we went to a friends’ wedding in Greater Manchester – literally four weeks before our own. And at two weeks before Christine and I went on our respective hen and stag weekends, which we had been kept in the dark about right up until the day. We both had a good time and weren’t too embarrassed by our friends.
My soon-to-be mother in law gave me her first generation iPad that she was no longer using, which has proved very useful in the time since. However, with it only capable of running iOS 5, and an increasing number of apps no longer working, I may be looking for a newer model in the future.
At the end of the month we came over to York to make the final arrangements for the wedding.
May
Finally we made it to May, and our wedding on Saturday 4th. We both had a lovely day surrounded by friends and family, and the weather was nice enough for us to get plenty of good photos. That being said, we still haven’t ordered any prints, or our album as yet, so that’s a job for 2014. As is sending out the rest of the thank-you cards which we’re still working on.
Following the wedding, we went on honeymoon – five nights in Paris. I’ve been to Paris a number of times but it was Christine’s first visit. It was a relatively modest holiday – we stayed in a Holiday Inn, travelled in standard class on Eurostar and had to budget for meals – but we had a good time.
In July, my post at the university was re-graded upwards, resulting in a small pay rise. Having still got quite a lot of debt on my credit card from the wedding at this point, this was quite welcome. It was also during July that I discovered that I was lactose-intolerant, and so we started ordering our groceries online from Ocado because of their bigger selection of dairy-free products.
Christine turned 30, so we had a small party in our flat. Towards the end of the had a weekend in London, to visit friends and a couple of museums, and this included a stay in a lastminute.com ‘secret hotel’ which sadly wasn’t a great experience. The rest of the trip was good, though.
In October we went to yet another industrial museum, this time in Armley, near Leeds, for a Steampunk market. There was also a visit to a beer festival in Huddersfield, and another trip on the Transpennine Real Ale Trail, calling at some different pubs this time. And I went on the third of three stag weekends (the second being my own), this time in Birmingham.
I decided not to do Movember again this year, partly because in early November we went to another wedding, this time in Hertfordshire. I unfortunately had to miss the broadcast of the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who due to a birthday (everybody seems to be turning 30 at the moment) but thankfully caught up the following morning on BBC iPlayer. Which meant going into complete social media hibernation in the intervening period to avoid any spoilers.
Following my grandfather moving into a nursing home earlier in the year (he’s in his nineties now), we sold his house and therefore inherited a few things. We now have a much bigger dining table and some nicer chairs, amongst other bits.
And finally to this month, which has featured three separate trips to York – one of which was a pub crawl, and another was for Christmas. I donated my fifth pint of blood, and somewhat surprisingly managed to get our Christmas shopping sorted quite early this year, in comparison. We also went to see The Hobbit Part 2 at the cinema, which I enjoyed despite some of the mixed reviews it got.
On Sunday I’ll post about what 2014 is likely to have in store.
I’m lucky that I can give regularly; I work near to a donor centre and am able to get time off work for donations. There are only 24 centres in England and some cities like York don’t have them. And I’m also lucky to be relatively healthy and don’t have any medical conditions that prevent me from giving blood.
I have had one failed donation; when the needle was inserted it somehow missed a vein. That meant having to re-arrange for a new appointment a couple of weeks later, which thankfully went fine. I now give blood from my right arm, even though I’m right-handed, as I seem to have better veins there. This does mean that I can’t really use my right arm for a couple of hours afterwards, so my appointments are in afternoons, after work. The failed donation also shows on my record, so I’ve had my ’5-9 donations’ card for a while even though at the time I had only donated four pints of blood.
Despite donating regularly, I still don’t like needles. I have learned how to cope with this and whilst it’s never a pleasant experience, once the needle is in and the blood starts flowing it doesn’t hurt. I have a similar coping mechanism for my annual ‘flu jabs. Sometimes I get a bruise on my arm as well.
I’ve also opted in to the Bone Marrow Registry, as this can be done at the same time as a donation.
At some point in future I may decide to donate platelets, which fewer people do. It’s a longer procedure, taking around 90 minutes, but can be done more frequently – as often as every two weeks in some cases. However, platelet donors can’t also give blood the regular way, so I wouldn’t be able to take part in the Interval study.
My next appointment is at the end of February, for pint number six.
Lactose intolerance is when your body can’t produce enough lactase, which is an enzyme that breaks down lactose into simpler, more absorbable sugars. Lactose is found in cows milk, and therefore cream, butter, ice cream, yoghurt and anything else containing milk.
Lactose intolerance is not an allergy; this means most sufferers can consume small amounts of products containing lactose without problems, and even when they do consume large amounts it usually isn’t a medical emergency like with nuts. But it can lead to some unpleasant symptoms.
I’ve always had problems with consuming large quantities of milk, and when I was a toddler I could only have goats milk, as regular cows milk didn’t agree with me. As I grew older it didn’t seem to be too much of a problem, but over the past few years, the symptoms of lactose intolerance have become more noticeable. I’ve frequently been quite bloated after meals, and unsavoury things would make their way out of my rear end at regular intervals.
And then we went to Paris for our honeymoon. Whilst we were there, my symptoms were much milder, and I eventually deduced why. On a morning, rather than having cereal with milk, I was having croissants instead.
A few weeks after we returned (and after having seen my symptoms return), I switched to LactoFree milk. This is regular cows milk which has been treated to remove the lactose, but keep everything else. I also cut out yoghurts from my lunch (although only after buying a large multipack). Since then, I haven’t had any of the earlier problems.
This should be a happy ending, but unfortunately it isn’t. Because so many things have milk or dairy products in them. I am now beginning to understand how hard it is to be a vegan (even though I still eat meat). The LactoFree milk is okay – it tastes like regular cows milk and doesn’t cost much more, although it is imported from Denmark. LactoFree cheese is, however, disappointing – rubbery, and largely flavourless, reminding me of the ‘cheese’ I used to get as part of my school dinners in the early 1990s. There are other products in the range but these aren’t stocked in my local small town supermarket, sadly.
Some sufferers of lactose intolerance can manage to have yoghurt – this is because yoghurt is a fermented dairy product, and so the lactose is already partly broken down. Sadly, as mentioned before, this isn’t the case with me, and so I now have to eat soya-based equivalents. Similarly, some people can have goat or sheep milk based products, others can’t.
On the odd occasion when I drink coffee, I have to ask for soya milk. I don’t particularly like soya milk as I find it very sweet when compared to cows milk, but it’s better than feeling awful later on. Sadly Starbucks charge an extra 35p for soya milk in their drinks; I’m not sure about Costa Coffee or Caffè Nero and whether they charge extra too.
If you’re reading this and think that you too may have lactose intolerance, then by all means try cutting out diary products from your diet, but please also make an appointment to see your GP to discuss it. Don’t self-diagnose; your GP may refer you to have a blood or breath test to confirm. Mine didn’t, but this was because I’d already cut back on dairy products and we agreed that it probably wasn’t necessary. However, some of the symptoms of lactose intolerance appear to be the same as some more serious diseases such as bowel cancer, so it’s really important that you see your GP just in case. It also means that, if you are lactose intolerant, then it’s on your medical record. Some drugs contain small amounts of lactose in them, for example. And if your symptoms are serious, then your GP may need to refer you to a dietician who can devise a suitable diet for you to eat.
There isn’t a cure for lactose intolerance. As well as avoiding dairy, it is possible to take lactase substitutes, which essentially act like lactase to break down lactose in your stomach. You add them to your food before eating. They’re available from some health food shops, and on prescription in some circumstances.
Last night Christine and I joined a few friends to be in the audience for Bollywood Carmen Live, a Bollywood-themed retelling of Bizet’s opera Carmen by BBC Three. It was broadcast live from Bradford city centre, in front of City Hall and in the adjacent City Park.
We managed to find a spot right in front of the main stage, where we got to see most of the dancing; a big screen behind us then showed the other bits (well, most of them). Admittedly the only person in it that I recognised was Meera Syal. It was great fun though. I didn’t take any photos during the broadcast but managed to snap the photo above about an hour beforehand.
Hopefully the show will show off the good side of Bradford – City Park is brilliant and still new to a lot of people. It’s also fitting that the BBC should choose to celebrate 100 years of Bollywood films in Bradford, which is the world’s first designated UNESCO City of Film.
Saturday was my birthday. Not a big milestone this year, but I now have only 12 months of my twenties left. Having just got married, I didn’t expect to get many presents, but my main gift from my parents were …
The rest of this blog post may have been lost permanently.
We’re a married couple now. It was a bit of an exhausting day, but we both had a really good time, as did our guests – hopefully! I didn’t take any photos myself (the above is lifted from a friend’s Facebook album) so it’ll be a while before we see the rest of them. Christine looked absolutely beautiful.
So we’re Mr and Mrs Turner now, and I have a ring on my finger which is going to take some getting used to. Today we’re having a rest and then tomorrow we’re off to Paris.
Tonight will be the last night that Christine and I spend together as an unmarried couple. Tomorrow night we will spend the traditional night apart – me at my parents, and her with her bridesmaid at the hotel, and then the next time I see her she will be coming down the aisle on Saturday.
We’re pretty much there with preparations. We have the flowers (which are silk), I’ve got my suit, and Christine’s got her dress. We just need to take things to the venue tomorrow, and then wait for everyone to turn up the day after. As such, we’re not too stressed out about things as – touch wood – there aren’t too many big things that could go wrong at this point.
Anyhow, the next time I blog (apart from any automated posts like Delicious links), I’ll have a shiny ring on my finger. See you all soon.
It’s time once again for my ‘annual review’ of how the past year has gone for me – you can also read 2011, 2010 and 2009.
January
2012 started in our flat, with friends. For once, Christine and I managed to stay living in the same place all year after finally finding a flat together that didn’t have any problems.
The first weekend of January was spent in Newcastle, with short visits to Carlisle and Tynemouth as part of a two week break from work. As odd as it may seem to go on ‘holiday’ to Newcastle, we were able to find enough things to do to keep ourselves occupied and it was a cheap and enjoyable holiday.
Later in January we had a family meal and what is, to date, the most expensive restaurant I’ve ever been to – Gaucho in Leeds. The food was very good, but it’ll be a long time before we can afford to go there again. We also visited the Hebden Bridge Picture House, a lovely community-run independent cinema, I spent a day finding geocaches on the Spen Valley Greenway, and we had a nice afternoon at Manor Heath Park in Halifax.
February
In February we booked our wedding, which will take place in May 2013. This was followed by visits to a couple of wedding fairs, where we prompted multiple times to surrender our contact details for freebies, competition entries and all sorts. We also managed a trip to Ikea without a car, and instead using buses and walking. It’s possible but I wouldn’t recommend it. And I went to see one of my favourite bands, Alestorm, at The Well in Leeds, which has sadly now closed down.
In March we went to the closest thing Leeds has to a zoo – Tropical World in Roundhay Park. It’s not very big, but then it’s not expensive either and there’s quite a variety of animals there. This month’s live entertainment came in the form of Fascinating Aïda who had a minor YouTube hit with Cheap Flights, a sketch about the experience of travelling with a certain notorious low-cost Irish airline. Our group, consisting largely of students, probably made up the youngest members of the audience but it was really good nonetheless.
March ended at my first visit to Bettakultcha – one of three trips this year.
April
In April I took part in Hidden Bradford‘s #bradfordphotoaday – or rather attempted; I only managed 12 pictures over the 30 days. Outside of Bradford we went to Meadowhall for a shopping trip and I had my first experience at a garra rufa fish spa, which, to be honest, was rather underwhelming. Last year this was all the rage but we were one of only a few customers when we were there.
I responded to the Home Office’s Equal Civil Marriage consultation – pleasingly, it was announced this December that in response the government would also allow religious same sex marriage for those organisations that wanted it. Hopefully this will become law in a couple of years.
We saw two live comedy gigs in the same week – Mitch Benn at the wonderful City Varieties in Leeds (although we did turn up a day early…) and Robin Ince at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield; yes, the same Robin Ince we saw three times last year.
May
In May we visited Newby Hall for a day out around the gardens. I returned to the gym after a 10 week absence; however, I would later have another long, and indeed ongoing absence in the winter months. I suppose it’ll have to be a New Year’s Resolution for 2013.
More live stand-up comedy came in the form of Dara Ó Briain and Paul Merton, both at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax, and both very good in their own way with Merton’s show including various improvised sketches.
We made more wedding progress – we formally gave notice to marry and arranged our photographer. Christine also bought her dress.
May is my birthday month, and I spent quite a bit of it on a train down to London, for a short stay with friends. Whilst there we saw Matilda The Musical, visited London Zoo to do the bits we missed in 2010, called in at the humorously-named Horniman Museum and strolled around Kew Gardens. We picked a good weekend to go – the weather was nice and London was all decked out for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with Union Flags draped everywhere. A stark contrast to the actual Jubilee weekend when it rained heavily.
July brought with a visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds, which despite being quite local and free I’ve not visited properly for several years. There was also a weekend in Blackpool, including my visit to a nightclub in several years and a day out at Blackpool Zoo; counting Tropical World in Leeds, this was zoo visit 3 of 4 this year.
At home I upgraded my Mac to Mountain Lion, which was a largely uneventful process which made minor changes. I suppose you could call it the most underwhelming update to OS X in its history but then it was also by far the cheapest.
The Calder Valley, where I live, was hit by very serious flooding – the worst for many years – in July. We weren’t directly affected, living as we do in a flat several storeys up, but the towns of Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Mylthomroyd further up the valley were badly hit.
And right at the end of July I discovered a song called ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy, stating on Facebook that it was South Korea’s answer to LMFAO. I didn’t expect it to have over a billion views by the end of year and be a number one single in many countries including the UK.
August
In August we went to Halifax Agricultural Show again, after the Great Yorkshire Show was cancelled due to the aforementioned bad weather. I also paid passive attention to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, mainly because they were on whilst I was in the gym, but also because Team GB did very well this year coming third overall.
Not a lot else happened in August as it’s always a very busy time at work – this year saw a 13 day period where I was at work every day including two consecutive Sundays.
September
The past couple of years has seen us spending the first weekend in September at Bingley Music Live, but a lacklustre line-up, increase in ticket prices and last year’s awkwardness when trying to get home put us off. Instead we stayed in our home town for the annual Rushbearing festival where a cart of rushes is pulled between the various churches and pubs of the town over two days. It was quite a lot of fun, actually.
September also featured a day out at the RHS Garden at Harlow Carr – it wasn’t the nicest weather but I enjoyed it. This is coming from someone who doesn’t really ‘do’ gardening.
Live entertainment was for the unexpectedly brilliant Frisky and Mannish, at the Alhambra Studio Theatre in Bradford which I ashamedly visited for the first time despite living in or near Bradford for 10 years. Frisky and Mannish sadly aren’t currently touring, bar one rescheduled date in Portsmouth in February, which is a shame because they were utterly brilliant. Their YouTube videos do not do them justice.
The fourth and latest World of Warcraft expansion came out, although massive server queues (over an hour) meant that it was really October before I was able to play it. I’m not sure if it’s my favourite expansion ever (I loved Wrath of the Lich King) but it’s better than the previous Cataclysm expansion. There’s enough to do at maximum level to keep me logging in regularly, which is a nice change.
Finally, in late September, I replaced my iPhone 4, which was having major battery problems, with a brand new iPhone 5. It was a few days late, and wasn’t the model I originally ordered, but meant that I got the 64 GB model for the price of the 16 GB one, which was nice. Christine also upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy S to a Galaxy S III which she much prefers.
October
October saw Bradford’s new City Park illuminated on an evening with some really nice light sculptures, so I took a few photos. We also made more wedding progress – I arrange suit hire for myself, my best man and ushers, and we chose the all-important wedding cake.
There was another weekend away – this time to Chester. I’d never been, but Christine went a couple of years ago. It’s a really lovely city with lots of character – and I say that as someone who spent 18 years living in York. We also had a day out at Chester Zoo whilst we were there – our fourth and final zoo visit. And we spent Saturday night drinking cocktails in a swanky hotel bar to celebrate three years of being together.
Stand-up comedians once again entertained us this month, with two in the same week – Marcus Brigstocke at City Varieties, and then Andi Osho at the Alhambra Studio. Marcus was brilliant, and Andi wasn’t bad although her humour would work better in London in my opinion.
In November I donated blood for the first time, and found that I have one of the more rare blood groups, which means that I’m likely to be called up for more donations quite frequently in future. I already have my next appointment booked for 2013; as a man, I can give every 3 months.
At work, I joined a trade union. I’m lucky to work at an organisation that recognises unions for all staff and should any problems arise, I’ll have more backup.
In the middle of the month we went to Northallerton, and popped into Betty’s, meaning that we have now visited every branch of Betty’s. We didn’t have a meal there but did buy some treats from the shop.
We made another London visit, this time to see the Cabinet War Rooms where Winston Churchill led the UK’s forces during the second world war. It’s a good museum, if rather dark, claustrophobic and on the pricey side.
Once again, stand-up comedy was on the agenda – this time a ‘work in progress’ gig by Sarah Millican ahead of her full tour next year. We saw her last tour show last year and it was ace, and this was just as good. Even though a couple of jokes feel flat (which is to be expected at such gigs) she was absolutely hilarious. Less hilarious was trying to get home from Leeds at 11pm on a Sunday night by public transport.
Christmas this year was at our flat – the first year where I haven’t spent it with my family. Work schedules and trying to organise two sets of parents got the better of us, but we still had a nice, albeit quite and more sober, time. And we’re planning to spend New Year’s Eve in Blackpool with friends.
Which bring us to now. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, as it’s taken me the best part of three hours to write and I’m not feeling very well at present (typical me to be ill when I’m off work). I’ve also probably forgotten a few things as I’ve been utterly crap when it comes to uploading photos from day outs to Flickr, making it harder to remember what we did, but Facebook and Foursquare between them have been useful aids.
I hope that you had a great 2012, and I wish you a fun and prosperous 2013. It’s certainly going to be a big year for us, with the wedding on the horizon.
On Tuesday, I donated a pint of blood, for the first time.
It’s been something that I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time. I’m already an organ donor (I carry a card around which shows that I give consent for my organs to be used in transplants after my death), but until now I’ve never given blood.
I couldn’t donate throughout much of 2007 and 2008, as I had been on high-strength steroid tablets due to flare-ups with my asthma and my overnight stay in hospital in November 2007. But although I’ve been okay since then, I admit that I’ve simply never got around to it, even when there have been donation sessions at work.
My big worry was that it would hurt. And it did – a bit. For me the worst bit was the needle being inserted at the start; the pain was similar to when I’ve had vaccinations but lasted a little longer. However, once it was in, it was okay – a little uncomfortable, but not painful, and it was done after around 10-15 minutes. All in all, I was there for about an hour, due to me being a new donor and needing a slightly longer medical check first.
Afterwards, the site where the needle went in was a little tender for a few hours, but I didn’t receive any bruising and there was just a small red dot when I took the bandage off.
I’ve already booked another appointment, for mid-March next year, to donate my second pint. If you want to give blood, you can find details at blood.org.uk – the NHS needs a constant supply of blood and so if you are healthy and can spare the time I’d urge you to do it.
