Tuesday Ten - 2025 part 2

11. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Not really. Some annoying sore things that pop up on my aging body from time to time - I think I aggravated my coccyx on the leg press at the gym so that hurt for a long time; the shoulder I hurt on the ski trip in 2022 is still a bit stiff at times; one of my ankles swelled up and became extremely painful, and though it doesn't hurt now, it's still a bit swollen. 

Age, what a thing. 

I will say that my left knee, which has been sore since 2020, is no longer troubling me. I am claiming gym consistency as the remedy for that one. 

12. What was the best thing you bought?
I was actually thinking this could be a post all of its own. I bought a lot of things that I really loved. But I'm going to say the UV reactive yarn that I used to knit jumpers for my niblings. 

13. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Um. I assume this is meant to be someone famous because I'm not sure you, reader, will feel the same level of joy about my niece sharing her toys with her brother that I did. So, tricky. The only one I can think of to say is Ed Miliband on Instagram. Surprisingly entertaining and with good political messaging. I like this sort of, 'I have already done the party leader thing so I am in that post-important grandad-type role but I am still an MP' vibe. 

14. Whose behaviour made you appalled?

I was quite appalled reading about some of the potential nominees for the Papacy. 

I mean, politics in general is pretty appalling, isn't it? I try very hard to remind myself that differing political opinions are not wrong but it's actually getting harder and harder to be measured when certain political opinions lead to persecution and death. I had to unfollow a yoga instructor I've enjoyed following for a long time last week because she obliquely posted about the Minnesota shooting by saying something like, 'Remember that thing a few years ago where 50% of people swore the dress was white and gold and the rest swore it was blue and black?' 

Yes I do remember that but it didn't involve someone being shot dead and a someone else's life being wrecked because he shot a woman dead. What a crass comparison to make, particularly in light of the outpouring of grief from the same person when Charlie Kirk was shot (another heinous act, his children were there FFS). Are we really here now? Surely the only reasonable reaction to anybody being killed is one of grief and shock? I don't care if you think they deserved it. Someone is dead. 

George Clooney said at the Golden Globes something about us living in an age of cruelty and I really felt that. But, then, I also think often that life has never been as sacred as it is in the age we are living in, which is ironic, given how many of us there are now. Maybe this is us slipping down the peak, back towards a place where life is less sacred. 

15. Where did most of your money go?

I'm very boring - savings, uni fees and holidays, in that order. Also SpaceNK. 

16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

A tricky one. Do I ever feel that level of excitement anymore?

I did get very feverishly excited about going to a conference in Liverpool in May, unusually so. I think it was a combo of seeing some people I love but don't get to see very often and the fact that it marked the beginning of three weeks of no teaching, as it was at the start of a fortnight in Oxford, followed by half term. 

I also had an interesting sort of reverse excitement about the ski trip. I wasn't hugely anticipating 2025 because 2024 was not much fun and my ski trip bestie Rachael couldn't come, but it turned out to be a really fantastic trip and then I got really excited planning for 2026. But we're not going this year because not enough students were excited enough for it to be viable. Deflating. However, I guess it doesn't detract from the excitement I felt at the time. 

This was such a good day. Couldn't love my ski overalls more. 

17. What song will always remind you of this year?

I can't choose between three. They are from different bits of 2025 so maybe that makes it OK. Chappell Roan - The Giver; Olivia Dean - Man I need; RAYE - Where is my husband? 

18. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Healthier or unhealthier?
Richer. Healthier. Happiness-wise, probably about the same. Definitely not sadder. 

19. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Always more skiing (I could have wedged in a trip in Feb half term, I'm sure of it); more knitting; more reading. Basically more hobbies. I'd have liked to have got my kayak out at least once in 2025. 

I wish I'd discovered the localish sauna sooner. 

20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Work. Why didn't I give up work to do the Masters? Why? True regret. 

2026 Week 3

My office-mate Becky* told me on Friday about a thing called Cosy Friday, which is a poor translation of a Scandinavian word for going home on a Friday and not worrying about going out or doing anything, but just staying in and being cosy. I am much enamoured of this concept and feel like my whole January is turning into Cosy Friday and I am pleased about it. 

I have done a couple of cosy things - I went to the sauna after work on Friday and to hot yoga on Thursday, after parents' evening, even though I could not think of anything I felt less like doing by that point. It was reinvigorating in a way that hot yoga always is, in that genuine type 2 fun way that I did not much enjoy it at the time. I go to one in a tent and it feels faintly unhealthy. I picked a space between a wall and a pillar, correctly predicting that the space next to me would be the very last one anyone else would pick, only to find that everybody showed up to class so I was uncomfortably close to a much younger man and a little bit concerned about sweating on him, especially as he kept moving backwards and forwards on his mat to prevent any accidental touching. This may well have been because he was worried about sweating on me but it did not make me feel great. Also I found the instructor annoying. So it wasn't the best thing in the world but, by the time I got home, I felt faintly euphoric, which is pretty good for the end of a parents' evening towards the end of a week. 

I've watched the rest of Tinker Tailor and I've read the whole 'Water' section of John Boyne's The Elements, thanks to a return train journey to Birmingham. I've got another of those on Friday so hopefully I'll be able to bash out another section. I cleared out my chest of knitting yarn and sorted out lots to donate, and then donated some, to Emma, at knitting group. I looked through some more of the stash yesterday and found two boxes that are just leftovers from other projects so I think I should ditch those as well...what does one do with project leftovers? I feel that, in a 'make do and mend' mentality, I should save my scraps for knitting Barbara Goode style jumpers, but I don't even have time to knit up all my matching yarn so that feels a bit silly. 

I spent yesterday knitting a swatch for a new jumper I've been planning to knit for about two decades, proving my point above even more strongly. Then, whilst watching Nuremberg last night (would recommend, it was better than I thought it would be) I wound a set of minis I bought at Wonderwool in (and here I was going to say 2022ish but am horrified to discover it was actually) 2017 and started knitting an Obfuscation cowl that is nearly 20% finished already. Just need to get on with doing things, clearly. 

Work has been a bit grim but I'm just trying to go with it. It's only work and it doesn't count either for or against Cosy Fri-anuary. I had to text Mr Z on Friday to tell him I was being really aresholey but, when I got home and told him all of it, he said I wasn't arseholing, I was just refusing to put up with things. 

I got ethical approval for my dissertation, so that's good. Except now I have to do the thing. 

* I've known Becky for a long time and was reflecting on whether I should use the word friend. She is definitely a friend, but we don't see each other socially and I think that, when we no longer work together, we won't see each other anymore. Much like our language missing a word for Cosy Friday, I feel like it is missing a word for this sort of relationship. 

Tuesday Ten

I came across these 40 questions to ask yourself every year through another blog that I read regularly, that I won't link because it's a bit worky and I'd rather try to keep that a bit separate. They reminded me of the sorts of surveys we'd love to take as teens and I thought they'd make a great Tuesday Ten prompt, split up over four weeks, since I like the rhythm of Tuesday Ten posts but struggle a lot to think of topics for them. 

So here are the first ten, and I will follow up over the coming weeks with more, reviewing my 2025. 

1. What did you do this year that you’d never done before?

I can't think of anything significant. Visited a couple of new countries. Swam in a few new places Hit a new top speed while skiing. Lifted a heavier deadlift than ever before. 

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions?

Yes. I only made one silly one and it was fun and easy to keep - that I would pose outrageously for any picture I was forced to take for work. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No. I seem to be in that middle age bit where my friends have all finished birthing their babies but their babies aren't old enough to be birthing their own yet. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes. Mother Z passed away in the summer.

5. What cities/states/countries did you visit?

I began the year in Kazakhstan. 

I spent four weeks and some odd days here and there in Oxford. 

I went on school trips to South Tirol, for skiing, and Greenwich. 

I went to the Brecons for the usual Wonderwool weekend.

I went to Liverpool for a conference weekend and spent many days in Birmingham for work things. 

I summer-holidayed to Norway, Italy and Albania. 

I spent a bit of time in Portsmouth in the summer. 

I had my (perhaps now annual) pre-Christmas solo trip to London and visited with the smalls a couple of other times. 

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year?

Some time off. 

7. What date(s) from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I can't think of any, specifically. This was a really good day, though. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting into remission from diabetes. 

I got merits on all three MSc assignments I submitted this year. Very pleasing. 

I also felt that I had more follow-through this year. I planned to do things and then actually did them, which has led to me feeling generally more accomplished. The termly goal lists have helped with that, as has just doing things or booking things as soon as I think of them, instead of giving myself thinking time. 

9. What was your biggest failure?

I consistently fail to accurately predict how long things will take. I'd love it if I could get better at this. 

10. What other hardships did you face?

I'm a very fortunate person. I don't really face hardships. I found one of my uni assignments incredibly hard and working almost every single day from the start of June to the middle of October was horrible. But are these really hardships? 'Oh no, my expensive degree is difficult and I am inundated with paying work' blah blah. 

2026 Week 2

I'm not sure which Monday it is in January that is meant to be the most depressing, but I hope it's not as depressing as this week has been. What a grind! It was cold all the time and we didn't even get any snow out of it, even though I lay in bed on Friday morning willing it to be blanketed outside. 

Oh well. One week down, five to go, and then it's half term and ski time. 

I have done the self-care things this week. I've been to the sauna twice, to the gym twice, to yoga and to see the PT. I haven't really been eating very well but it's all relative, I'm not longer existing on cheese and gin, so that is good. I've been going to bed as early as I can (and I'm bashing this out quickly now so I can head there asap). Mr Z and I went for a brunch yesterday and I allowed myself an afternoon nap. I sorted out some clothes for charity and hangered up a week's worth of outfits. I ordered a blue leather skirt I don't need but couldn't stop thinking about. 

I finally finished Beloved by Toni Morrison. It was pretty horrible but not as ghastly as people had made it out to be; maybe that's because I'm not a mother, I can see that being haunted by your own baby (this is not a spoiler, it's on the first page) might be more horrifying if you had ever had a baby. Or maybe I've just read too many gruesome stories of slavery. 

I've started a Karen Maitland medieval horror but I've also just got a library book in, Elements by John Boyne, which jumped out at me from somebody's 2025 reading list. Also I got a guide to Slovakia so I am spoilt for reading choice. 

We finished watching the Sopranos and I started watching the OG Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, from the 70s. I think having seen the film a few times helps with linking the bits of the story together, though I still find it difficult to mesh all the threads into something other than one big tangle. It's on iPlayer if you fancy it. A lovely bit of 70s nostalgia. 

No knitting has happened. Since ripping the mitten back to its picot cuff, I haven't restarted, mainly because I can't decide whether to go up one needle size or two. Well, that's not strictly true. I think I have decided I need to go up two, but I have been too lazy to get the needle case out of the blanket box to retrieve them. That just about sums up how little energy there's been for the week, to be honest. 

Tuesday Ten

Ten trips I'm looking forward to this year

1. Skiing in Sauze d'Oulx. I've been there five times but only ever at Easter and only with a coachload of teenagers. So excited to ski to France and back! Plus we're going by train so we have a stop in Paris each way. 

2. Edinburgh for Steps the Musical. Fetch my sequins and 90s make up. 

3. Mallorca with the fam, Easter weekend. Sib has rented an AirBnB with a heated pool. I've never been there before and it will be a good short break. 

4. Sheffield, for a geography conference. This might not sound too exciting but I have never spoken at a geography conference before (obviously) and my friend/colleague and I will be co-presenting. 

5. School trip to Iceland. I feel a bit guilty about staffing this one as I have already been to Iceland on a school trip, back in 2011 I think, but that was a Feb trip and it will be fun to go later in the year. 

6. Wonderwool. Obvs. 

7. Newcastle for another conference. I'm giving the same talk as in Sheffield, should make for a much less stressful prep. Plus I am flying there - the cost of a return flight was too good to pass up. 

8. The summer tour with Zoe. We are going to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. We booked it all in about two days over Christmas, clearly we are both living several months into the future already. 

9. Hythe, Kent, for another family trip. Mother Hand grew up in Hythe and wants to go back so the grandchildren can see it. We've rented a place opposite the beach, so exciting! I remember those beaches so well from my own childhood. Haven't been back in years. 

10. I'm leaving 10 open for now. I've got a couple of trips to Oxford booked in and Sib bought me a very generous gift voucher for a local spa that I might manage to get Mr Z to go to with me, we'll see. There will be some kind of London visit at some point. I might head to Leeds for another conference. The world is my oyster, clearly. 

Late Autumn Goals

Honestly very much enjoying this list thing. It definitely helped me to do some things I would have avoided otherwise. 

I can't really be blamed for that fact that SLT did not go out for a festive evening. I tried, several times, but have started to suspect it's not to everyone's tastes. Unfortunately I did not make it to the faculty team night out, which clashed with an exam board meeting day...I could have gone afterwards. I should have done. But it was belting down with rain and I went and had dinner with my exam board boss instead. 

All the other usual seasonal treats made an appearance. Strictly and Chinese with Kaff, an old colleague I have managed to maintain a friendship with. The opening night of Bath Christmas markets with other ex-colleagues now friends. The Gurt Lush Christmas choir concert and the December haircut, along with other festive treats and another catch up. 

I really went wild on the Advent book and baked a lot of recipes from it. I went even further down the rabbit hole, buying some gingerbread moulds to use for Springerle (aniseed biscuits that are moulded and then dried out a little before baking, so when you cook them they have a little foot, like macarons) and even buying a biscuit press, only naturally I had to have the good one so I ordered it from a German company who shipped it directly from Italy. It took so long to arrive we'd broken up from school and I didn't have anybody to bake for, so I only managed one batch. It is like magic though and enabled an entire batch of cookies to be whipped up in 10 minutes. Rolling and cutting is so last year. 

Anyway. I have convinced at least three more people to buy this book now so I feel very virtuous. 

The five house clean jobs would definitely not have been done without the list, but they were all deeply satisfying. I've tried to be a bit more specific with my Spring list, though, as I was getting a bit of decision fatigue. 

And the gym! I was going to be content with 12 visits but then I decided it was OK to extend the list completion to NYE and managed to squeeze in an extra few and, very pleasingly, this made a total of 52 visits for 2025, which just about warrants the subscription fee. To this we can add five PT sessions, five yoga sessions and one hot yoga session - yes, I finally went back. I am in the best shape of my life.

Weird gym man has been haunting. He might get his own post this week. 

Here's my list for the coming half term:

• 15 gym visits (six weeks until skiing)
• Try the ski machine thing in the gym (terrifying, nobody ever uses it)
• 6 sauna visits
• 2 hot yoga visits (bought a multi-class pass, didn't I, sigh)
• Get a pedicure
• Use up all the Lush bath products I have accumulated
• Weekly skin/hair treatment
• Take Mr Z to the secret surprise thing
• Clear out all the little drawers in the living room
• No Facebook on the phone. I've actually put 'Facebook only at weekends' but I think this might be too challenging. Instead, I've deleted the app off my phone. I hovered over Insta as well but, well, I can't quite everything all at once. 

2026 Week 1

I barely made it to midnight on NYE this week. I was prone on the sofa at 10.30, almost unable to keep my eyes open. I am not one for big NY festivities for the sake of it, but I draw the line at missing midnight. The last time I can remember missing a NY midnight was in 1999, a truly depressing NYE that began with Mother Hand coming in to tell me she and her mother had decided it was cold enough for thermal vests and I should wear mine also. A horrifying foreshadowing of a future I had absolutely no interest in pursuing. 

Anyway. Happily, this week, I rallied and managed to stay awake until the end of the London fireworks. I still get a little kick out of shots of the London Eye, remembering seeing in the millennium from underneath it, after enterprising revellers including myself collapsed the barriers to get to the river's edge. I saw on TikTok that it now costs £45 to stand there, you have to be in by 10.30 and then you're not allowed to leave for two hours. Ghastly. Push the barriers over, guys. 

(Just went back and re-read the blog post about the millennium night and it seems I crawled under one barrier and pushed over another. I was a regular little hooligan in my youth.)

There hasn't been much else to this week, really. Lots of sleep, lots of lounging. Many episodes of the Sopranos and a catch-up of the entire series of Celebrity Traitors (Alan Carr, what a legend). We completed Super Mario in record time and have basically finished the Luigi version as well, unprecedented. Turkey melts. Cheese boards. Gym visits. Sauna visits - I managed to get to the newish local community sauna twice. Some bits and pieces of work, in a very relaxed fashion. I knitted half a mitten and then ripped it back after trying it on with the thumb opening because the gauge was too tight - very mandala. I worked on my 'Spring 1' list of nice things to do and it turns out to be a very worthy and nourishing sort of list, which I suppose is OK. Probably right for the time of year. 

This time last year I was preparing to fly home from Kazakhstan. That was a great holiday but I don't think I appreciated how much I need a quiet Christmas break. It has been a really long time since I did nothing much at all for several days in a row and I have found it very rejuvenating.