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. 

Tuesday Ten

Ten little joys of the festive period

There have been so many lovely little things about this Christmas holiday, I am spoilt for choice, really. 

1. I started with a haircut. No picture, because the weather ruined the blowdry before I even got to the tube, but it looked fabulous. 

2. Secret Maps exhibit at the British Library. I expected this to be heavy on the 20th century and was pleasantly surprised by how many early modern maps there were to scrutinise. I particularly liked the one setting out the Canadian border after the American Revolution, that was apparently hidden by Britain in a later border dispute because it support an American claim. Classic. Love the idea that maps could just be hidden in a cupboard or something. 

3. Dinner with very long-term friend Richard, who I hadn't seen since 2019. He's a dad now. So weird. Love it. 

4. A stay at the NYX hotel in Holborn, with a visit to their spa. They gave me sweets on check in, amazing. I think I had a short stay booked here in April 2020 that I had to cancel: I remember the pool, which seems to have some sort of glass portion to the floor so you can see what's underneath it, whatever that is. I didn't have my glasses on, obvs. Also in London: a wander around Liberty (Christmas heaven) and then Fortnum and Mason (Christmas hell, solely due to the 30 million people all doing the same thing).

5. Dinner with Saff and Kate, enjoying a Jamaican feast, as in days of yore. 

6. I finished the Christmas jumper! Pictured here on its way to a carol concert, when it was not finished (I had not embroidered the berries across the back) but I completed it during a work meeting on the 22nd, perfect timing. 

7. A little blue Tiffany box of joy from Mr Z, who managed to buy me something I love that I didn't even know I wanted. I ordered him a much less indulgent gift and it hasn't even arrived yet, eek. 

8. Boxing Day walk with Mother Hand. We played Pooh sticks and fussed other people's dogs. 

9. A number of visits to the newish community sauna in Bristol that my knitting group friend Jess told me about. It's quite rustic but it does what it needs to. I haven't braved the 5 degree cold plunge yet...maybe tomorrow. 

10. A trip to hot yoga. I hadn't been since 2021; when I downloaded the app to book the sauna and it told me I already had a login, I realised it was the same app I used to book the hot yoga before, so decided to let fate guide me back. I picked a class with an instructor I used to see at bikram, who remembered me, which was nice. I don't mind doing yoga in a heated tent but I really do think I sweated more than anyone else and their showers seemed to be, once again, out of order. I remembered that that is why I didn't go back in 2021, when the showers were off-limits due to covid. I did not appreciate having to put a woolly jumper onto my clammy self. I want to go back but will need to make better wardrobe plans. 

Bonus: I've managed almost a whole week of 8+ hours sleep. Mostly 9+ hours, truth be told. I have completely stopped waking up at 6am. I am partly attributing this to the new Christmas PJs and new Christmas bedding (Christmas hit this house hard this year). Next week is going to be B R U T A L but I have enjoyed this week.