Thoughts on 2023

The Big Stuff:
A year of contentment. Family life atop the miller’s hill is bliss, and the kids are so much more relaxed and confident now we’re more comfortable letting them explore. Felt like a slower year at work. I’d have rather made more, but it wasn’t to be. The sabbatical in the middle of it didn’t help matters. But it did allow me to make a lot more outside of work; bowls, cups, cake-stands and candlesticks. Side project time is slowly returning, and I’ve got a number of things I want to do in 2024.

The Small Stuff:
Spent far too much money at Dose coffee. Lots of time spent on James’ sofa (thank you). Slowly becoming a local, at the local. Making use of the BBQ – from Xmas turkey to ‘Thors hammer’. Plenty of Colour’n’Climb, ballet, stagecoach and swimming. The wonderful Lantern parade, once again. Lots of running around the kitchen, both cooking and playing. An angel and a shepherd under one roof.

Travel:

Quote for the year:
“Maybe The Good Life isn’t such a bad life, after all.”

Books read: 17
Best three books:

Number of photos taken: 10,575
Number of songs starred on Spotify: 105
Most listened to track: Ace of Aces by The Fearless Flyers
Series watched: Only Murders in the Building, Pretend It’s a City, It’s Always Sunny, Taskmaster, The Crown, The Bear, Happy Valley, Succession, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, The Traitors,
Album of the year: Johnny Flynn – A Larum
Film of the year: Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Pub quizzes partaken: 0
Pub quizzes won: 0
Trips to the doctor: 2
Trips to the dentist: 2
Trips to the vet: 0

Russell kindly put me in his new book, Do Interesting.

My mention notwithstanding, its an excellent read, and well worth putting on your Christmas list.

34 Pots
I recently took up pottery, and during my sabbatical went quite deep on some pottery courses (including an intensive at the Leach Pottery in St Ives). It made me realise how many different pottery forms there are to explore and learn. And so I want to throw and document 34 of them this year – perfecting them as much as I possibly can. I think I’ll mark them in some way, so I know they’re part of ‘the 34’ I’ve tried. And I’ll repeat forms where I think I can learn something.

34 Podcasts
I love podcasts, but I’ve tended to go very deep on one or two (looking at your three bean salad) rather than sampling more of what’s out there. So I’m going to do that this year – try out 34 podcasts I otherwise wouldn’t usually listen to, and hopefully stretch beyond the spotify algorithm.

34 Fish Dishes
I really enjoyed the BBQ challenge last year – it was great to cook outdoors more and push beyond my usual recipe repertoire. It was very meat based though (obviously) and a week in St Ives reminded me just how wonderful fish can be. So that’s the plan – 34 different fish recipes, cooked by me. They can be as simple or as complex as I want – and can be starters, mains, snacks or whatever.

And hopefully I’ll document them a bit better this year, vs. last year. We’ll see.

Late, true to form. A fun 33.

Challenges this year were great fun – the BBQs were excellent, and really stretched my cooking ability. I’m sorry to see that end.

The coffee got finished incredibly quickly. It was good, but I wish I’d done more side by side tastings. I don’t think I could say my coffee palate has improved all that much over the year.

The lectures didn’t get finished – I enjoyed the ones I did, but struggled to focus on it enough to make any reasonable headway.

Documentation was very poor across the year – I started taking photos early on for the BBQs, but quickly forgot. So very few visual props this time.

But I did take a lot of photos of other things, and here are the 33 that best sum up the year. Always fun to search through and see what we’ve been up to.

32 Challenges are now finished.

I managed to complete 32 Country Pubs and 32 Zines, but didn’t complete 32 Playgrounds in the end (although it definitely feels like I did…)

32 Country Pubs was delightful. I’d forgotten just how much I love a decent country boozer. I had to do a flurry of them at quite a speed in the last month, just to finish. That’s getting older I guess, these challenges get harder and harder. When I started, at 22, it was positively relaxed.

My top 5 below:

32 Zines was good. I ended up batching them and buying a load at once – because they are quite hard to get your hands on outside of east London. Managed to get a good spread of titles and genres, but it feels like a format that still has a lot of headroom.

1. Potluck Zine, Issue 4: Feast

2. Enjoying Wild Herbs – Nat Mady & Catmouse

3. Art is the thing nobody asked you to do – Babak Ganjei

4. Expressions – The Surrealism of Looney Tunes vol. 1

5. From Gardens Where We Feel Secure – Susanna Grant & Rowan Spray

6. Gather – Rhia Cook

7. West Side Stories – Rough Trade

8. A month of thoughts: Day – Pirrip

9. Home is where the artist lives – Laura Moseley

10. Winter Riding – Pirrip

11. Stitching our stories – Norfolk Heritage Centre

12. Getting Better – Pirrip

13. Finding the Space – Pirrip

14. Many Hands Make a quilt – Jess Bailey

15. Spring / Summer – Pirrip

16. Ennui – Soberland Studios

17. The Craft, a drinking game

18. Drunk In My Pants – Penfight

19. Another Fucking Seagull – Mika Gratzke

20. Spilling the tea: a poirot fanzine

21. The Swinny, a Tilda Swinton fanzine

22. Charity Shopping – Pippy

23. Shuck: Feasting – Ada

24. Council – Pippy

25. ADHD – A zine about mental health

26. Null Point Concept Zine – 008

27. Pencil Revolution – Vol 1 Issue 1

28. Florxl – 002

29. Scratching the Itch – Tim Lahan

30. Opt-Out – Guy Field

31. Birder Beginnings – Sarah E. Hoffman

31. Women in Stem – VickyLikesDrawing

Country Pub #15
The Pheasant, Brill

Drinks & Food: Sunday lunch.
Country Folk: Friendly locals looking out over a windmill.

Country Pub #16
The Hundred of Ashendon, Ashendon

Drinks & Food: Beautiful St John-esque lunch.
Country Folk: Quiet for a Sunday.

Country Pub #17
The Tite Inn, Chadlington

Drinks & Food: Outdoor dinners with parents.
Country Folk: Raised pub garden revellers and dog walkers.

Country Pub #18
The Bull & Butcher, Ludgershall

Drinks & Food: Beer, wine, crisps and apple juice.
Country Folk: Village locals and family playgrounders.

Country Pub #19
The Mole and Chicken, Long Crendon

Drinks & Food: Beer, wine, crisps and apple juice.
Country Folk: Destination drinkers.

Country Pub #20
The Clifden Arms, Worminghall

Drinks & Food: Beer, wine, crisps and apple juice.
Country Folk: Quiet and hidden pub, with one or two afternoon-trippers.

Country Pub #21
The Chandos Arms, Oakley

Drinks & Food: Sunday lunch with parents.
Country Folk: Explorers of the recently-reopened, and extended families.

Country Pub #22
The Akeman Inn, Kingswood

Drinks & Food: Sparkling water and crisps.
Country Folk: Day drinkers, diners and discordant live music.

Country Pub #23
The Five Elms, Weedon

Drinks & Food: Coke and crisps.
Country Folk: Local dinners and Friday night racket.

Country Pub #24
The Bell, Hardwick

Drinks & Food: Coke and crisps.
Country Folk: Village whisperers and empty tables.

Country Pub #25
The Blackboy, Oving

Drinks & Food: Brill Gold.
Country Folk: Friday diners and evening terrace drinkers.

Country Pub #26
The Pilgrim, North Marston

Drinks & Food: Coke and crisps.
Country Folk: Buzzy locals drinking red wine and celebrating the weekend.

Country Pub #27
The Bell, Chearsley

Drinks & Food: Sparkling water.
Country Folk: Fish and Chip Friday lunch pensioners.

Country Pub #28
The Crown, Cuddington

Drinks & Food: Pint of coke.
Country Folk: Quiet, save two locals sat in silence inside, and two arguing outside.

Country Pub #29
The Seven Stars, Dinton

Drinks & Food: Pint of coke.
Country Folk: Busy lunchtime crowd, inside and out.

Country Pub #30
The Old Fisherman, Shabbington

Drinks & Food: Coke and apple juices.
Country Folk: Parents outside, fanning out around the playground.

Country Pub #31
Duke of York, Berrow

Drinks & Food: Sparkling water and scampi fries.
Country Folk: Sunday roasters of all table sizes.

Country Pub #32
The Farmers Arms, Apperley

Drinks & Food: Pint of coke and fries.
Country Folk: Families and friends recounting tales of the previous night.

1. Jubilee Road Playground

2. Trenance Playground, Newquay
(I didn’t take a photo!)

3. Jungle Jacks, Newquay

4. Chartist Way Playground, Corse

5. Riverlands Play area, Henley in Arden

6. Cadbury World, Bournville

7. Jubilee Park, Long Crendon

8. Malvern Park, Solihull

9. Peppa Pig World, Southampton

10. MiniBrum, Millenium Point

11. Kings Heath Park, Birmingham

12. Pittville Park, Cheltenham

Country Pub #4
The Royal Exchange, Hartpury

Drinks & Food: Sunday lunch with family.
Country Folk: Other families and the odd genital-exposing pissed local.

Country Pub #5
The Saxon Mill, Guy’s Cliffe

Drinks & Food: Starters and wine.
Country Folk: Rammed full with sunshine revellers.

Country Pub #6
The Malt Shovel, Barston

Drinks & Food: Date night dinner.
Country Folk: Local diners on a Saturday night.

Country Pub #7
The Bear, Berkswell

Drinks & Food: Kids tea before the rush.
Country Folk: Booked up from 5pm, but empty before that.

Country Pub #8
The Pointer, Brill
(No photo taken – oops)

Drinks & Food: Saturday lunch in the restaurant with kids.
Country Folk: Quiet apart from a few diners, and one old chap reading the paper.

Country Pub #9
The 8 Bells, Long Crendon
(No photo taken – oops)

Drinks & Food: Lunch with the family pre-house viewing
Country Folk: Empty inside, with a few in the beer garden.

Country Pub #10
Coach and Horses, Weatheroak

Drinks & Food: Cheese cob and cokes (on a hangover)
Country Folk: Proper spit and sawdust curiosity with locals to match.

Country Pub #11
The Bell, Langford

Drinks & Food: Best lunch I’ve had all year – St. John in the country.
Country Folk: Pretty empty inside, but outside were plenty of wealthy lunching retirees.

Country Pub #12
The Howard Arms, Ilmington

Drinks & Food: Non-alcoholic beer and sparkling water in the garden
Country Folk: Lucky lunchers in a beautiful pub

Country Pub #13
The Bulls Head, Earlswood

Drinks & Food: Wine, non-alc beer and chips
Country Folk: Terrace gossipers

Country Pub #14
Ye Olde Saracen’s Head, Balsall Common

Drinks & Food: Sunday lunch with family
Country Folk: Family frenzy with toddlers at every turn.

Country Pub #1
The Durham Ox, Shrewley

Drinks & Food: Saturday night dinner and drinks.
Country Folk: Raucous wedding drinkers.

Country Pub #2
The Warwickshire Lad, Wood End

Drinks & Food: San Miguel, sauvignon and chips.
Country Folk: Struggling app-orderers and dog lovers.

Country Pub #3
The Railway Inn, Dorridge

Drinks & Food: Friday night dinner: Steak, Burger, Beavertown and pinot.
Country Folk: Septuagenarian socials.

Country Pub #4
The Royal Exchange, Hartpury

Drinks & Food: Sunday lunch: Lamb and beef roasts, kids lasagne and fish and chips.
Country Folk: Local lunchers and heavy drinkers (including a drunk bloke with his knob out.)