It's that odd time of year, the bit between Christmas and New Year where time doesn't really flow like you expect it to. No one knows what day of the week it is and everything seems to be simultaneously coming to an end and sizing up the starting blocks again. For a lot of people, it's a time without clear purpose that's bookended by very distinctive cultural markers themed on rebirth, which makes it pretty ideal for reflection.
It's also the time of year when no one really wants to be working, and end of year lists/reviews/summations become ideal brainless exercises requiring little creative input and almost no resources!
So here we are, on the edge of a new dawn and taking a moment to pause and reflect on the year that was. A lot of people are regarding 2018 as the calendar equivalent of a dumpster fire, but personally it's been a pretty big and progressive twelve months... albeit ones where a lot of good habits (*cough* blogging *cough*) fell by the wayside.
Which isn't to say that writing has been completely absent; the first half of the year had a decent number of posts (8 total) spanning a range of topics. In a way, they quite neatly sum up my own interests, covering technology, superheroes, palaeontology, design/futurism, world building/sci-fi, photography, problem solving, and the beauty of nature. It may not be much, but it's a fine spread, plus there's probably something I could be arguing about quality over quantity (maybe).
As ever, there are also plenty of drafts that never quite saw the light of day. I've put together some musings on the problems that RSS feeds have when their owners don't let you know they're moving URLs; some of the influential voices I turn to, both online and off; a few scattered notes on Excel, VBA and the Grav CMS; and about half a dozen MiMs (remember those!).
On which note, it's worth mentioning that whilst my published presence has been mediocre-to-none-existent over the course of 2018, I have been at least vaguely tracking my thoughts, reviews and ideas via more private channels. Workflowy continues to be a cornerstone of my productivity, as is Lightroom where I'm pleased to report my photo editing has continued relatively consistently. I've also been getting increasingly drawn in to Trello as a way to track to-do lists and ideas in general, in no small part to our complete reliance on the app at work.
Work. That's been a pretty big, overarching theme of 2018 for me. I handed in my notice at Synertec not long into the year and left fully in March; by April we had settled in Fulham, and in early May I started my new role as Copywriter (now Content Manager – how time flies!) with Talent Point, which was a pretty big shift from working as a developer. In that sense my actual published work has accelerated, with a full 20 posts appearing on the company website since I started. I didn't write all of them, but (with one exception) I was heavily involved each week from the start of June – so my actual writing output this year hasn't been too shabby at all!
Writing for a living has definitely been a major part of why this blog has gone almost entirely unloved since July, as I struggle to find time or motivation. Back in Taunton, during the New 52 era, I'd spend most lunch breaks at work writing or editing drafts, but now that's my job lunchtimes have become a lot less personally productive! On top of which, living in London means much longer commutes and longer hours, so by the time I'm home my focus is on finding food and being brain dead, not personal projects. It's something both Alison and I need to start getting better at, so hopefully it won't be quite as quiet in the months to come (though where have we heard that before, before, before...).
London also means an active social life, which is another drain on project/blog time, but not one I'm complaining about! We've become members of the V&A, Kew Gardens and (most recently and excitedly) ZSL! Plus, we now actually live somewhere with culture, which for me has meant getting to see/attend (in no particular order and probably incomplete):
- The Book of Mormon (musical)
- Goldfish (gig)
- Harry Potter Experience inc. Behind the Seams (talk/experience/museum)
- Todd Terje (gig/street party)
- Swan Lake by Matthew Bourne (ballet)
- Emancipator Ensemble (gig)
- An Evening with Dougal Dixon & Darren Naish for the relaunch of After Man (talk)
- Goldfish (gig – yes twice, yes worth it!)
- Dinosaurs in the Wild (experience... hard to explain but awesome!)
- Parcels (gig)
- Biopsy of an App (UX/UI) with RED Academy (talk)
Without mentioning the countless museum exhibitions, listed buildings, parks, or general history. We've watched the sun set from the Walkie Talkie Sky Garden, eaten at Lima, gone on a 12 Pubs of Xmas crawl, taken a boat trip around the Thames, learnt how to drum and then performed at Walthamstow Garden Party and as part of a demonstration with over 700,000 people, walked most of Regent's Canal and a good stretch of the Thames, discovered countless amazing pubs, restaurants or just interesting places, and now live somewhere with both parakeets and close friends in easy walking distance. One of those is very new; the other had been over half a decade!
But of course our life hasn't been completely lived within the capital (or the moving van before that). We've had some excellent outings this year, some just for fun and others to celebrate huge milestones with our friends and family. The annual trip to Polzeath was shifted to coincide with a family commitment ceremony, taking place on the beach in stunning conditions and creating a thoroughly joyous occasion. We've also been back up to my home grounds of Cumbria to see one of my oldest friends tie the knot at our secondary school (a real trip down memory lane!) and to Sheffield for the first of the Uni group to exchange rings.
Individual outings, such as to the blogged about Vyne estate, have been a little less common, largely because we've tended to focus on London rather than travelling out, but we've still managed a good variety. Particularly memorable outings include a day spent at the Hawk Conservancy Trust with Al's family and a trip to Oxford for the excellent (and now touring) Making of Middle Earth exhibition, both of which deserve their own full posts (much like most of what's being covered in this one!).
Oh, and of course, we had a brief outing to South Africa for my Gran's 90th birthday. It was great to see most of the extended family, and the celebration went down well, but it also provided opportunities to explore some new areas. We spent the first few days actually staying in Cape Town, something I've never done before, which meant seeing a whole new side to the city. Then, for our second week, we went on a short but incredibly varied road trip with my parents up through the Cederberg, visiting the stunning wildflower meadows (we got the timing pretty perfect for the first superbloom in years!) and kokerboom trees, before looping back to the Cape down the West Coast. It was a beautiful, relaxing and incredibly fun trip, even if our wallets are still recovering!
All of which is to say that London has been a very good move, our flat has become a real home and our jobs have settled in extremely nicely. For us, at least, 2018 has been a year of big and positive change, and a chance to really begin defining our lives moving forward. It's been a stressful year at times, but that's all happily behind us, paving the way for a very exciting 2019 and beyond!
