Recap of the month - June 2023

We are halfway through the year now and I had my first football-free month. Well, not entirely. I started collecting some football stickers to make up for not going to games. 

Speaking of collecting, I had my annual trip to Swindon to the 'Swinpex' stamp show. The organisation I belong to has it's AGM there each year. This year the guest presenter was Les Ashton-Smith, who presented on 'philatelic firsts' - stamps that were pioneering in some way, usually through the use of odd materials.

One of the weird materials used to make a stamp was fish skin, used by the Faroe Islands. Naturally, the country of origin grabbed my attention as that's where my Grandma came from and I've always felt an ancestral affinity with it. 

I reached the midway point of my notice period in June. I also took an opportunity to attend the NHS Wales Diabetes Showcase, to reacquaint myself with former colleagues in the work of Diabetes before starting my new job with Diabetes UK. I was very humbled by the warmth of the welcome I received - including some unexpected hugs. It was great to connect with some longstanding partners in disruption!

I also had some accrued leave to take before I finally exit my current employer. We spent a week up in North Cymru, staying in Felinheli, halfway between Caernarfon and Bangor. A proper blog post will follow, but for now, here are a couple of pics of castles. 

These castles have stood for centuries....

However, we stayed on the beach late and watched the ones we built get consumed by the tide!