Recap of the month - January 2023

January seemed to be over surprisingly quickly, meaning we are already one twelfth the way through 2023!

I followed my usual January tradition and published my Annual Christmas Card Audit. It got a very positive response and several people have said they want it to continue, so it might happen again...

I started the month with a week off work. We took the opportunity to have a day trip to Oxford where we met up with friends. On the way back we stopped at the outlet village in Swindon where I discovered a Haribo shop! 

I watched four football matches in January , starting on the bank holiday when I went to Llantwit Major for the first time to watch them play Barry. I went with my friend Paul and then met another friend called Paul at the ground. Here's a picture of me with Paul and Paul. 

The next Barry game I went to was with my friend Steve. It had been almost exactly a year since the previous time we had been to a football match together. 

It was also a milestone game for me. 

In the middle of the month I travelled to Llandudno Junction for work and called in to Shrewsbury on the way home to see my brother on his birthday and my mum on her birthday. On the Saturday I also saw Shrewsbury thump Cambridge 5-1. I blogged about the weekend that started off with me being threatened by a scary seagull.

The fourth game of the month was another new ground as I travelled west to watch Barry play Llanelli Town. It wasn't a great game of football, but I was amused that the sole vegetarian option on sale in the cafe was a pot noodle. Fortunately, I'd driven over early with Paul and Tom and we found a cafe for lunch. 

And finally, I felt pleased that I kept up my 'Toy of the Day' posts on Instagram. The most popular post was this photo of a vintage action figure of Face from the A-Team that I posed next to a photo of me with Dirk Benedict, who played Face in the A-Team. (Here's the blog about when I met him back in 2010!)

December 2022 - stepping into Christmas

December is a month dominated by Christmas and the build up to it. This photo of one of my nephews made me laugh. I feel like doing this sometimes!

My December started with the sad occasion of attending the funeral of Glyn Price on the 1st December. Glyn was a well known Shrewsbury Town fan, podcaster and fanzine editor. I had sat close to him and had a nice chat with him at the Cheltenham away game on 1st October. A couple of weeks later he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer and 5 weeks later he passed away. 

My brother, Dave, took Glyn's funeral, at Glyn's request. The hall at Barnabas Church in Shrewsbury was packed with well over 300 people attending, including representatives from the football club. There were lovely tributes to him from family, his work colleagues, and his fellow fans. It was a sad start to the month. 

Going to the Shrewsbury game the Saturday after the funeral was slightly surreal. I saw Shrewsbury beat Lincoln City for the second time in the calendar year. A few days later I was wearing my blue and yellow bobble hat to Barry's game against Cwmbran Celtic in proper "big coat weather". It was the start of a sustained period of cold weather that did for the next few fixtures for Barry. 

Being in Shrewsbury for a few days at the beginning of December meant I finally visited the new Salopian Models shop. The proprietor was selling off some Games Workshop items, so I added some Tau Empire Stealth Suits to my ever growing 'pile of shame' of unbuilt models. 

Still that's something for me to do in 2023! I've also added an expansion pack for Dungeon Bowl and a star player for my Blood Bowl team of giant rats this month. So the pile of shame is as large as ever.

We had a nice Saturday in Monmouth in the middle of the month, meeting up with Cathy's uncle and aunt. We discovered a lovely toy shop, where I bought myself a wooden train that is meant to be a British Rail Class 07. I couldn't resist the vintage 1970s blue and classic British Rail logo. 

That train actually kickstarted something for me as it was my first "Toy of the Day" post on Instagram. I've decided to revive my Insta to post a picture of a toy of the day every day until I run out of toys in my house, or until I get bored. 

We were back in Shrewsbury for Christmas, staying with my Mum and her cheeky hound, Fred. 

We travelled up on Christmas Eve, with a traffic-free clear run that is a contender for best journey up to Shrewsbury in a long while. I went with Dave for our traditional Christmas Eve pint in the pub followed by the midnight communion service at the Anglican Church.  On Christmas Day we had Christmas Dinner next door in the new big kitchen that Dave and Esther (my sister-in-law) have had built. It was a lovely meal and time together.

We stayed for a few days after Christmas as well, which meant we could see some friends and have fun with the Shropshire-based nieces and nephews. As Christmases go, it was a nice relaxing break and a good way to see out what has been a very busy year.