And that was 2023... a recap of a busy year

I normally write my annual reviews on a month by month basis but this year have decided to recap it in thematic chunks...

Life events

We celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary in September with family and friends. We had a very enjoyable time and are grateful to everyone who travelled to be with us on the day. 

For the second year in a row I started a new job. After 13 years working in the NHS, I applied for and was offered a role working for Diabetes UK. It was a frenetic start, landing in the middle of a rebranding operation for the programme! Highly enjoyable, though. 

There have been a couple of sad moments as well. Our friend Colin passed away in February and we went to his memorial service in Haddenham. In September I went to Leeds for the memorial for my friend and former colleague, Margot. 

Holidays

This year Cathy and I had our first ever trip to DisneyLand Paris. I followed it up with a weekend in Hartlepool. We also had two week-long holidays in North Wales - in July and in November and a week in Worcestershire in April that included a day on the Severn Valley Railway on my birthday.

Football

I went to 62 games in 2023 - you can read more detail in the recap post. I saw Barry Town win two cup finals and get promoted before the end of April. I did my first ever live radio commentary, in Caernarfon in November. And I went to Oxford, Ipswich, Peterborough, Derby, Leeds and Nottingham to watch Shrewsbury Town. 

Culture

My plan to read a book a month fell to the wayside, but I've read more this year than I have since before the pandemic. The one gig I went to this year was Bastille at Cardiff Castle. I watched my friend Rhys in his one man play about Fred Keenor, the captain of the Cardiff City team that won the FA Cup in 1927. I've seen a few films but realise now that I didn't blog about any of them, particularly. I think the best cinema outing was seeing one of my all time favourite films, The Nightmare Before Christmas, back on the big screen as part of its 30 anniversary release. 

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions, but I'd be happy for 2024 to be as full of good times as 2023 was. 

Recap of the Month - September 2023

I didn't get around to posting a monthly recap for August, although the gist of it was covered in my football round up. September was different, with fewer football matches but as much travelling - and a major life milestone towards the end of the month: our Silver Wedding Anniversary!

There have been several times in the run up to our 25th wedding anniversary that Cathy and I have discussed how we can't possibly be having a Silver Wedding because that's what old people have! And yet here we are and suddenly we are the old people celebrating being married for a quarter of a century.

We have been through a lot together. We have lost people we love along the way. And we have made lots of new friends - and some of them have made even more friends for us - since we got married. When we gathered some friends together to celebrate there were lots of kids to invite as well. 

We booked our friend Sian to come and do a photoshoot of us with everyone during the day - and that's her handiwork at the top of the post, when we got a few photos outside in the grounds of the venue. Sian would have been on our guestlist anyway, but she did a fabulous job coaxing our nephews, nieces and other younger friends to smile and pose nicely for photos. I've loved Sian's photography for a long time so it was great to actually be in the pictures.

Having family here meant I also got to watch a Rugby World Cup game with my sister and brother-in-law and the nieces and nephew who support Scotland. They were staying the night after the party and it was a rare opportunity to hang out with them.

My niece Jura in the photo under duress!

We had the celebration on the Saturday before our actual anniversary. On the day itself I had the day off work and we went to Porthcawl for a little look round the shops.

Jaffa Cake ice cream!

We stopped at Rest Bay for a snack in the car overlooking the waves. The wind was up and there was a nice wildness in the air there. It was a low key highly enjoyable relaxing day.

The celebration weekend was in-between two weekends with a Northern feel. The first one involved a trip to Leeds for Margot's memorial service. That was on the Friday and I stayed in Shrewsbury the weekend which meant I saw my eldest nephew, Zac, on his birthday. 

We also went to a football match with some of his mates - sadly a disappointing defeat for Shrewsbury Town.

The other weekend involved a trip to Manchester for a big work event. As a team we have been gearing up for this event since I started my "new" job back in July. It marked the launch of the new brand identity for the programme and a new name - "Together Type 1". 

Some of my team suitably branded up

I don't often blog about work but this was a very special day where I got to meet several of the young people with type 1 diabetes who are involved in the programme. They are a truly inspiring group of people and meeting them in real life was probably my highlight of a very busy couple of days where I was mainly in 'event mode'.

So, after a month of travelling and big events, both personal and professional, I feel I can relax a bit although looking at the calendar, October is going to be another month with a bit of travel in it too!