End of year wrap!

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I can’t believe another year has flown by… it always seems to surprise me. Most of this year was consumed with my parent’s house-move. They’ve moved to Norfolk after 30+ years of living in Shillington, Herts. That was also my childhood home so it was a little strange knowing that I wouldn’t be going back there for Christmas. Nevertheless, the new home is rather lovely and not disappointing at all. There’s more room, and garages that can be used for cars rather than storage, so that is something I can aspire to have in the future too!

Christmas time this year was a much happier time for me. I think I am finally returning to “normal” following two years of life-changing events and mental as well as physical recovery of both.

I would highly recommend anyone who has been impacted by any terrible events in their life to seek out some unbiased counselling. I used The Wellbeing Therapy Centre who have locations around the country.  I spent a year focusing heavily on my physcical wellbeing and recovery but then rushed back into work and every-day life. With hindsight I would have (should have) taken a period of time to “reset” before going into things gung-ho!

The next thing I can suggest from experience is to find a new job if you’re unhappy. A lot of people say that a job is only a job, but when you’re spending 40 hrs a week on that job, it’s a little bit more than that. If you’re not happy, brush up your CV, and get on the job boards. Don’t let your mental health suffer as a result.

I’ve been in a new job now for over 10 months and it was hands down the best decision I’ve made in the last few years. I’m still working from home, and I wouldn’t change that for the world now. I have time to do my exercises before starting work daily and have more time to appreciate how lucky I am to be here and still writing this post.

I got my work to add to their employee rewards site, the option to donate to the Bone Cancer Research Trust, and I try and chuck some money that way as often as I can.

One of the other big achievements for me on a personal level this year was getting reacquainted with an old friend. We hadn’t seen each other in around 5 years and got back in touch at the start of the year. Good friends are hard to find so it’s worth keeping the ones you have close.

Wishing everyone the best for 2023!

A big Summer Holiday!

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Sunset in St Lucia

Sunset in St Lucia

For over 8 years I’ve not been on a “proper” Summer holiday. This being a holiday somewhere where we’re truely not doing anything. Pool and sun. All inclusive. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do in a LONG time but for one reason or another it hasn’t really transpired. We end up going on City breaks, and as good as they may be, you always come back feeling more tired than when you went. So, this year we did something different and a bit out the ordinary. After my Cancer ordeal, and not being able to get away for a real honeymoon, we decided to go all out. My wife, Anna, went on Google and came across Sandal’s Resorts. My parents had heard of this company but we hadn’t.  After a bit of searching, St Lucia was highlighted and we put down our deposit.

I should say at this time I didn’t really know where St Lucia was. I knew it was an island but wouldn’t have placed it in the Caribbean. It looked nice enough and more importantly the weather forecast looked the part. High 20s., 30degrees Celcius. “That’ll do”, I said.

I for one had only two requests, those being that it was warm, and all inclusive, and we didn’t want to do anything. No excursions, tours, etc. I wanted Jet Skis but unfortunately the resort didn’t have any powered water sports toys, which annoyed me. That’ll teach me for not partaking in the search.

We opted for 10 days as the flight was 8hrs so esentially you’re spending two days traveling. 10 days turned out to be the right amount of time. We were able to fully relax and chill out and forget about any worries.

A quick summary, we drank a lot, sun lounged a lot, and ate some amazing food. The food was fantastic. The resort we went to – La Toc – had a number of different restaurants on site and many didn’t require a reservation so you could just go along when you fancied and get some food. They also had a takeaway pizza place with stone fired pizza, running from 11am to 5pm. I was adventurous and although I’m not really a fan of sea food other than plain fish and shrimp, I did try octupous and had a muscle – wouldn’t try a muscle again mind, bit rubbery!

The room was lovely and air conditioned which was bliss as the humidity was unreal. It was often 80% or higher with no rain. The fridge in the room was stocked with soft drinks and alcohol and whatever you drank was restocked for the next day. The staff were very friendly but some of the guests didn’t seem to like that. They were almost too friendly at times but that’s not so bad.

The only thing that slightly got to us was the loud and arrogant Yanks. The resort was adult only, so by default you think quiet and relaxing, which it was for the most part. But you add in unlimited alcohol and you get drunk adults by lunchtime. And they don’t seem to have a volume control.

Next time, I’ll be sure to have more search input, and we’ll probably do a villa holiday or choose somewhere that isn’t so close to America. This is coming across as anti American which I’m not at all, but I would certainly advise maybe reading some TripAdvisor reviews before booking anything!

Trip to Hamburg

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U-434 Hafen City Hamburg

U-434 Hafen City Hamburg (yes, it’s Russian)

It was great to be back in Germany to see family last month. This was the first time since 2019 – and not since I had been diagnosed with the big C and the Covid pandemic.  We stayed in the centre, or near enough, at a hotel called Novum Centrum – good value and convenient location with a quick walk to the U-Bahn. We did have to fight to get a second pillow though, but they did comply in the end!

We were right next to a great Turkish restaurant (Back-Lava) where we were able to get a good breakfast to keep us going until after Lunch. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in the area.

For one day and night we visited family for my Aunt’s birthday and it was great to meet up. Unfortunately my parents had caught Covid and as my Sister lived with them they were unable to join us. We will need to arrange another trip soon so we can all go together.

The weather was good, and although it was fairly warm I was surprised how few people were wearing T-Shirts and shorts. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb but at least I wasn’t overheating 🙂

We spent another afternoon visiting the Hafen City area and walked all along the strip. I spotted a U-Boat on Google and that’s where the photo above was taken.

Look forward to going back and visiting other parts of Germany again. I have always wanted to get to Berlin…