January 2022 Look Back

Well hello! Welcome to me first look back of 2022, as well as my first look back in general for quite some time. There’s a little to catch up on, so I’ll get right into it.

This look back starts at the end of December, rather than just looking over January. December itself was a bit of a whirlwind, and to be honest I really stalled when it came to getting into the Christmas spirit. Normally I’m excited for the holidays, as well as the prospect of having a reasonably long period off work for very little annual leave, but I felt very ‘meh’ about it this time round. I was looking forward to a break, but not really much else.

 

To be fair, this is probably just as well, because after a night out with friends on Christmas Eve, we received a message on Christmas Day from one of the friends we’d been with that they had tested positive for Covid on a Lateral Flow. Neither of us showed symptoms, and tested negative on out lateral flows, but decided it was probably inevitable and decided to stay home until we could do a drive through PCR the day after boxing day. Mike’s lateral flow was positive by then, and although mine was still negative we both had positive results from the PCR – so just as well we stayed at home!

 

Neither of us really suffered much with covid.I had a sore throat throughout, and a headache for one of the days but that was it. Although I did lose my sense of smell on day 7. My main issue was feeling tired, so I did a lot of sleeping. Mike was a little more poorly than I was, but I wouldn’t say that he was ‘ill’ either. Luckily my parents were on hand, and were really helpful when it came to doing supply drops as we obviously couldn’t go anywhere to do food shops. Fortunately as I work from home part time, I could just work from home when I was due to return to work, so didn’t need to take any time off. This was just as well really, because January has been absolutely insane.

 

Our industry in general does tend to have busier periods through the year, and one of them does typically co-inside with the approach to the end of the financial year. This year, however, has been far more hectic. My team are working on a slightly reduced headcount at the moment which means we’re needing to pick up more than we typically would. The result has been a January (and it looks like it’s going to be February too) of working late or being much busier than usual for a lot of us. The end is in sight however, and with my team actively recruiting we should have an ease of pressure very soon.

 

Towards the middle of January, I received some extremely sad news. The news that one of the former players on the American Football team I used to play for had passed away in her sleep. I won’t go into too much detail as its obviously a private matter for her family but given that she was only in her mid-twenties it was extremely shocking and sad to hear. What I will say is, that it brought back a lot of fond memories of my time with the team. They were and are a fantastic bunch of people, and I do find myself missing it from time to time.

 

The news did put a lot of things in perspective for me, and I want to strive to be just a little more like my friend. She was fearless and determined. I’ve never known anyone with as much drive as she had. She was a kind person, with an infectious personality, but she wasn’t afraid to dish out some tough love from time to time if it was needed. I know it’s a but cliché to say that she was one of a kind, but she really was.

 

She would probably be quite pleased to hear that she’s spurred me into putting some serious consideration into something Mike has expressed he wants to do, which is to move out of the UK. I’ve caught myself telling myself over and over “she wouldn’t be scared, she’d just do it”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not something that is going to happen this year, its more like a 5-10 year plan, but I’m shifting far more into camp ‘move to Canada’ than I was when he originally brought it up. I’m certainly the more cautious of the two of us, so I want to find a way to avoid selling our house in the UK so that we don’t have to start from scratch if we find it isn’t for us. Worst case scenario it can act as a supplementary income, as we’d likely rent it out.

 

Mike and I have finally agreed on our plans re getting a dog. We’ve found a company who can recut the glass in our French doors to have a cat flap fitted so that Boots can start going outside again, and then we’ll be looking for our new arrival to come after we’ve returned from Mexico in early May. Whilst we’re kind of ready now other than a few more bits and pieces to do, it just wouldn’t be fair to go away on holiday when the dog will have only just started to settle.

 

We’ve even somewhat decided on the type of dog, and we’ve established our ‘tick list’ when it comes to things that are vital (for example, we want a dog that has been cat tested) vs the things that would be good to have but are not deal breakers for us. Despite the suggestion for a dog being mine, with Mike a little hesitant I think he’s optimistically excited – he’s even started suggesting a few names!

 

That all sums up the past month or so. I haven’t really mentioned a lot of ‘things’ that I went out and did, but hopefully it’s given you a little update into what I’ve been up to and what is going on in life in general. The evenings are starting to get a little lighter now, so I’m excited to being able to get outside and hopefully being more active with the brighter evenings.

 

What have you been up to over the past month?