2023 Year in Review

So I thought I’d do a little collection of my favourite things from 2023. Starting with food, because, well, it’s like the most super important thing ever. It really is. Believe it or not, I need food more than I need holidays. Favourite Restaurant Meal I’ve ticked off quite a few restaurants this year, not as many as I’d like to as my socialising tends to be focused around the Sunday roast. Some of them are pretty ordinary yet good, like Honest Burgers, Brindisa, Ceviche, others a little disappointing like Steak & Co or German Gymnasium. Butchie’s did some amazing …

It feels like ages ago, though was only towards the end of October, in the week before the clocks went back, that I went to Benalmádena. Why Benalmádena? Well, I needed somewhere fairly cheap to stay as I was being evicted from my old place, and the flat I was buying in Croydon was still 2, 3, 4, 178, fuck knows weeks away from completion. An Airbnb in London was like £100 a night, an Airbnb on the Costa Del Sol was £40 a night. I expected to be 3-4 weeks in Spain at a minimum, so I needed somewhere …

Well I thought I might be completing on the flat today, but c’est la vie or whatever the Spanish translation is – esta la vida? Instead I’m stuck in my Spanish limbo for a little longer. Oh no, hot Spanish women, glorious sunshine and 21’C, you may think. And you are right. But it hasn’t all been full of joy. I keep having to remind myself – I’m still doing my 9-5 – I occasionally start getting carried away with excitement then have to stop myself. Plus I was on call one week, and we were on high alert too …

There’s going to be a few of these. James went to Gandia. James went to Valencia. James went to Benalmádena. James went to Malaga. Who knows, I might even get some more places ticked off by time my solicitors and the management company decide that I can buy the flat that I put an offer in for 7 MONTHS AGO. Firstly, don’t go to Gandia. The city, that is. I had a wander through Google Street View before we went on holiday, and crowned Gandia as the “Slough of Spain”. And then I found out a TV programme that was …

This is Watford County Court. You have been evicted from Harrow. Please leave the damp, grotty house. I had a great September. Honest. I really enjoyed it – had some gorgeous tapas before I even went to Spain, a fun day out in London for my sister’s birthday, a fun and drunken work do, visits from the parents, watched Crazy For You in theatre, had one excellent roast dinner, a long walk in the gorgeous summer sunshine (wasn’t the weather great to start the month) and went to see the only politician I can stand nowadays, Rory Stewart, at the …

Third time’s a charm, right? I think this was my third trip to Paris anyway, though possibly fourth if I’ve forgotten one. And it was kind of special to be going there with my sister after the challenges of this year – if you know, you know. Eurostar was the choice – I had 23 year’s worth of Nectar points that I could use, so that covered most of the ticket price. Our hotel was a CitizenM – a compact room but with air conditioning that you control, lighting, a really comfortable bed, a powerful shower – and was designed …

Could I vote Conservative in the next general election? No. Blog over. Thanks for reading. Firstly, I’ve not changed politically, at least not much over the last 10 years or so. I still believe that Margaret Thatcher was the best Prime Minister this country had, at least since Winston Churchill – my knowledge of Prime Ministers before then is limited. I still believe in prudent financial management of the economy – I believe in lower deficits (remember that?!), lower debt – and having more money in the long-term to spend on whatever the priorities become. I still believe in individual …

I am needy. Did you know that? Firstly I need some sunshine. What has happened to our summer? It promised so much, at least for June and July – June delivered, wow – it was glorious. All the long-range models and most background signals pointed to July being hot, often sunny though they did point to reasonable amounts of rain – from occasional thundery outbreaks. Yet…it is autumn instead. So it has started me on the hunt for holidays – well, not just the lack of sunshine but also the soul evisceration of house-sharing, which I know is coming to …

I love May and June – late spring, early summer is where I always seem to get the most enjoyment out of life, the best feeling. The weather is potentially at its best – not quite peak heat of summer, there can be long spells of glorious weather, as there was this year, there are good chances of thunderstorms – though of course not with my storm shield deflecting them. The trees are blooming (albeit hayfever can sting), flowers looking gorgeous – I love passing by wild flower hedges, ducklings will have hatched – life is blooming once more. My …

So I got the news today that the bank that I was expecting to get a mortgage with have responded that “the valuer currently has advised Accord that he doesn’t deem the property to suitable security at this present time as they are over exposed on the block”. Fuck off. Fucking banks. Appreciate that I’m 15 years behind the trend here and everyone was way ahead of me on fucking off banks. It took a while for my mortgage broker to find this place as most banks will no longer lend on blocks of flats that high due to the …

Another old series of e-mails that I wanted to publish but never got around to it – regarding my debt to Reading Council from 2010. I wanted to try to reduce my payments when I was unemployed in 2017. My Original Request Dear Sir I have been repaying a debt from your over-payments to me for some time now. I called last week to check how much was left to pay, and was advised that the sum remaining was £75.00. Part of the reason for my call was also to advise that I am currently unable to make any more …

Another old complaint that I thought I’d post, seeing as a whole 2 people read the last one. This time to Hull Trains. Me: Good afternoon I have just been through the trauma of purchasing tickets on your website. I wanted to purchase three tickets, however there were only two tickets at the price. One would have thought that one would have been able to buy all three at the same time, with one of them in the next price band. Alas, no, the website would instead try to charge me the next price band for all three tickets. Were …

So I’ve reached the “I need a holiday stage” of year, given that it is a whole two months since I was on an aeroplane, and am wondering where to go next. I have a big list of places that I want to go to, so I don’t need any recommendations. You want the list? Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. GothenburgLuxembourghGranadaValenciaSan SebastianCordobaRondaBilbaoAthensNaplesFlorenceSaltzbergSarajevoOdessaFareo IslesKotorTallinnPortoVilniusDubrovnikOslo to BergenMontpellier KrakówČeský KrumlovLjubljanaSofiaPragueSicilyBuenos AiresMontrealMarrakechMedellínChicagoIstanbulBariSardiniaTel AvivMadeiraTiranaTbilisi Plus I want to go to every single European Capital Of Culture. Spain So I have to go back to España. There’s a few Spanish things that I find rather …

Remember when I used to spend time writing complaints in the hope of getting a £10 voucher which would keep me fed for a few days? Well, I don’t do that nowadays. Partly because it isn’t worth the effort – I’m neither especially bothered about the hope of a voucher, nor does a total of 3 views really enthral me. Plus supermarkets are much tighter now – I do still complain when something is wrong, but it is more of a battle and, well, I can only be bothered if they’ve really pissed me off. However, there are a couple …

Music is still a huge part of my life but I don’t really talk to people about it – people ask me what my favourite roast dinner is, not what my favourite track is. Plus I do like some weird music, anyway. But on the off-chance you are interested, here goes. Firstly, I’m way more organised than you might think. I have blogs. Yep, James has a blog about something. Every single track that I love, I list on House Minimal Techno Disco – which is basically a load of YouTube videos on a website. I wrote the website years …

You may have gathered that I’ve been busy looking for a flat to buy. So I thought I’d write about my options – maybe you are interested, and writing tends to help me. Before I go on. I do like Croydon. Seriously. No, I do not want to move to Reading, Hull, Spain (well I do but cannot leave family really), Crystal Palace, Brighton, Redhill, Woking, Kent and all the other places kindly suggested to me that are not London. And nor do I want to run a management company looking after 300 flats. Yep, service charges are a pain …

Winter seems like it is going on forever – though by time I’ve finished writing this blog post about going to Malta, it will probably be September. Why Malta? I had two criteria for my holiday. I did at first consider going to the Caribbean or Mauritius, but decided spending that much money was daft when I am saving to buy a house. I also considered Dubai to visit a good friend of mine – but decided going when Ramadan was on wouldn’t be so conducive to fun. Which also then ruled out North Africa and the rest of the …

Well, I’ve had a stinking cold, I’ve lost £3k on the stock market, I’ve gone through yet another re-organisation at M&S, had several wake-up calls in the middle of the night on call, it’s a year since my best holiday in years – it feels like a good time to end the detox. Beer is back in my life! But first, a list of things that I’ve achieved. James Is Boom I’ve lost a fairly staggering 9kg of weight since Christmas. Whether I can keep it off for a month, let alone the rest of the year or the rest …

Ahh it has come to that time of year to write some goals for the year that is already one month in – my 2023 goals. Though I have been achieving already – 5kg lost, 3 cultural activities done, 2 good restaurants visited, 4 very good roast dinners and just one poor one, several friends caught up with, family visit, a job search initiated, my portfolio improved and the old one sacked off, another personal project light-released and actually getting my head back into working at M&S. I might even go into the office. Who knows what I will have …

Well, I guess I should work out what I achieved and didn’t achieve in 2022. BIG LIFE-CHANGING STUFF Be paid like a senior engineer. Well, this was in the pipeline and was finally confirmed before I even starting turning this from draft comments to an actual post. Though at the time of writing, I still hadn’t actually been paid at the new rate. Maybe there will be a company-wide pay rise or a software engineering one too. Result: Achieved – though I knew it was happening before 2022 started, it just wasn’t confirmed. 100% success. Seriously look into buying a …

Well it’s that time of year for looking back – and 2022 has certainly been a fun year, even if I didn’t quite achieve as much as I like to demand of myself. As normal, most of these moments are positive, but a few are negative – this is “moments” as opposed to “highlights”, as I don’t want to forget the challenges and difficulties of the world. Not particularly in order, but definitely the best moments at the end. Let’s start with an achievement, shall we? 18. Promotion! Possibly a bit of a cheat including this as I knew in …