Category: Annual Review

The End of the Year Show | 2025 Edition

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual ReviewLeave a comment
Picture shows a herd of Fallow Deer on misty morning.

Well here we are again, the end of another year. Things have been pretty quiet here, and for that I apologise, but there are as always reasons. I wrote 12 months ago that 2024 had been pretty 5H1T, seems 2025 didn’t get the message that it was supposed to be better, and honestly I can say that 2026 is looking to be an improvement. That said perhaps….

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So what are those reasons for the almost radio silence? Well there are some biggies. Firstly my Mum passed away back in May. Not totally unexpected, she has had Alzheimer’s disease for several years now, and the progression of the disease and the impact on the rest of her has been pretty stark. I can’t say that the last six months of her life were pleasant for anyone. In some ways grief has been a funny thing because really we ‘lost’ my Mum a long time ago. Dad passed away in 2016, so now they are together again. It’s interesting that in my 53rd year I am perhaps more alone than I have ever been in my life. Sorting out Mum’s ‘estate’ has taken a bit of time and isn’t done yet mostly because the Department for Work and Pensions can’t be bothered to get their finger out and tell us whether they have overpaid or underpaid Mum’s state pension and other benefits. It’s difficult to move on.

I was going to talk about the state of the world here, but honestly you probably know as much as I do about that, and I don’t want this post to be too depressing.

Going forward I would maybe like to dust the cobwebs off of this site again. The only social media I keep up-to-date these days is Instagram, and mostly it’s switched to receive, but I’ve been thinking about the good old days of the internet when weblogs (blogs) such as this were de rigueur and maybe there’s a place for it again? I certainly not going back to twitter or whatever we’re supposed to call it these days, I don’t use ****book and I’m barely on Mastodon. I’ll see. Any thoughts let me know.

So aside from the above, what else have I been up to in 2025? Well let’s see now.

Reading

As is my want I’ve read quite a bit this year. I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas for the first time and found it amazing. Other highlights include The Lantern Network by Ted Allbeury, Ratline by Philippe Sands, Ghost Story by Peter Straub and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I don’t tend to read many (if any) modern new releases, so if you want to know about something that was published this year and what I thought of it, then I probably wouldn’t know. I doubt that will change in the future either.

Watching

I hardly watch television these days, and a bit like my reading when I do it’s older stuff. I have enjoyed catching up on the latest Star Trek incarnation – Strange New Worlds. It’s been a bit hit and miss, but overall it’s been quite enjoyable. The latest season of Slow Horses was okay, but I think it wasn’t as good as previous seasons. I did enjoy the latest All Creatures Great and Small although again I prefer the version from the 1970’s/80’s. The new version of The Day of the Jackal was good and Conclave wasn’t bad either, and my watching of it ended with some fairly auspicious timing!

Work

A much quieter year. There has been a lot of work on local government reorganisation happening which has had a knock-on effect of slowing down a lot of the work that I would traditionally be involved in. Uncertainty pervades. It’s meant that I’ve been a lot less busy workwise, but then with things happening with Mum, that has been a balancing force. Not sure when / if things will pick up. Work in 2026 could be one to watch.

Garden

Again my focus has been a little bit elsewhere, and I’ve not grown as much this year as in previous years, there have been some highlights around broad beans and lettuce but otherwise I’d say it’s been a pretty average growing year.

Outdoors

Some salvation here, a lot of downtime has again been spent walking (and thinking). It keeps me mentally on an even keel, and I don’t plan to make any changes here.

So what about the year to come? Well I think the global outlook doesn’t look great, but I don’t think I really need to tell you that or dwell on it too much. I certainly don’t intend to be watching, reading or listening to anymore news than is absolutely necessary. Concentrating about what is in my control and what I can do about it feels like the best course of action.

Will I make more of this site and post more here? Frankly I don’t know, I’d like to but the best intentions and all that. Let’s see what happens.

The Year That Was – 2024 Edition

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review

It would be easy to look back on the last year and remember some of the things that haven’t gone quite according to plan, not that there particularly was a plan. I’ll try not to do that but…

The year started, the way the previous year ended, with lots of water. Groundwater flooding is a thing here and floodwater started in December last year and carried on until May. It’s the longest length of time I can remember, and the levels were about the worst they’ve ever been and for a good proportion of that period. It doesn’t make for a very comfortable time and at times when pumps are running quite mentally tiring. I have realised over the last few years how much I hate the rain, mentally I find it very tough. This coming season it looks like it might be drier, fingers-crossed.

It doesn’t matter how much people bang on about climate change they always forget about the changes that are already locked into our climate / weather systems and the adaptation that will be required, because they are too busy banging on about cutting carbon. The latter is important, but adaptation will make a significant difference to many peoples lives, probably without them noticing.

We’ve had a change of government, finally the venal tories have been kicked out of office to be replaced by a seemingly lacklustre labour. Whilst its clear that they have a lot to do and it’s early days they are very unimpressive and picking fights over things that don’t really matter whilst boxing themselves into not raising taxes just about anywhere. Modern politicians are so f*****g useless.

I’ve pretty much given up with social media these days. I’ve closed my Twitter account, I’ve been there since sending tweets was something you did via SMS and I feel a bit of a loss about giving up something I’ve had for so long, but honestly the place is the worst of a bad bunch, and I am considering going even further.

LinkedIn is becoming quite the cesspool of trolls too, I am amazed that so many “professionals” can be such a bunch of dicks to one another. As someone who is self-employed I feel I need to maintain a presence there but honestly I find the behaviour of many of the users to be something that wouldn’t be allowed in a work place so shouldn’t be allowed there.

Bluesky appears to be attracting a lot of bot accounts. I’m not very active on there, but seemingly a lot of accounts want to follow me. Many do not seem to be real.

I don’t use Facebook anymore, although I still have an account. I do use Instagram, and will probably continue to for a while at least, even if my posting is sproradic at best.

Mastodon is probably the least used (generally) even though it’s been around a lot longer than some of the others. Possibly second only to Twitter and Facebook.

When #AudioMo comes around in the summer I’ll need to seriously think about what I’m doing.

We ended the year with our dog Sam swallowing a stone and requiring emergency surgery to remove it, followed by a lengthy stay in a veterinary hospital and a hefty bill which will only partly be covered by insurance. I don’t begrudge the unexpected expense but I could do without it.

Overall 2024 has been pretty 5h1t.

Reading

I’ve read a lot this year. We’ve pretty much given up tv as a pastime in the evenings, and reading has pretty much been my No.1 pursuit. Top fiction authors this year include: Craig Thomas, Martin Walker, Stephen King, Robert Harris and Georges Simenon.

Watching

As I mentioned above, not a lot but I did enjoy both Slow Horses and Masters of the Air. I also enjoyed Guy Ritchie’s somewhat ridiculous but very fun, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Garden

The veg garden has been pretty average this year but we did have a magnificent glut of purple podded mange tout.

Work

The year held a lot of promise at the start, but ended up being quieter than expected. Some promised projects didn’t get started but may come up in 2025, and others became a little more involved. Overall not a bad year, but not the best either.

Outdoors

I spent a lot of time walking in my downtime. I do some of my best thinking when I’m outside and it’s the place that keeps me mentally calmer. I’ve kept a daily wildlife log on these walks too. I plan to continue with this next year.

That’s it. That’s 2024, here’s to 2025.

End of the Year 2023

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, books, Dog, Film, Garden / Allotment, Life, tv, walking, Wildlife/Nature, Wilson's Story, work, writing2 Comments

I couldn’t decide whether I was going to sit and write one of these this year or not. I’ve done something like this most years but the latter part of this year I’ve not been really feeling the desire to blog or write my newsletter or even be on the socials much. Some of this is because in the case of the site formerly known as twitter it’s pretty much a horror story these days and unless you’re paying for your account you’re unlikely to show up in anyone’s feed, so why bother. Most of it though is because I’ve just not felt much in the way of creative energy to write, I pushed through AudioMo because I do genuinely enjoy it but the energy just hasn’t been there since April when we lost Wilson.

He was 13 and hadn’t been well for a number of years, one thing on top of another was finally too much and when he stopped eating and drinking it was obvious. I try and remember the good times, but I miss him terribly and genuinely struggle some days.

I am hoping that I will be writing more in 2024, and probably here rather than anywhere else. I think that perhaps my newsletter has run its course, and I have more control over what happens here than anywhere else. I’ve heard some people talk of a resurgence in blogging since the demise of twitter, I’m not sure if that is likely to be true or not but I’d rather set out my shingle here than anywhere else.

So what else has been happening in 2023? Let’s see shall we?

Books
I’ve read a lot this year, at last count 109 112 books, more than I’ve ever read in any year previously that I’ve got a detailed record for. You can check them all out on GoodReads here. I’ve been continuing to read some old favourite series such as Simenon’s Maigret novels and discovering some newer ones too. I also finally managed to read all of Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” probably ten years after it came out and I bought it in paperback. I actually enjoyed it too and have been enjoying a bit of a King renaissance this year, which I’ll probably continue next year, along with a couple of other authors. A couple of stand-outs for me though were some of the most troubling books that I read. “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” and “Berlin Diaries” by William L Shirer. I wanted to read the former with a view to seeing if what happened 80 – 90 years ago bears any resemblance to what is happening in the world now, and in particular is reflected in some of the politics of this country. Whilst what happened then might be remembered as being some extremes of humanity, it didn’t necessarily start that way and I think we would be well advised to remember the times before the world was at war and what was happening. It’s a slippery slope and there are certainly examples of gaslighting and lying and reinforcing those lies in our modern political discourse that are exactly the early behaviours seen then.

We can and should be better than that and as nations and governments are too good at ignoring the facts because they do not fit the narrative that we want to tell, rather than being honest about them.

Watching
I haven’t watched much of anything this year, hence why I’ve had so much reading time. I did enjoy the final season of Jack Ryan on Amazon but other than that I haven’t watched much. There are several things that I would like to see, the new seasons of Foundation and Slow Horses on Apple TV+ but we stopped our subscription to those as we weren’t watching. I also have a stack of things recorded that I should try to watch or delete if I’m not going to. I was planning on doing some of this over the Christmas break but I haven’t managed it yet.

Work
This year started slow, but picked up a lot of pace in the latter half of the year. Overall I’d say it’s been a successful year for me. Some old clients and some new ones, and some interesting projects that blurred the lines a little between work and personal projects (in a good way).

Gardening
There is always more I could have done this year in the garden, but I think I’d say that I’ve pretty much hit the minimum targets that I had and a few additional things. Next year I am hoping to devote more time to the garden generally and now we’ve seen it through a full year that means we have a better idea of some the things that we want to achieve next year.

Outside
I’m still walking between 5 and 6 miles most days (a bit less when it’s raining hard) and it’s a delight, it has helped to keep me balanced mentally and physically and it is not something that I am planning to pull back from next year. I’ve kept notes pretty much everyday of the things I’ve seen and heard and want to double down on that particularly next year.

To 2024
As I said at the outset I hope to be more present here in 2024, but please don’t hold me to that, I need a certain amount of mental space to be able to write these posts and ones similar to those I have before and during a good chunk of 2023 I just didn’t have it. There are a couple of big changes that happened at the beginning of December however that were bigs things for me to have removed from my life and I hope that now gives me the mental space and more importantly the time to be able to get back to writing more.

Goals

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review

Each year about this time I sit down and look at the goals and targets I want to set myself for next year.

I start with a final reviewof the previous (current) year and a look back over the last five or so years. The last couple have been heavily disrupted by Covid but I’ve been pretty successful in meeting my targets, which makes me feel I should have been a bit more ambitious.

Next years will be, although perhaps again coloured by some uncertainty around Covid. These cover work and personal goals, although admittedly there is crossover between the two.

Do you do something similar?

The Weeks That Were 2020

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review1 Comment

I normally write an end of the year post, with a bit of a look into the abyss that is the year to come.

if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee

Nietzsche

What a year it’s been, the recurring theme of a global pandemic has meant that much of what I might “normally” do has kind of been thrown into a cocked hat. But let’s give this review a go, and try and have a look towards 2021.

Reading.
I started out this year thinking that I wouldn’t read many books, thinking that I would be busy with work and wanted to concentrate on that. That held true for the first couple of months and then we went into lockdown. Again I didn’t read very much initially, my head being in a space that wasn’t conducive to much turning of pages, but as the year progressed I was drawn back to my love of reading and consumed book after book. At last count I’d read over 90 of them, and will probably get through at least one more before the year is out. Given the number of new ones that I was gifted for Christmas I have plenty to keep me going for the early part of 2021 too.

I’ve realised however that I don’t want to be driven by a target any more. I use GoodReads to track my reading and I will probably continue to do so, but for 2021 I’m setting the target to one. That way there’s no pressure and it doesn’t matter where I end up.

Trying to pick some favourites is difficult but there are some standout authors: Georges Simenon, Ellis Peters, Colin Dexter, Mick Herron; to name a few of them who I’ve gone back to repeatedly through the year.

I’ve also been consuming a lot of newsletters, my recommendations for you: Documentally, Pandemic Kitchen, Commonplace, David Charles and Austin Kleon.

Watching.
I saw my only film in the cinema in January, the final Star Wars film of the recent series. I’m not a great cinema goer but I had planned to see at least one more film (probably the new Bond film). So the pandemic put pay to that too.

So did we start watching a lot more on streaming services? No not really, in fact I’d say that we’ve watched a lot more repeats and reruns of older series and films than before. A lot of “Talking Pictures TV” for old series such as Hannay, Quatermass, Dick Barton: Special Agent and many other things.

We enjoyed the new series of Ghosts, alongside watching repeats of The Detectorists. Also series such as Inspector Morse, Inspector Montalbano, and The Wave.

Not sure where 2021 will take us, maybe back to the cinema in the latter part of the year? Who knows.

Listening.
I’ve spent a lot of hours in podcasts of all sorts. I’d particularly recommend: We Have Ways of Making You Talk, The Tim Ferris Show, Field Recordings, Coastal Stories, and 1857. A few other of my regulars have stopped recording, hopefully only temporarily and there’ll be back in 2021 along with my mainstays.

Working.
The year of Zoom, Teams, Hangouts, Google Chat, Facetime etc. Working from home is nothing new for me, I’ve been doing it full time for the last five years, but now so is everyone else. It’s been a bumpy year. 12 months ago I was breaking my usual rule and working between Christmas and New Year to complete some work for a client as it was needed early in the New Year. There were some other delays on that project which meant that timings were pushed back and then the pandemic hit and it got kicked into the long grass. Just recently it’s picked up again, but I’m not sure whether that is still on the revised timetable anymore either.

I managed to give one allotment talk in person in January but the rest were all cancelled, I did give one by Zoom, but that’s it, it seems the average age profile of my audience don’t do Zoom. All my talks for the first half of 2021 have similarly been cancelled. Not sure whether I’ll be in a position to deliver those booked for the second half of the year or not but I’m hopeful that I can. I can’t help thinking it will feel a bit odd stepping out in front of a live audience again.

I normally set an income target for my business, I’ve missed that for 2020 by some margin, I’m not eligible for any government support (long story) and so, like my book reading there’s not going to be a target for 2021.

Allotment.
All I will say that through 2020 this has been my happy place. I hope that will continue into 2021. I still have lots to do to get the plot ready for the new season but I still look forward to it.

Other Stuff.
At the start of this year, I was intending to get back into film photography and although I’ve not quite managed to do everything that I’d planned I have managed to spend a lot more time behind a camera than I might otherwise. I’ve been supported by a generous friend who gave me two of his old film cameras and I’ve enjoyed experimenting, trying new types of film and all sorts of other things. I’m intending to keep this going in 2021 and in general trying to explore my creative side more. Not sure what that actually means; but probably more photography, more growing, more cooking, more writing. Watch this space.

Probably the hardest thing that I’ve had to deal with this year is my Mum’s Alzheimer’s and the gradual decline that it causes. We had a very different Christmas last year because of it and this year was different again. She’s now in a care home which has helped her and me. Although this has been affected by the pandemic, and the times that I’ve been able to see her greatly reduced, I think the overall outcome would have been the same.

That’s it. My 2020. It’s been a year hasn’t it! I’m not sure whether I’m going to resume my weekly Week That Was posts next week or at all, it feels like I need to mix that up a bit to, but then again…



I wish you all the very best for 2021 and hope that you stay safe and well.

Shifting Focus TWTW # 93

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, books, Dog, Garden / Allotment, photography, podcasts, The Week That Was, work1 Comment

Greetings. The photo above is one from the roll that I sent off to be developed last week. This weeks blog is a bit image and camera talk heavy, so if that’s not you bag, feel free to skip those bits.

It’s not all been cameras this week, if I was still working, I would have said that it has been a short working week because of the Bank Holiday but I don’t really pay that much attention to those now. I was reminded that I haven’t reviewed my goals and targets yet this year. They were set before coronavirus was a thing so looking at them I’m surprised just how much I have achieved, but they still need a little bit of a reset.

I’ve been listening to podcasts this week, trying to catch up on a bit of a backlog. I enjoyed Tim Ferris’s discussion with Hugh Jackman.

 

I am also reminded of the post on Tim Ferris’s blog about why not to become famous.

I’ve been reading quite a bit of Thomas Merton this week. I’m still working my way through his journals which has been a multi-year experience (I think I started back in 2014 or 2015), and I’ve now just finished the 5th volume (of 7) which has taken me about 18 months to read. I have the remaining two volumes on my bedside bookcase and I’ve bought the next volume to the top of the pile so I might start that sometime soon.

I’ve also been reading The Cloud Forest by Peter Matthiessen which I read many years ago and recently found a copy in a box in the loft, so bought it out to have a reread.

I’ve been getting the allotment ready for it’s next planting phase. It’s coming to that time of year when over-wintering onion sets, garlic and broad beans need to be planted / sown. I’ve been getting the ground ready and they’ll be going in over the next few weekends.

Another trailer for the new James Bond movie dropped this week. I think I’ve seen the majority of the Bond movies in the cinema since Moonraker, but I’ve no desire to go and sit in a cinema and watch this new one just yet. So I guess I’ll be waiting for a DVD release.

I got my developed roll of film back this week. I was testing an old camera as much as I was taking pictures. The above panorama has become a bit of an obligatory test shot for me, even if I have to stitch it together manually afterwards, this one is six individual shots. The pic of me and Wilson at the top of this post is also one of the roll (thanks to Ann for being photographer). Here are a few more.

I’m pretty happy with the overall results and that the camera is working well for probably 50+ years old.

By a strange quirk of fate I also seem to have bought a new (secondhand) camera. I was actually looking for a lense and found a couple but they were at the upper end of what I felt was a realistic price. I then found a camera with the lense I wanted in an ebay auction. For some reason it wasn’t getting a lot of attention so I watched it, and bid at the last minute and got the lense and the camera for a good price, well below what the other lenses were on offer for. The seller stated that it was untested, so I was expecting it to not be working, and unsurprisingly the camera is dead but the lense works well. I’ll have a look at the camera when I have more time to see if I can make it work again, but for now I’m looking forward to trying out my new lense.

I’ve also been investigating what I can do with my old Minolta DSLR that no longer works and I also think I’ve found a solution for that. I’ve found an adapter that has good reviews that will enable me to use those lenses on a Canon body (which I already own). I won’t have all of the features but I’ll have enough that I should be able to use them. I’ll have to wait for it to get here before I can see whether the reviews are accurate.

I’m enjoying getting back into photography, and in particular film photography after all these years. I still need to brush up my skills but I’m pleased with some of the results I’ve been getting.

I haven’t forgotten digital either. I took Ruby out for a long walk this week and we went down to see if we could find the Swans that normally nest behind the old gravel works. Because of lockdown we weren’t able to do this when the penn would have been sitting on the nest, so I’ve no idea whether they bred this year or not and if they did whether they were successful, and we didn’t find any evidence that we could definitively say was them. There were however a lot of swans at the head of the creek and we took a few digital pics. Funnily enough this was harder than it sounds due to the hazy sunshine and not being able to use a viewfinder and having to rely on the camera’s screen. Some of them came out okay though:

Well that’s it for this week. Sorry this one’s been a bit image heavy, but thanks if you’ve made it this far.

Take care and stay safe.

Best Reads of 2018

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, Book Review, books

GoodReads prompted me this morning with an email about my year in books. You can see the update on my GoodReads page here. I’m not sure that I’ll get through anymore books before the end of the year, but I’ve managed to read 52 this year (although a few of these where actually quite short, so I’m not sure it’s quite the same as reading 52 tomes!)

There have been a few highlights for me out of the 52 though. In the order they were read, they include:

Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions by David Attenborough – Although this is essentially a reprint of some earlier editions of this book, it was wonderful to step back in time with the author to when an expedition wasn’t accompanied by loads of technology, and the wildlife was less vulnerable and exploited than it is today. As someone who is credited with being one of the great natural historians of modern times, this was originally written long before he was as well known as he is today. I enjoyed it immensely and am really pleased that I have the next volume in the series on my bookshelf to read, probably early next year or over the festive period.

Under The Rock: The Poetry of a Place by Benjamin Myers – Very much a book of the landscape, nature and the human interface I read most of this in just over a day. It was over too soon, and I know it’s a book that I am likely to revisit again and again. It’s also shaped how I look at the world now, giving me a different lense through which I see things.

The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal by Horatio Clare – I’ve read several of this authors books this year, all have been excellent but this is the pick of the crop for me.  It’s the authors story of a winter through mental difficulties but one which is as inspiring as it is troubling. It’s a wonderfully written, candid account and another book that I know I will read time and again.

I’m leaving my list here, because although I’ve read many fine books these are the standout three for me, I can only hope that I read as many splendid ones in 2019.

Fourth Quarter Review 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, Being Positive, books, Film, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Life, Self-sufficient, tv, Video2 Comments

Each year for the past few years I’ve been doing a year end review; last year I split that across the year, doing one at the end of each quarter. This year I’m going to try and do the same as last and do a quarterly review – books I’ve read, films/TV programmes I’ve watched and other things related to life, work and the allotment. The 2017 Quarter One Review is here, Quarter Two is here and Quarter Three here if you’re interested.

Work – Quarter four hasn’t been any different to the rest of the year. In summary a lot of work (unpaid) being spent pursuing potential paid work – writing bids, discussing proposals with clients and potential clients. I hope that this improves a little a lot in 2018, and I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking in terms of what that means for next year and beyond.

Allotment – A good end to the year. With all the family things that have been happening this year, I’ve still managed to find enough time to keep on top of what’s needed at the plot. I am conscious of the amount of time it takes though and so not sure how easy this is going to be next year.

Books – My highlights for this quarter are “Mawson’s Will” by Lennard Bickel [GoodReads] and “Vacationland” by John Hodgman [GoodReads]. Very different books from one another and stand out for different reasons. The former because I wasn’t aware of Douglas Mawson until I read the book  and the latter having the credit for making me chuckle.

Films & TV – Sadly there is nothing that really stands out this quarter. It’s been really difficult finding anything of particular note to watch. I’ve enjoyed “Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico“, although I haven’t yet managed to watch all of  the episodes.

Life In General – This final quarter of the year has been just as hectic as the rest of the year. I don’t really want to talk about much of it, partly because it’s private but also because I’m not really sure where my head is at over some of it. I suspect that some of this will continue into next year and I just hope that I am able to navigate it as calmly as possible.

Third Quarter Review 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, Being Positive, books, Film, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Life, Self-sufficient, tv, Video

Each year for the past few years I’ve been doing a year end review; last year I split that across the year, doing one at the end of each quarter. This year I’m going to try and do the same as last and do a quarterly review – books I’ve read, films/TV programmes I’ve watched and other things related to life, work and the allotment. The 2017 Quarter One Review is here and Quarter Two is here if you’re interested.

Work – The third quarter has continued in the way quarter two went – a lot of effort on preparing proposals and looking for clients but no luck. There were a couple of proposals in there that I was really looking forward to delivering, so I’m disappointed that I won’t be – but that’s the way it goes.

Allotment – It’s been a good season this year, probably not as good as last year, but not shabby, and some things like pumpkins and cucumbers have been much better than last year. We’ve had a lot of our food from the allotment. As the quarter ends though, the season is winding down, but I’m planning for the winter season and next year.

Books – I’ve exceeded my GoodReads target of reading 25 books. That said, this still feels like an arbitrary number, particularly when there are only a couple of books that stood out for me this quarter. They were “Santorini” by Alistair MacLean [GoodReads] and “risingtidefallingstar” by Philip Hoare [GoodReads]. The former was a reread, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. The latter I enjoyed because of the personal content as well as the historical and biographical content.

Films & TV – I’m pretty disappointed with TV at the moment, there seems to be nothing on. That’s pretty normal for the summer months, as most of the new programming starts in the autumn. There are a few things that stick in my mind as I enjoyed them:

Strike [LINK] – This is the adaptation of the novels of Robert Galbraith (a.k.a J.K. Rowling), so far they’ve adapted “The Cuckoo’s Calling” & “The Silkworm”. I thought they were well acted and as far as I can tell were pretty faithful to the original books. It’s also supposed to be coming back for further adaptations next year. I’d recommend checking it out, even if you haven’t read the books.

Arrival [LINK] – I watched this on Amazon Prime with little expectation, but enjoyed it. I’d say though that this is perhaps a film that you’ll either like or find really boring.

The Martian [LINK] – I know I’m pretty late to the party on this one and I’ve had the DVD for a little while before getting around to watching it, but I did really enjoy it. A nice Saturday evening in film – if that makes any sense?

Life In General – It’s been a hectic quarter with family things. My Mum has had her knee replaced, and so I’ve been spending a lot of time with her. In some ways the fact that work has been quiet has been helpful to me. I’ve got lots of things to do around the house and garden, as well as continuing to help sort out my Dad’s things and my Grandma’s house. Hopefully the latter is almost complete as there’s a buyer in place and it’s just waiting for things to go through.

Second Quarter Review 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, Being Positive, books, Film, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Life, Self-sufficient, tv, Video2 Comments

Each year for the past few years I’ve been doing a year end review; last year I split that across the year, doing one at the end of each quarter. This year I’m going to try and do the same as last and do a quarterly review – books I’ve read, films/TV programmes I’ve watched and other things related to life, work and the allotment. The 2017 Quarter One Review is here if you’re interested.

Work – It’s been a very quiet quarter. I’ve been doing a lot of proposals and business development work, but it has yet to lead to any paid contracts. I think to an extent that uncertainty around Brexit, the General Election, and a few other things mean that things are quieter than they were this time last year, and as we now enter a traditionally quiet time that will probably continue for a while yet. I’m conscious as to how long a contract drought can last before I need to bring in a wage or income from somewhere else. I’m not there yet, but it is something I’m thinking about at the moment.

Allotment – These second quarter months really mark the start of when things really get going in the new season. Although it’s been a little bit odd with quite a few failed or only partial germination, most notably with sweetcorn, courgettes and cucumbers. Second sowings have been more successful, but the timings have been no different to last year, although the weather has been a little bit cooler in April & May, although June was a scorcher! So far this year doesn’t feel as strong as last year, but that’s just the ups and downs of growing.

Books – I’ve reached my GoodReads target of reading 25 books early. It feels like such an arbitrary number to me, I sometimes wonder why I bother with the challenge, but I’ll leave it alone for now.

Highlights this quarter, include Guests of Summer: A House Martin Love Story by Theunis Piersma and Bee Quest by Dave Goulson. Both excellent natural history books and both sadly showing evidence of decline in many of the amazing species on our planet.

Films & TV – Still watching the reruns of  “All Creatures Great & Small“. Although, apart from the Christmas special all have been shown now, and the channel has started back from the first episode again. I have a good few stacked on our DVR still to watch.

I did enjoy the BBCs Line of Duty, although this is in its fourth season, it’s the first one I’ve watched. Although some of it has been a bit of a stretch, it had me watching each week. I’ve also been watching a few things on Amazon Video. Bosch returned for Season 3, and was excellent, it’s a series that keeps getting stronger. I’ve also been catching up on The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead.

Finally I’m going to mention American Gods. I had great hopes for this adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book, and although there were some high points generally it was a disappointment.

Life In General – Although things are moving on there is still a lot to do following the passing of my Dad and Grandma. I suspect that it will be a running theme of the year and dominate a lot of what I do during the course of the year. I’m more aware that I’m thinking about my Dad and being a bit introspective in terms of my own life and it’s direction.

I’m also waiting to hear about my Mum having a knee replacement, which is likely to be sometime before the end of the calendar year, so the upcoming six months, have a certain level of uncertainty about them.

I’ve also been having car trouble, it’s not let me down, but has been back and forth to the garage for a scheduled repair where a part failed repeatedly, this might mean that I have to replace the car in due course, but I’ll see how that goes.