Another Year, Another Blogging Reboot

And just like that, it is 2022. Happy New Year! 

It seems I can only keep up with regular updates on one social media platform at a time. I got hopelessly distracted by my 100 day dress challenge, which led me to a lovely community of 'woollies' and what I suppose would be called microblogging on Instagram. If you would like to follow me there my account is wearingladygrey - it is set to private to weed out strange men / bots / scammers or whatever they are! I am now on day 87 of the challenge and have found it surprisingly easy. I now have lots of half-formed thoughts about style and capsule wardrobes which I am hoping will turn into something fully-formed before too long. 

What has been happening since I last wrote? December meant lots of carol playing with the brass band. Indoor concerts didn't seem wise, especially with the arrival of omicron, but we played at the airport (large, ventilated space!), outside supermarkets and as small groups of wandering carollers. Christmas this year was particularly good - last year we were heading into lockdown and saw nobody outside our immediate household, which made us extra appreciative of the opportunity to spend time with family and friends this time. There have been walks outside, games inside, lots of good food and general enjoying of each other's company. Sadly though we did have to cancel a planned visit from M's family. With assorted nieces, nephews, partners and family friends there would have been 17 of us from 9 different households, which simply wouldn't have been sensible. We also postponed a short break in Edinburgh before Christmas, because we decided 6 hours on a train with omicron running riot was also too risky. All being well we will go in February instead. 

We are all now fully vaccinated and boostered. We managed to get TG booked in for her second jab the first day she was eligible - the government here has been ultra cautious about vaccinating healthy children to be sure the benefits outweighed the risks. After retiring from his job with NHS 111 M wanted to do some voluntary work so has been doing shifts helping out our local pharmacy with their vaccination clinic. It is a tiny place, so it is just him checking people in and out, and someone giving the vaccines. He loves it as it gives him lots of opportunity to indulge in his favourite hobby of talking to people! 

TG has been working hard at school, with mock (practice) exams in the week and a half before she finished for Christmas. She is due to take GCSE exams (General Certificate of Secondary Education) in the summer, but her age group are being given lots of in school testing in case the GCSEs end up being cancelled for the third year running due to the pandemic and grades have to be awarded by teachers. She has also been thinking hard about what subjects to choose to study for her last two years of school. Most students take three subjects at A (Advanced) level. Her school recommend starting four, then dropping one after a month or so when they have had a chance to test them out. After some dithering she has picked biology, chemistry, psychology and maths, with maths being the subject she expects to drop. However, she has the option to do a lower level (AS) maths course as an extra, and thinks she will do that as it is likely to be helpful to her when she goes to university. Her current plan is to study biological science in some shape or form. She thinks neuroscience sounds interesting, but is also tempted by zoology. 

I have thoughts about the new year, changes I want to make and habits I want to improve, but I'll save them for later. I hope not too much later!