So ... How's Your Girl?

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What I have missed is experiences – holidays and gigs (though we did get to over a dozen shows this year). Not just the events, but having reliable points in the calendar to look forward to. The furthest I have been from Essex since 2019 is Manchester to see my partner’s daughter, and I have my fingers crossed than some travel, even with restrictions, may be possible in 2022. Its also been the when the kids have transitioned to independence….. the elder boy has finished his National service (compulsory here in Singapore) and will be off to Uni next year (not sure yet if UK or overseas) and the younger boy finished his A levels and will start his National Service in January. We are very much getting used to it just being the two of us again after all these years. If mysanthrope means having “a hatred of humankind” (internet says so) then I wouldn’t describe myself as such. But if mysanthrope means “a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society” (internet says so) then hell yeah. On the plus side my teenage daughter now lives with me full time, that also brings quite a few challenges. Managed a couple of trips, one semi regular one to the paradise that is Prince Edward Island and I made it to Yorkshire for a week to see my brother.

Another thing that makes me feel a bit like an imposter is that I’m not very interested in finding out a lot of facts about it…people ask me stuff about diabetes and look confused when I say that I don’t know – where most people would google or wiki the hell out of a diagnosis, I’m fine with just knowing the basics. I don’t want to be all-consumed by my diagnosis, it is what it is and I prefer to ignore it as much as possible. 🙂 Dislikes humankind? Generally, yep. I don’t see much to like in most of humankind (too much evil crap and shit stuff and we allow it to happen. And social media and YouTube are real windows into how utterly crap so many people are. And so are the governments we vote for). The good people of the Afterword have kept me smiling and thinking all year, thanks to you all for your bounteous wit and wisdom. May your God go with you all. Family are all well and happy, daughter happily enjoying Year 8 at her school and my son looking forward to going to ‘Big School’ in September. Became financially secure after selling my buy to let house to some lovely people (neighbours three doors down from us). The bus service was very unreliable when I was young and it remains so even today. (It remains very unreliable …)Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part Big change for me this year (stretching into 2022). I’ve sold my flat after living here for 20 years. I’ve finally decided I want a house, but will be lodging with my partner’s family until we find somewhere suitable. Due to move out in January – just waiting for the date to be confirmed. Has there been a more successful band with less charisma than the Bee Gees? 93 comments | 1.7k views The reason he says is that while replacing all EU regulation sounds neat, in practice it is complex and costly for business. Your first and second paragraphs are me, too, Arthur. The reason I started my current office job 11 years ago was I spent the previous 9 months WFH (following the fallout from the late 2008 crash) and missed having colleagues to talk to.

Xmas dinner out at a pub with Fam this year. All this week been half-expecting a call/text saying it’s cancelled but seemingly not. Been doing my twice-weekly Lateral Flow tests like a good boy for the last few months and so far so good. Most recent (negative again) was a couple of hours ago. First world problems though, I know that. We are all healthy, I am still in a good job, we managed a summer holiday to the South West. But dear God, I just wish this pandemic and all that it brings with it, as well as our awful, venal, utterly incompetent government, would just go away. Now I’ve decided to make the focus pretty much purely about the running, to try and see how good I can get. If I can run 5k in under 20 mins while eating for a serious calorie deficit, what happens when I forget about the calories, eat for running, and just try to be fast? That’ll be fun. So, Merry Christmas, deep breath, count your blessings every day, tell the people you love how you feel, and I'm looking forward to a slightly "quieter" 2022.Greetings at the end of a second COVID year, to those who have kindly taken the time to post above, and you others reading, but not posting. It’s coming up to 10 years (next summer) when I dipped my toe into an already-thriving community, such that I still feel like quite the newcomer/arriviste. There’s such a wealth of life shared, (not just in this thread) lightly tied to the tagline of ‘byways of popular culture’, that it’s a privilege to host (this time) this annual community of expression.