Christmas has absolutely flown by and it has been quite different this year. For one, I have been working for most of it (albeit from home) which has been the first time ever for me! I was back home for only a few days but it was great to spend it with family and see my little Nephew now he is growing up so fast. My folks then came to Brum with me for a few days to continue the Christmas celebrations and visits to The Jam House and Comedy Club with some great meals made it a brilliant Christmas all in all.
To end the year it will be a trip to Norfolk to spend it with my Godsons. Today has been tiring with my folks heading back and I am working again so we shall see what state I am (tired wise) for some New Year celebrations.
Kicking off 2016 in Norfolk will be great, both to spend it with my 2 Godsons but also on 2nd January I’ll be heading to a friends wedding. So far in 2016 there are two weddings in the diary, Nick & Fiona tying to knot on the 2nd of Jan, which will be a great occasion. Not only will it be great to be part of their big day but it’s been so long since I’ve seen Nick and the DCS crew, it’s a great place to catch up I think is a wedding.
There is another wedding in the diary, when my old friend Sam gets married in July. Speaking of long overdue catch-ups, it will be amazing to catch-up with a few friends from University as that really has been a long long time! A further wedding invite was received yesterday where my best mate’s cousin gets married (Claire & Rob) but at the moment it clashes with my Uncle flying back to Wales and a family catch-up meal so not sure if I can go yet!
The wedding at the tail end of the year (October) is a tricky one, it’s in Brisbane where my friends John and Sarah get married. I really want to go and do Australia while there but flights to Brisbane are ridiculous at the moment, so hopefully that will change!
I want to make 2016 even more epic than last year travel wise (which will be very hard) but I already have a few trips in the diary and hopefully more to come! Kicking off in January will be yet another trip to New York City to see 3 Islanders matches at the new Brooklyn Center. I am excited to go again because this time I am staying in Brooklyn and NYC is my favourite city in the world so more hockey, Broadway and all the rest of the things NYC has to offer. I’ve loved all my subsequent visits more than my first one because it was nice to get all the touristy things out of the way, now I just enjoy the city.
On the topic of hockey, there is another pilgrimage to see the Islanders, this time on the road in February. I am mega excited to go to Calgary and Edmonton to see the Isles play and I am hoping to spend some time in Banff while there which looks mind blowing.
I also have a mini break for my birthday in the diary to go to Bratislava and Vienna with my folks. I usually go on the football tour but just seems pointless now I cannot play and am not involved anymore. It’ll be an opportunity for me to scratch 2 countries off the map which is great.
The big one this year though will be my month in South America. I am doing a group trip for the first time which will be interesting! I usually prefer to go it alone so not constrained by any itinerary and I can amend my trip as I please. I also love meeting people along the way and if they do my head in, it is easy to dump them and move on. Still, it will be good to give it a go and a friend of mine is out there on a group trip at the moment and he seems to be having an amazing time. The trip will cover Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru and will be 30 days. I was going to do this over Crimbo and New Year but I think I’ll be moving it to the same time as I did my Japan trip now. It makes me slightly nervous about the work situation but the whole reason for me going contracting was so I could see the world so I will manage somehow.
Speaking of work, my contract runs up until Mid-March and I hope for an extension on this one but we will see.
I have some stuff in the home I want sorted in 2016, a walk in shower put in and the bath removed, a custom made wardrobe to fit my weird shape corner in my bedroom and I have invested in a cleaner/ironer finally so I am looking forward to her kicking off in 2016!
I am hoping for a MASSIVE year for The Arsenal, I am desperate for us to win a Premier League title again. There’ll be many more away days in 2016 and Barcelona Away is in the diary for March.
The other big footballing occasion is Euro 2016 and I have a lot of tickets, but I am having serious second thoughts whether or not I am into it enough to want to go. I think for the money it’s cost me for tickets, with travel etc I would rather go traveling in another continent. I have until March to decide where I will be able to sell my tickets in the portal. I think I am leaning towards selling the lot of them and avoiding France altogether!
I really need to make an effort with people in 2016 (and hopefully reciprocated by them). I find people always feel they are in touch because we all know what’s going on in each others lives due to Facebook, but in fact haven’t spoken or seen people in ages. We will see how that goes as it’s always a balance between meeting people halfway but also being determined to improve direct contact with friends as human beings not online contacts.
Since starting to work away again I have ruined the little bit of good work I did on the weight front so I have set myself a very reasonable and drawn out target ready for my South America trip because I am not going to be that Southern Comfort fella on the beaches of Rio.
The only other things I want to do are continuing to shop independent rather than chains/supermarkets as much as possible and continue to be charitable. I have loved my policy of last year in ditching my monthly payments and contributing to causes as and when they come up (with friends doing charitable things etc). I have ended up donating so much more and it feels so much more personal. I am going to set myself a target to do one charitable thing per month in 2016. I do not mean in terms of donations here but charitable as in face to face charity, it may be buying a homeless person a meal or donating some money to an actual person etc. I don’t think it’s a big target but I want to stop texting, donating money and giving to real human beings. Some people have a real issue with people sharing charitable things they do, I don’t. I don’t like people videoing the things because I think it should be their choice to be videoed or not but if you do a charitable act, share what you are doing and that inspires one person to do the same then brilliant! The Santa Appeal I did with Rhondda council was a great example, I posted it as a status and about 4 people signed up as a result so 4 more children got presents on Christmas Day this year. We will see how I get on, but it is definitely something I will be trying to achieve.
I do want to make some big decisions in 2016 ready for 2017. If all continues to go well with work I want to make a decision whether or not to buy another house, this time in Norfolk or make a bolder move and go and live/work abroad for some time which has always been an ambition of mine. I definitely think I have developed the balls to take leaps of faith since 2013 when I ditched permanent employment so I will need to have a good think. Given some of the proposals the Government are making, contracting may change significantly in the next year or so, so big decisions to be made in 2016 ready for next year.
Now I my blank Sasco wall planner up, I will be all over travel, tickets, sports websites etc to get things booked to fill it. I am on a mission to make 2016 better than the last year, which will take some doing but the challenge is on.
I hope everybody has an excellent 2016 and if you’re thinking about doing something but haven’t committed yet, DO IT!
