Pentade

Five years.  Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me.  Anyway - a very happy new year from me and the guys!

It's been an interesting year - mostly of consolidation of the business and the property.  We've continued to enjoy having hills on our doorstep though walking them less than we'd perhaps intended. There's been the secondary phases of restoring the garden and the buildings, albeit with the occasional setback or two.  It's been the year of the castle.

We got a few breaks away this year - Copenhagen, Clun, Truro for S's graduation, Newcastle for J's house move, and Sheffield for S's.

We seem to have been buying young plants rather a lot. Rather looking forward to the beds plumping up next year as the plants establish.

It's been a great year for games - not just the half dozen DellCon weekends and more time playing between ourselves, but also establishing the Malvern Boardgamers and reintroducing games-and-Chinese-takeaway into our life (the format that started our hobbyist games playing, 20+ years ago).

It's also been a year of visiting more of the local historic houses - all part of the job you understand...

Throughout the year there's been the background task of helping A settle in Malvern and selling the Oxford house. Predictably, it's been a slow process with up's and down's but it feels like we're getting there and there are some exciting projects to help A with in the new year.

It's also now two years since I 'properly' left employment (a process eked out by the boss as long as possible).  Any regrets? None whatsoever, except that a few friendships could do with reviving - something to do this year.