oh hi

2022 was a year, 3/4 good and 1/4 very tough going with surgery and recovery (still ongoing). Truth told, ageing bodies take a lot more time to recover but I remind myself that, while progress is not linear, I am in a better place than I was two months ago. Worse, talking (or writing) about recovery is tedious so let's pass over that.

So many things I've been meaning to write about so in no particular order:

With the passing of Vivienne Westwood, I was reminded that I went to a wonderful retrospective of her work in November 2004 and wrote about it on my blog in its early days. I recall she was meant to attend the opening but was not able to, her husband Andreas Kronthaler was there and gave an amazing speech about her influence and vision for life. I did at one time own a Westwood dress as she was good at dressing the curvy body but I think I sold it because although it was styled for summer, the fabric was way too heavy for a hot Australian summer.

I read a new (to me) writer, Paul Thomas, from NZ with a great Maori detective character. Unfortunately, most of his work seems no longer in print but I will searching for his back catalogue.

I listened to the Backlisted episode of Ballet Shoes, a book I read endlessly and adored as a child. Despite me having grandparents who lived in Westbourne Grove and stories of my mother pushing the pram with my eldest sister from their house to the Cromwell Road, the world of the Fossil children seemed a magically different world to anything I knew of London.

I went to the beach for Christmas for the children and boyfriends. The airbnb house was a delight and right on the cliff edge with the sounds of crashing waves. Unfortunately, it also had many steps which meant a lot of knee work outs for me and the dog. There were a few days when S had to carry the poor old dog up the stairs as his arthritic leg can no longer manage it. He loved the waves though and was really in his happy place in the ocean.

My oldest is feeling the cost of living strain and has moved home for a bit. We're still adjusting to the ground rules but one good thing is that I moved my study out of what is now her room. I actually am enjoying my new space which is a weird lobby area but it has all my bookcases and is actually a delightful room.

I gave up and deleted my twitter account and while I don't love the alternative yet (I am on Mastodon), I am grateful to realise just how much time I wasted doom scrolling twitter, and how much better the more geeky, localised experience of Mastodon is.

This evening, I am off for a few days in Perth to see my family and experience the blisteringly hot WA sun (or in my case, stay in the shade with occasional dips in their pool.)