2022 in Review
You won’t believe it, but for once in my life, I had this Annual Review ready to rock for the end of the year. But then along came covid, followed by The Mothership passing away. So I’m hitting publish in the middle of March 2023, well past the point anyone is interested in hearing about 2022! Och well, I don’t know what to do with myself right now, so why not crack on with this?
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Happy new year, everyone! Here's the fourteenth Annual Review. It's a set of end-of-year questions that first did the rounds back in the olden days of blogging. All previous episodes are here.
1. What did you do in 2022 that you’d never done before?
Drawing a blank here. Next!
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any for 2022. For 2023 I have resolved, not for the first time, to read some of the gazillion unread books on my bookshelf.
3. What countries did you visit?
Australia, Denmark and Ireland.
4. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
5. Did anyone close to you pass away?
My paternal grandfather passed away at 92. 💗
6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
Gardening! I planted my tulip bulbs about three months too late, resulting in sad, weird tulips with one-inch stalks. It felt like a metaphor at the time, and I did not adjust my stinky attitude to grow anything else for the season.
7. What days from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I can’t choose between them, but my favourite moments were all conversations with friends. Whether it was an everyday catchup or a big reunion, there would be a point after we’d updated each other on the daily minutiae that we’d get into the deep stuff, with honking laughter and teary bits.
I always love the parallel experience of listening to a friend’s story while marvelling at their three-dimensional awesomeness after so much time connecting only through screens. I love the rush of love, gratitude and admiration for the smart, hilarious, resilient human sitting before me, navigating the inevitable crap that life throws.
That is a cheesy paragraph, but that’s the point of life I have reached; I’m a massive sap.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finally installing a blind on my office window, so we didn’t go into an 8th winter with the neighbours being able to see me all lit up and grumbling at the computer when the sun goes down.
9. What was your biggest challenge?
The “snakes on the doormat” of 2021 were still around and at times it was challenging to choose healthy outlets for pesky emotions. But I’m still here and still celebrating all the good bits, so that’s a win I reckon.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
A mortifying tumble on black ice near York railway station in December. Somehow both my right knee and left arse cheek fared the worst.
As I write this on December 31st, Gareth has just tested positive for Covid. I’m waiting to see if I’ll be struck down or somehow spared. Update January 10th: Noooooo, I was not spared! But we're both better now. 🦠
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF50+, a lightweight facial sunscreen. It goes on smooth and cool, then vanishes with no greasy shenanigans. My fellow SPF-obsessive pal Elizabeth wrote an excellent review that properly explains its goodness and why it’s her most beloved too.
7 in 1 Paw-Style Cat Toy - Ziggy had always been wholly uninterested in cat toys, but now in her middle age, she demands around two hours per evening of Laser Paw.
If you don’t pick up this bloody toy at the designated time, she will fix her steely stare on you until you crack. Then one must shine the light around the room in a particular sequence of movements. She pounces from the living room to the hallway, hurls herself at the door, hides behind the shoes, and then does an ambush, all with a speed and nimbleness we never knew she was capable of.
She prefers the toy to be in Star or Smiley Face mode - Butterfly or Mouse modes are considered inferior. We have created a monster and bought a backup paw, so she never has to wait 15 minutes for it to recharge.
The Laser Paw has definitely lived up to the promises of the product description:
12. Where did most of your money go?
Home repairs. Bor-ing! They knocked the elderly Renault Clio from the top of the expenditure list. Speaking of which, the little red engine now has 200,000 miles (320,000km) on the clock. Stay tuned to see if we make it to 250,000! 🚗
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting our filthy driveway power washed. When I say filthy, I didn’t think it was particularly filthy until it was done. I curse not taking a before photo because the after was spectacular; even the cat did a double take.
The 2022 Tour de France was also an absolute belter, especially the beautiful chaos of the Jumbo-Visma bike swap incident.
14. What song will always remind you of this year?
When Olivia Newton-John passed away I had Magic from 1980 on repeat. Her voice is an angelic purr but the haircut! The whole look! I loved this era. The song was #1 in the US for four weeks, only to be kicked off by Christopher Cross’ Sailing. What a time to be alive!
Then in late November when Christine McVie sadly passed away I couldn’t stop playing Hold Me. I love so many of her songs but again the early 80s always get me. The video is a classic, shot in the scorching Mojave Desert when band relations were particularly frazzled. From Wikipedia:
"Four of them, I can't recall which four, couldn't be together in the same room for very long. They didn't want to be there," says [video director Steve] Barron. "Christine McVie was about ten hours out of the makeup trailer. By which time it was getting dark." According to Fields, "John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn't want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them."
Also, this classic moment…
The other song that lodged in the brain was We Love Sweets by Hanabie, thanks to Gareth playing it at least 575 times as his deep dive into Japanese metal began (see #18). It is a wild ride that leaves you feeling like you may have been run over by a truck, but you immediately want to be run over again!
15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Cooked some new dinner recipes instead of just endlessly saving links to my Apple Notes. I definitely want to liven up the menu in 2023!
16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Watching hairdresser Instagram reels*. The sound of snipping and the dramatic before and afters are bloody addictive. But really, I needed to go to bed.
* My current favourite is Assort Hair, though I wished they’d linger longer on the result!
17. How did you spend Christmas?
With the in-laws. We went full vegetarian this year, and it was delicious, except the scent of faux pigs in blankets lingered for two days. It was like living inside a bag of Frazzles.
18. Did you fall in love this year?
Audiobooks! A great soundtrack for endless games of Laser Paw.
In the summer, Gareth ended up in a YouTube vortex of Japanese rock and metal bands, and I was happily swept up too. LOVEBITES, an all-female metal band, are my favourite. It was a swift journey from “what is going on here?” to deep obsession and emotional investment in their search for a new bass player. In my next life, I hope to be a bass player in an all-female metal band.
19. What was your favourite TV programme?
Gareth calls all my Scandinavian crime dramas Death In The Snow. It’s true, the moody detectives, excellent interiors and frosty landscapes start to blur together, but it’s still my favourite comfort telly. This year’s faves were The Truth Will Out 🇸🇪, Entrapped 🇮🇸 and the new season of Deadwind 🇫🇮.
(I couldn’t find a source for this one!)
Favourite non-Scandi crime fest: Chyłka 🇵🇱
Favourite escape: The Split. This kept popping up on iPlayer for years, but I only jumped in after reading Abi Morgan’s incredible memoir because she wrote the show. I gobbled up all three seasons in July. it was the perfect mix of family drama, secrets, shouting, tears, office glamour, nice houses and good hair.
Also enjoyed: The Bear, Andor, Girls at the Back, and The Tourist.
20. What was the best book you read?
I’m still a sucker for anything with “loneliness, longing, sadness, regret, second chances and/or healing”, and even better if takes place in a small town where not much happens.
Here are some 2022 faves:
Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again - Elizabeth Strout
Again, Rachel - Marian Keyes
Love Marriage - Monica Ali
Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiny (the withering line “Do you even fold?” from the origami club has entered our household lexicon.)
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty - Akwaeke Emezi
This Is Not A Pity Memoir - Abi Morgan
21. What was your favourite film?
Top Gun: Maverick, because it was such boofheaded fun, and it sparked joy for Gareth in a way I'd never before witnessed.
In the 19.5 years I've known him, he’s only delivered positive feedback with one of three phrases: alright, not bad, or pretty good. But in this instance, he bounced out of the Dunfermline Odeon into the sunshine and declared, “That was the greatest film of all time!”.
He actually forked out more of his British pounds to see it again a week later. This display of unbridled enthusiasm was one of my favourite things about 2022.
22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 45! There was a day off, a swim, lovely pal chats and my friend Allison’s famous chocolate cake. Perfecto!
23. What kept you sane?
Books, friends and memes.
24. What were the best things you ate?
On November 27th I made an unusually good batch of roast potatoes, perfectly fluffy inside with an excellent level of crunch on the outside.
After reporting that 2021 lacked ice cream, I corrected in 2022 with a superb passionfruit gelato from Joelato and a wee tub of orange sherbet from Dunfermline’s own Fancy A Scoop.
This French toast from Singl-End in Glasgow joyfully gobbled the morning after seeing Thundercat at the Barrowlands. There were plums, bananas and cinnamon crème fraîche involved, I think!?
Thank you for reading! Wishing you all good things for 2023.
