I wrote last year about how my plan was to use the year to evolve and adapt to leaving full-time work and embrace a more leisurely pace of life. And on the whole I have, though it’s taken a while and plans have changed a little along the way. Not everything happened as we’d hoped - the summer was far too hot, and the ground too baked to really set about any kind of landscaping work, and we’ve not moved house. But evolve was a good word, and one that had enough flexibility to bend to the circumstances the year brought.

I’ll most likely talk about our house move in another post, we’re still hoping it will happen though we’re not sure when, or exactly to where. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster that’s for sure, and one that picks up speed of its own free will at times, as these things do. I’m not sure when I’ll update you on the thrills and spills yet, as there’s some pondering to be done - and some of it is still raw. But I’m hopeful that things will work out.

Once again I’m setting a word for the year, and this year it’s a simple one. Big. Or perhaps that should be BIG.

Like last year its one that will flex, and most likely challenge us. But as MOH said to me on New Year’s Eve 2023 has the potential to be our biggest year yet, and he could be right. We’ve already made some big decisions house-wise this year, they haven’t all come off so far, but it’s still only March.

In other news MOH is finishing work next month, slightly later than his revised date but he’s ready. The problem with working remotely and contracting is that he doesn’t take proper holidays, and when he does he’s still more often than not at home. He’ll have his own adjustments to make I’m sure, but it will be good to be able to spend time together during the day getting out and about. We will both want, and need, time on our own but I know that walks and house/garden visits are much more fun in company than alone.

And who knows we might even manage a proper holiday later in the year. I still can’t believe we haven’t been abroad since February 2020 and before the pandemic, so that in itself will be pretty big!

Woman on a swing made from big, graffitied concrete blocks, at the sea's edge with further concrete blocks into the distance — Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

And if you’re wondering about my choice of image, well it reminds me that sometimes we need to think beyond what we first thought, and try things we might not have considered before. Something I think it’s likely we’ll need to remember at times this year.