January update

Things wot I have been up to:

• lots of painting working on my Christmas present from Emily, which is now finished (see image below)
• New glasses, varifocals again, but with a much stronger reading portion - the painting revealed how necessary this was!
• Big garden birdwatch: 2 bluetits, 1 robin and a woodpigeon. And a squirrel which sadly doesn't count
• I read a whole book! Accidentally all in one go. Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the end of the Lane. It is very Gaiman and very good.
• Preparing to be on strike. First date is this Wednesday (1st Feb) but it's the first of 18 days.
• Work: all sorts of different odds an ends. Today was lots of user admin, plus reviewing some python code from a colleague, and cursing my own PHP. As you do.
• Admiring lots of ice with Matthew enjoying breaking as much of it as possible :) The cold has meant we've had fewer family expeditions at the weekends though.

Things I am looking forward to next month:

• Being on strike? Well sort of. I look forward to the solidarity and I hope it works. We're definitely going to get a better offer than we would have without this action, but it's still not gone far enough.
• Half term: a few days with Emily and family (last met up in 2019!) and then finally a Christmas with Evan and Gina, whose heating has been broken but will hopefully be fixed
• Taking part in an interesting study with Addenbrookes involving MRI scans, breathing extra oxygen and doing some exercises, all at the same time. 3 daytime visits and my coffee/lunch will be on expenses, but I don't exactly need any travel expenses paying :)
• Finishing the sinister cats embroidery I'm working on
• Choosing my next project: hare embroidery, badger cross stitch or silk/mohair knitted shawl.

There's probably other stuff, but that's what I remember right now.

( Painting )