Annoyingly I missed out on 222222 while it was at the garage, but still satisfying. #numbernerd

After a full year of constant tweaking by The Duchess she is FINALLY satisfied her that her Garden Room is complete and we can actually relax and just use it!

Through 2025 we :

• put up a wind shade (then swiftly took it back down, reinforced it with duct table and put it back up again)
• purchased several batches of pebbles to fill in the gaps between the decking and the retaining walls, then collected them up again, applied “rock glue” — which apparently is a thing — and put them back down again so they stick together
• put up a bunch of Temu stuff – shelving unit, several wall-mounted planters, tool organizer and bird repelling hangy-things
• jetwashed the deck half a dozen times to clear out bird poo
• restained the outside of the pergola
• hacked away at most of the greenery outside the pergola that kept wanting to come in

Now we have to wait for the odd day when it’s not blowing a gale and can sit outside and enjoy it…

And the most impressive piece … the Temu Trevi Fountain! We may have to open it to the public and let the passersby come and enjoy the spectacle.

Funny YouTube video of a museum curator explaining about an ancient Greek plate using Gen Alpha language. Reminds me of the Jive Brothers from Airplane, and how out of touch Gen X I am.

For the Oldies benefit here are the birth years for each generation:

Baby Boomers: 1946 – 1964

Generation X (Gen X): 1965 – 1980

Millennials (Gen Y): 1981 – 1996

Generation Z (Gen Z, iGen): 1997 – 2012

Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha): 2013 – 2025

Looks like I’ve missed an important passport change that’s coming into force at the end of February – if you’re a dual citizen and want to get into Britain you’re going to have to present a valid British passport. WTaF is that about?! Surely I can prove I was born in Britain some other way, even via an expired passport?

This is either a stupid and desperate attempt to claw in some more money, or yet another data grab to record your details on yet another database. Either way it’s pointless and very inconvenient.

I’ll be onto the British Embassy this morning to clarify the situation and register a complaint, then I’ll either have to sort out a new passport or renounce my British citizenship, which might cause big hassles given I haven’t transferred my pension over yet.

As a professional geek I’ve long been a fan of Dilbert, so it’s sad to hear that cartoonist Scott Adams has passed away. His strips nailed the oddness of working in tech – or even just office culture – and have given me pleasure for decades.

Another new year, another gym membership doomed to be cancelled in 3 months …

This one’s not as cheap and dingy as the previous one I tried, and this time I’m getting the Personal Trainers to set me up with a program so we’ll see how things go this time.

My most immediate goal is to be able to put socks on without grunting.

Close the door on your way out. Well that’s now 10 dumpster-fire years in a row what with one thing and another. Let’s hope 2026 breaks the streak, though I suspect the Dystopian Nightmare Future promised by various sci-fi films and books have become a Dystopian Nightmare Present. Yay! At least we’re not yet at Mad Max levels of f*cked-up-ness…

In retrospect 2025 was a bit of a non-year with (thankfully) no massive lows, but no real highlights either; two unsatisfying jobs followed by three months of sick leave, read 7 books, attended 2 gigs, took less than a dozen trips to the movies, and the only break a road trip to Hamilton.

We finished it off the same way by doing feck all for New Years Eve.

I’m determined that 2026 is going to be a better year by

• Shaking off this fatigue and improving my health and fitness levels
• Sharpening the technical skills and getting back to work with renewed enthusiasm and energy
• Helping The Duchess get on top of her health issues so we can enjoy more activities together
• Get to more gigs and get off the couch more
• Booking a trip to the UK to spend some time with The Oldies (either solo or with The Duchess if she’s up to the travel)

All this might get upended by another pandemic, war or alien invasion, but like the Rebellion you’ve got to have hope otherwise the bastards have already won. Happy New Year!