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!

Bit of a Plan B Christmas this year thanks to a gastro virus knocking The Duchess out for a few days; our planned trip to visit Treats Lady and The Boy Genius at their new(ish) place on the South Island has been pushed out to late January and we’re having a quiet one at home instead. (You learn quickly when dealing with an auto-immune disorder to always book the flexi travel option)

I had bought a pork joint and some veggies a couple of days prior just in case, and that became Christmas lunch. I can’t seem to cook Sunday roasts for any fewer than four people so we now have a fridge full of leftovers to carry us into 2026. Other than nipping over to the neighbour for a coffee we had no contact with anyone and did little other than dog walk, cook & watch TV. Lovely!

We didn’t even bother with presents for each other this year, though I couldn’t resist getting The Duchess this little gnome for The Garden Room ….

I was able to get to Wellington’s original cricket stadium (it hosted its first match in 1868) to watch the Black Caps take on the West Indies.

Thanks to a batting collapse by the visitors the 5 day test was wrapped up in less than 3 days and I was able to enjoy 90 minutes of cricket before we were all heading out again!

Still, it was great to get close to the action and sit in the historic Museum Stand; I’ve only been able to see it from a distance while navigating the roundabout that circles the ground.

At the end of the year Spotify provides listeners with a summary of their listening history and trends, and has started providing a “listening age” based on your chosen music.

What the hell, man? I’m not listening to big band music on 78s for feck’s sake!

We have a tradition of listening to Rat Pack playlists when we cook Italian meals at home, which must be skewing things a fair bit.

I do try to dip into 2025 music from time to time, but it sounds AI generated bland fare to me, sending back to my 1980s playlist.

While I’m off work trying to shake off this Long Covid / Chronic Fatigue tiredness — which the supplements are slowly responding to — I’ve set up weekly To Do lists of household and garden chores to make best use of the time.

The Duchess has been leading the charge on the gardening and we’ve made up for some of the neglect of the past 13 years; weedkilling, stripping out and replacing dead plants, spending up the Airpoints to bring in some herbs and flowers, even having a crack at repairing the horribly patching lawn next to The Garden Room. We’ve even bought some small orange and lime trees to go with the freeloading lemon tree for a tiny orchard!

Let’s hope the stuff we want to grow grows and the stuff we don’t want to grow doesn’t, if that makes any sense!