It’s the season for reflection and stock-taking. Perhaps you’d be willing to hear about my year?
Health issues dominated, as in 2022.
Almost a year ago, I had successful cataract eye surgery. Less good news was the fact that I have also had to undergo quite a few tests to explain why I have been losing so much weight. The results are still unclear (and tests are ongoing), but we seem to have slowed the problem somewhat and I’m functioning about as normally as I get!
This has meant, however, that I have not given my business the attention it needs and deserves. So I have conducted very few weddings and even fewer handfastings, vow renewals or namings over the year.
In common with a lot of people in the funeral business, I have found that this has not been a rich year for deaths. Some would be glad of that, but things could have been busier for me. However, I have managed to keep myself occupied, and that’s pleasing.
Along with other celebrants, I have been awaiting the government’s response to the Law Commission’s proposals for Wedding Law Reform. This was due last July, and we are still waiting …
On a happier note, we did a lot of travelling in 2023 (including our first longer holiday since Lockdown).
After a (single!) cold January night In Hamburg, we spent a lovely week in the Lisbon area in May. It was our first time in Portugal, and we plan to return!
We celebrated Isobel’s big birthday in June (a month early!) in (what actually was) sunny Manchester, with a night away and a visit to the Coronation Street Studios.
The two of us were in Czechia for 4 nights in October and I spent another night away, this time in Berlin with our son, Sigii, a few weeks later.
This gave me quite an appetite for further travel, and 2024 looks promising. We’ll be marking our silver wedding anniversary and my 70th birthday. So, plenty to look forward to (and I prefer to do that rather than focus on less cheerful things). I hope you have plenty of appealing prospects for the year too.
I sincerely hope the past year has not been too trying for you (whether health-wise or energy-wise or financially etc.) and that you can enjoy the festive period with people you love.
Thank you for reading my blog(s) and I wish you all the very best – health, prosperity, contentment – for the New Year.