Slowing Down to Move Forward

At the beginning of the year, I made a deliberate effort to take back control of my life. I had become aware that the pace I was keeping wasn’t sustainable, so I took some fairly extensive steps to create more balance and structure. I wanted to be more intentional with my time, to focus on what genuinely mattered rather than getting caught up in the constant state of being ‘busy.’ 

For the first few months, it worked well. I felt calmer, more focused, and was far better at managing my time and energy. But gradually, without really noticing, old habits began to creep back in. One small commitment led to another, and before long, that balance that I had worked so hard to create had started to slip away.

The last time I sat down to write a blog post was back in July. As I have done so many times before, I told myself that I would get back into the habit and post more often. Then, as life became more hectic, it all became a bit overwhelming. 

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Farewell to the Prince of Darkness: A Birmingham Reflection on Ozzy Osbourne

At the end of June, I was walking past the train station in Birmingham on my way to meet a friend for lunch. Just across the road is the now-iconic Black Sabbath mural, a striking tribute created by the brilliant Daniel Mr Mural. As I glanced over, I noticed a small crowd gathering and photographers. 

And then I saw Tony Iommi and Bill Ward.

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A Trip to Little Venice and a Canal Boat Ride to Camden

You know those rare days where everything just goes… right? That was last weekend.

The Bloke and I took a spontaneous trip to London. I had already booked the day off in anticipation of being needed by a social media client, who unfortunately wasn’t available. Meanwhile, The Bloke discovered that he had a few surprise days of annual leave, so we made a last-minute decision to have an overnight stay, just for a change of scenery and a bit of head-space after what has seemed like a rather intense few months. We hadn’t done a proper touristy day out together since last September, so we figured we were due.

Little Venice in London

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It Smells Like Holiday

Over the past week, the UK has been basking in a stretch of glorious weather – the kind of weather that we usually have to board a plane to find. On the rare occasions when we experience this, I find myself saying to The Bloke, “It smells like holiday.”

It’s a difficult thing to describe, but it evokes memories of going out in the evening while on holiday in a Mediterranean country, a combination of heat fading from the day and the subtle scents that come with dry, sunny weather. 

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A Trip to Belfast: Mum’s Titanic Dream, My Perfect Nap

A few weeks ago, Mum and I hopped over to Belfast for a quick trip. The whole reason? The Titanic Museum. 

It would be an understatement to say that she’s a Titanic obsessive. She has paintings signed by a survivor, an original 1912 newspaper that was published just a few days after the sinking, White Star Line wine glasses, replicas of the menus and tickets and a playlist of the music performed by the quartet on board, books, DVDs, clothing… She’s been to every exhibition you can imagine since it was discovered – I very distinctly remember going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum as a young child when some of the artefacts from the wreckage were recovered and put on display in the 90s, my parents then went to Wembley to see James Cameron’s tour of the movie set and costumes, and in the last few years alone I have booked and organised trips so she can see exhibitions at London Docklands, Worcester and the NEC. At the beginning of the year, she went to Camden for the VR experience that is currently there… 

Suffice to say, the Titanic Museum in Belfast has been at the top of her list for a very long time, and this is something that she has been going on (and on, and on) about for years.

Now, I’ll be honest – the Titanic has never really been my thing. I appreciate the history, of course, and I get why it’s significant, but after being made to spend many hours reading plaques and looking at ship artefacts and replicas in my youth, it is no longer my idea of a good time. 

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Why Solo Date Nights Are My New Favourite Thing

Last year, I saw that Jason Donovan was on tour in 2025. I’ve been a lifelong fan, getting his first album on vinyl when I was just 8 years old, and to this day some of the songs from that very album still feature on my regular playlist. 

I immediately booked a ticket for his performance at Symphony Hall. Just one ticket, just for me. I didn’t even think of asking anyone else if they wanted to come with me, because I knew instantly that this was something that I wanted to do by myself. 

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Protecting Your Peace: How to Set Boundaries and Stop People-Pleasing

For some of us, people-pleasing is practically a personality trait. It’s not always obvious at first – saying yes to plans, helping someone out, being the “reliable one” in the group. But when your need to be helpful starts draining your energy, your time, and your sense of self, something has to give.

I spent decades saying yes when I wanted to say no. 

That’s not an exaggeration. I organised outings I didn’t want to go on, stayed out late because someone insisted I couldn’t leave yet, did jobs for others that had absolutely nothing to do with me, and found myself tangled in everyone else’s responsibilities – housesitting, pet sitting (LOTS of pet sitting), taking in endless parcels for neighbours who couldn’t be bothered to answer the door (who then expected me to drop them round later), picking up prescriptions, sitting in cars while friends ran their errands on the way to the place we were actually supposed to be going, I went along with what others want to eat, watch, or do, because I didn’t want to seem bossy – simply because I didn’t know how to say, “That’s not my responsibility.”

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Twelve Years of Blogging: A Neglected Corner of My Heart

April marked twelve years since I first hit the publish button on the blog.

Twelve whole years. It feels surreal even typing that. What started as a quiet little corner of the internet to share thoughts, observations, and the occasional rant has become something far more personal than I ever imagined. Yet, looking at the tumbleweeds rolling through the archives recently, you wouldn’t think it meant much at all.

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A Quiet Start to 2025

It’s the first week of February and thank goodness… Did anybody else feel like January was the longest month ever, or was it just me? 

Despite this, 2025 has been pretty great so far. The steps that I took at the end of last year to reduce my workload and commitments have been extremely effective – so effective, in fact, that I was initially unnerved by how quickly I completed my task list each day. It took a little while to get rid of the nagging feeling that I had missed something, and I had to get out of the habit of triple checking everything just in case.

A pic at Baker Street that I took on my travels last month – if you put Gerry Rafferty on while looking at it, it looks like Sherlock is playing a tiny saxophone…

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