Samsterby

It's new year's day, and it's very rainy, so seems like a moment to reflect on the year past and think about the year to come.

2024 has felt like a pretty long slog. Day-to-day of life has been quite relentless and the background noise of sleep deprivation (littlest one is just about starting to sleep through, sometimes) and my partner's impossible NHS shift-work in ever worsening conditions has been challenging.

That said, looking back, we have somehow done an awful lot of stuff and have much to be proud of.

The kids:

🚲 Littlest child learned to ride a bike 🚸 Littlest child started school 👩🏽‍🎓 Eldest child finished school 💖 Middle size children doing grand 🎪 Infinite den building, craft activities, and other play 🍕 Successfully kept everyone fed and alive

Resolutions: • Carry on, we are doing fine!

At home:

🧹 Hired a cleaner 🇫🇷 Went to France twice 🎭 Went on some excellent dates 🏋🏻‍♀️ My partner started going to the gym consistently

Resolutions: • Get the conservatory roof temp-fixed • Progress an actual plan for new kitchen • Make sure we get some small grown-up holidays • Family holiday in Scotland • Me to go out cycling with friends again

In politics:

🗳️ Stood in two elections, local (came 3rd) and general (came 2nd, very chuffed with that) 🫣 Helped run a 3rd local by-election campaign ⛔️ Failed to save our LTN (but learned a lot) 🚄 Changed Green Party policy to unequivocally support high speed rail (actually amazing)

All of these were very much team efforts – so proud of all my friends and colleagues who put in time on these various fronts.

Resolutions: • Make more trouble on local transport issues • Get the party's digital policy off the ground • No elections in 2025 plz

At work:

👈 instituted shift-left testing 🔎 shipped pending transactions and search 💖 did some good bossing with my team 🔥 got stuck behind failed back-end deployments

Resolutions: • Go to fewer meetings • Make releases smooth again • Find more joy for everyone • Die on several hills • Set better boundaries

I'm feeling a bit narked at work, frustrated by our lack of ability to make progress on various fronts, annoyed by institutional dysfunction. But on the other hand, some good stuff happened – and will hopefully set us up for better times ahead.

At the piano:

🌟 Nailed “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” aka “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” by Mozart 🪿 Learned Bruyeres by Debussy 🎹 Cracking on with Beethoven's 9th piano Sonata and Debussy's Suite Bergamesque among other things

Playing the piano is very much a sanity hygiene thing for me. Great for the moments where I just need to step away from work and get my head together. Having regular lessons is helping really push my technical skills and explore pieces that I would have considered impossible.

Resolutions: • Do my sight reading practice consistently

Vague conclusions:

The temptation to do more is always strong, but having got through 2024, I'm feeling that has to be tempered with make space to do the things we really want to do. Boundaries and checkpoints are going to be important so we don't try and chew off too much this year. Also celebrating successes and reflecting on good stuff.