The Yearly Recap for 2025 (But actually for 2020-2023!)

 Hi everyone.

This was actually a rather unplanned post. I figured with there being 52 weeks in a year, and with the posting on Sundays & Wednesday's, I would need 104 posts for 2025. Hilariously, I realised only two weeks before the end of 2025 that I was a post short, as I had already planned & written most of the posts for 2026, and got them all lined up in sequence and date order, ready to go. That's what happens where you're too organised, there's no wiggle room. 

So I thought why not create a recap post for the year? But then that became confusing, as you know, I've not yet written or posted about 2025, so how could I recap it and spoil the surprise? So why no recap the year through the posts I had written about? 

So 2025 was a year of catching up on the blog, and actually contained posts from March 2020 through to January 2023. So almost a three year recap!

The start of the year I was posting about covid, which now seems like it was an age ago. It was rather strange to write about, it almost seemed like I had forgotten what living through the pandemic was like, and reading my notes and looking at the pictures I had taken, it almost seemed nostalgic. Life seemed simpler, we had to keep ourselves busy at home, only leaving the house to go to work. It seems like a different world entirely. But I feel also, that as a nation, or perhaps also as a world, we never seemed to have a unified way of processing the grief and trauma of the covid pandemic, or at least not at the time of writing this post. It also provided valuable insight into what life was like in other pandemics, like the Black Death or the Spanish Flu. Our ancestors would have gone through the same range of emotions as we all did, fear, panic, uncertainty.

But along with the pandemic came resilience, and as a species, we showed our ability to adapt. Remote working became the new thing, as millions of people stayed home to work. I continued to go to work, as did many other customer facing and low paid workers did. But the upheaval of life during the pandemic continues to be seen, as our nation struggled to fully rebound. But we will continue to try and live our lives. Sometimes it was the smallest things that provided the most comfort, like Me & James spending quality time actually together, and going out for walks together, and trying to enjoy the peaceful world around us.

Covid caused the cancellation of our beloved Eurovision Song Contest, and me & James took it upon ourselves to recreate it & enjoy it. We gave the win to Poland & Serbia jointly, and I know a lot of readers were surprised to see two winners, but hey, we made it our own! In strange times, there are strange events!

I also had a change of jobs in October 2020, moving stores and moving up the rungs of leadership to become a Team Support Manager. It meant a small pay rise, and that was nothing to be sniffed at! November also saw us follow the Mayflower Mosaic trail in Southampton, made to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing to the new world.

Luckily, Junior Eurovision Song Contest (JESC) was hosted in November 2020, albeit on a smaller scale. But it saw France take their first ever victory, only a two years after returning to the contest after many years away. It also saw me reach an incredible milestone of 500 posts on the blog. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, I didn't think I'd written that many. Here's to hoping I'll reach one thousand someday!

In a rather bleak event, it was reported that by January 2021, over 100,000 thousand people in the UK had died from Covid-19. It was a stark piece of news, and although the vaccine roll out was gathering pace, it felt like we were on the cusp of the pandemic killing us all. But as the pandemic began to ease, a different pandemic began, and this one was just as troubling. It began with the murder of Sarah Everard, a woman killed by a serving Met Policeman, who's name shall not be written. The resulting news & investigation showed severe concerns within many different services and occupations, with many people working in jobs that should have never been hired. It sparked a huge debate over issues with vetting and background checks, and even several years later, people unfit to work in those jobs are still being weeded out. 

Husky had even gone and got himself a job, maybe he would make a good police dog? Probably not, he enjoys being laid in bed all the time!

Eurovision returned in 2021, and it was Italy that won and took the world by storm, with Maneskin creating a long lasting musical career for themselves. In a first for me, my votes changed one of the qualifiers, with Croatia replacing Norway. Perhaps my votes should be included in the contest, I'll have to make the EBU aware of this! Of course the UK set another record, although not one to be proud of, scoring zero from both jury & televotes, which could mean this is the least popular song of the history of the contest. Like I say, not a record to be proud of.

The summer of 2021 saw us venture away for our first post covid holiday, heading down to Devon & Somerset, and enjoying this beautiful view on Weston-Super-Mare beach.

September saw us going away for a few days, and we paid a visit to the famous Ely Cathedral, with it's gorgeous frontage and glorious interior.

We also got to sample Uzbek food for the first time ever, courtesy of Uzbek Corner Kitchen in London. It was possibly the tastiest meal I've ever had, and that's saying something. I've had a lot of meals!

We also got to have a holiday up North, visiting Yorkshire, and enjoying many of it's delights. One of which was Rievaulx & Byland abbies, which have become our favourites.

 Two famous & iconic abbies, both built of similar yellowish stone, both were destroyed on King Henry the Eighth's order during the dissolution of the monasteries, a crime I've blogged about many a time! Typical Yorkshire weather though, one day sunny without a cloud in the sky, the next day full of cloud with the sun nowhere to be seen! 

We also got to visit several other ruined abbeys during our holiday away, like Bolton Abbey (left) & Furness with it's characteristic red stone.

And here's a picture I've never posted before, It's me & James at Furness Abbey, and if you haven't noticed, yes I am wearing white trainers to a muddy ruined abbey. Not the smartest of choices!

November 2021 finally saw an end to my everlasting back problems. After ten months of increasing pain and decreasing mobility, I was able to have a nerve root block done after my MRI results came back. In hindsight, it's a simple procedure, a steroid & pain reliever injected into the area around pinched nerve. I felt a little funny when they did it, but I think that was due to seeing the X-ray of the needle in my spine that caused that. But within a few days the pain had started to reduce, and by the four week mark, the pain had gone. I felt like a whole new person again.

It coincided with a new job at work as a Team Manager, where I would be directly managing the ambient section & the evening team. Talk about a stressful job! But one of the highlights in my career in retail was catching a pigeon that even the pest control people couldn't catch. Talk about a new skill!

Junior Eurovision returned, with a larger range of countries taking part as we emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. It was Armenia that won the contest with "Qami Qami" by the talented Malena, which has become one of my favourite JESC winning songs, growing on me more and more each time I hear it. But it was Georgia that got my twelve points!

January 2022 was when I was struck with covid, which I'd managed to dodge until that point. But nobody else in the house got it, which seemed a little strange! I felt perhaps the worst I'd ever felt, and that was considering the fact I'd been doubly vaccinated.

February saw us taking another trip up North, but caused trouble on the motorway when I made James overtake this flatbed lorry in front of us.

We've all seen Final Destination (except for James) and he couldn't understand why I had such an aversion to it!

February brought the shocking news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting war. It was perhaps less unexpected than we realised looking back, it had really started in 2014 with the Russian theft of Crimea. But the brutality & numerous massacres were horrific, and the Ukrainians were putting up a brave defence. We can only hope they manage to hold on and prevent the spread of Russian aggression into Europe. Almost four years later, the war is still raging, with no sign of peace for Ukraine anytime soon.

March 2022 saw a nightshift to move the entire alcohol department at work. It took what felt like forever, with every shelf moved & cleaned, every bottle dusted, new navigation boxes, tickets & decor. I was so proud by the time we had finished though, it looked transformed!

April 2022 saw me attempt, and then fail my driving test. There was a multitude of errors, and I decided to take a little bit of time away to recover, then start again. Although I'm writing this in December 2025 and I've yet to restart. It needs to be one of my goals for 2026! 

Here's James enjoying the Japanese gardens at Kew Gardens.

Playing a game of where's James? At Battle Abbey, built on the site of the Battle of Hastings, a battle that would change the history of the British Isle's forever, and would spark the concept of being English.

Eurovision returned for 2022, this year hosted in Turin, Italy. It was perhaps a show that required more planning & rehearsal, it felt very jumbled the whole way through. But the show was won by Ukraine, with the catchy "Stefania", performed by Kalush Orchestra, giving Ukraine their third win. Sweden got my twelve points, while James gave his to Estonia. It meant that between us, Sweden & Poland came out on top with seventeen points apiece. The contest was rather overshadowed by the revelation of a cheating scandal, in which an unprecedented six countries had their jury scores removed from the contest. Some of them were surprising, but three were not. Azerbaijan has been rumoured to have been cheating for several years, Montenegro had previously had their jury dismissed in 2015, and similarly Georgia had their jury dismissed in 2014. For San Marino, Poland & Romania it was rather more surprising, and the idea that there was collusion between nations on such a scale prompted some such a strong response. 

Summer 2022 saw us seeing our musical idols Texas at the Westonbirt Arboretum, with lead woman Sharleen Spiteri putting on a fantastic show, before heading up North to Fountains Abbey, with it's incredible ruins and beautiful undercroft.

July also saw my brother become the first person in our family to graduate! Such an incredible achievement, and I'm so proud of him! We then went together along with Mum & his girlfriend up to London to see Abba Voyage, which I think may have been one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to. If you want to see it, make sure you do so soon! The show was made even more special by the inclusion of the song Eagle, which is my absolute favourite Abba song. Hilariously, almost no one else in the arena aside from me & Mum seemed to know it! Talk about an unknown masterpiece!

Here's Husky, looking as cute as ever!

September saw a trip to Amsterdam with James, and we got to visit the Anne Frank Huis, where Anne Frank and seven others hid from the Nazi's during the second world war, before being discovered and transported to various concentration camps. Out of the eight of them hiding in the Annexe, only Anne's father Otto would survive the war. It was a sobering & important place to visit, to remind us all of the evils of war and when we turn against each other.

Amsterdam is beautiful, but also full of tasty treats. The canals are made more beautiful with a snack!

The autumn in the UK was one of the most eventful I think we have ever experienced for a long time. We had three different prime ministers, after Boris Johnson resigned before being fired, and then Liz Truss was outlasted by a lettuce (I wish that was some sort of joke), and in the midst of that, Queen Elizabeth died, and was replaced by Prince Charles, who became Charles the Third, although it's debatable if this Charles will keep his head. Rishi Sunak then became our first ever Prime Minister of colour, which was a great in the fact that someone other than a white person was being represented. However the most iconic thing to happen in the Autumn of change as it was nicknamed, was the queue that had formed for people to pay their final respects to the late queen. It snaked across London, reaching ten miles at it's longest, and took a staggering 24 hours to get from start to end, becoming the longest queue ever seen in Britain. It seemed to create some sort of ecosystem, with water stations, portaloos and tea stalls popping up along it's length. 

November saw a milestone for the blog, I had reached 30,000 views which was an incredible achievement, and one that fills me with pride. To think that people actually read my blog is fantastic, and I will keep working hard to eventually get back up to date with everything!

I also had a solo trip to Madrid, which hilariously, the highlight turned out to be the Temple of Debod, rescued from the area the Aswan Dam was due to flood. I'd never been inside an actual ancient Egyptian temple, so this was a fantastic & bran new experience for me!

Halloween soon arrived, and it's my favourite time of year. We get all the family round, share dinner and have a jolly good time. Halloween is nice because unlike christmas, it's not stressful, and you can do as much or as little as you like. I had my Halloween t-shirt on, and we played games together as a family for most of the evening. What could be better than that?

Here's mine and James's attempt at pumpkin carving. Mine is happy, his is...looking rather forlorn!

Our bathroom, which had been a work in progress for several years was finally decorated and finished. Such a posh place for a poop! I was also sat here that the news broke that the population of Earth had reached eight billion. Can you even imagine that amount of people on our planet, all living our lives and doing the best we can. Eight billion. It's a number my brain can't even begin to comprehend!

JESC also returned in November, and we saw Lissandro give France their second win with the song "Oh Maman!". France had only returned in 2018, and had been in the top six every year, and continue to be the country to beat. My twelve points went to runner up's Armenia, with the insanely catchy "Dance" performed by Nare. It was also the first time in sixteen years the United Kingdom had taken part, and we celebrated by coming 5th. Can't argue with that!

And there we go, that pretty much sums up everything I've posted about this year! Like I say, the blog is still quite far behind, but I'm slowly catching up to the present day. 2026 starts off with January 2023, so I guess I'm only three years behind. Hopefully by the end of 2027 I'll be close to the present day!

But I do just want to share a heartfelt thanks to everyone who reads the blog. Seeing people reading my posts and hearing my story makes it all worthwhile. I hope to continue to create quality & interesting posts, and eventually begin to write about my life as it's happening. Maybe in 2028 I will get there!

Finally, all that's left to say is happy new year to everyone, I can't wait to see what 2026 brings me, and I bet you can't wait to see what 2023 brought me! It was a busy year, a new job, the trip of a lifetime to Hadrian's wall, and much much more. I can't wait to share it all with you!

But for now, all the best,

Lewis.