London Calling, Snow Falling, and Other Good Things In a Bad Month

January was a really, really shitty month. Good riddance to it.

Now February is here, I’m hoping to get back-on-track with writing and blogging, and that’s starting with a new thing: the Good Things Round-Up, where I talk about some good things that happened in the last month.

In January, I visited London. This was a big deal because I’m a wee country mousie and I was imagining London as a land of constantly teeming bodies, where every step was akin to trying to navigate a rush-hour train.

Turns out, London is super chill with great food and a fantastic ‘give me my space’ attitude which means almost everyone just lets you go about your business in peace.

It was super fun. I had a great time going a bit beyond my usual comfort zone, meeting up with colleagues I’d never seen before despite working with them for a year. And I got to eat sushi, bubble tea and katsu chicken, so a win-win all around.

I actually got to visit Yo!Sushi twice this month, the second time for my wonderful partner Dave’s birthday. No food photos, but here’s a cute selfie.

In health news, I hit the -30lbs (2 stone) point in my weight loss, kept up my beloved spinning class, started Couch25K again (just finished Week 4 Day 1) and… climbed a lot of stairs, apparently

Coming back after the Christmas break was the first time people started noticing and commenting on my weight loss, which was really wonderful. People are so great, aren’t they? Coming back to work and getting unexpected compliments was wonderful!

It snowed in Scotland!

And there were a few smaller moments worth celebrating…

• Lots of hot chocolates in the chilly winter evenings
• I had a bit of an Austen spree! Watched Pride and Prejudice for the first time and loved it, and the next day I watched” Emma” with Gwnyth Paltrow. It was really lovely, and Mr Knightley is much more interesting than Mr Darcy. Hoping to watch more Austen in February!
• Watched the Suicide Squad movie extended edition. It was terrible but the critical dissections are fascinating, it’s like a comic book The Room.
• Joined in the Temeraire “Tongues of Serpents” read-along with Effingrainbow, Dvorah, and Imyril. It was an interesting one because the book definitely didn’t hold us as rapt as the others, but the community made it a lot of fun.
• New Year’s Chinese takeaway and kisses with Dave. ❤️

That’s about it — that was January, a month where a lot of really awful things happened, but a lot of wonderful things too.

What good things happened to you in January? It would really brighten my day if you could let me know in the comments or on Twitter!