It’s New Year’s Eve, and so, as per usual, I review the things I’ve done and written about over the course of the year just gone. You can read my previous posts from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.
January
2025 got off to a slow start, not least because of heavy snow that was around for over a week. Our nine-year-old had two days off due to the school being closed, which saw me take short-notice annual leave. January was also the start of Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture, and so I wrote about that.
It was my 23rd blogiversary, and also two years since we had our solar panels installed. I also wrote a long post about how I’m probably neurodivergent, and whether we could take our house off-grid (short answer: no, apart from for gas).
January also had its goodbyes and hellos. We went to a funeral for a family member, but also re-connected with relatives who we haven’t been on speaking terms for some time, which was nice.
February
February is LGBTQ+ History Month, and I hosted a webinar on the A-Z of LGBTQ+ through work. I think one of my personal achievements of 2025 was teaching the leader of Bradford Council what ‘deadnaming‘ is.
Whilst January was short of days out, in February we went to Magna near Rotherham, and also went to see the Dogman film at the cinema. I also wrote about a crowdfunder for the Bradford Playhouse – this was successful, and it now has a shiny new lift installed, making it fully accessible for the first time.
March
As per usual in March, we went to Sci-Fi Weekender in Great Yarmouth. It was another good event this year and we’ve already booked to go again next year. On the way down, we called at Thaymar Ice Cream, which has a lovely little café and is just off the A1. Sadly, it doesn’t have electric car charging facilities and so we probably won’t be able to stop there next time.
I took our nine-year-old to the Abbey House Museum, which had recently been reprieved from closure. We also visited Tropical World on the same day – we’ve been loads of times and I wrote about it 10 years ago. Christine and I managed to arrange a babysitter, so we had a rare grownup night out and went to see Mickey 17 at the cinema. Speaking of cinemas, I decided to rank six of Britain’s cinema chains in a highly subjective way.
April
We also went to the cinema in April, this time as a family to see A Minecraft Movie. I stand by my review of it being basically fine – great if you’re a Minecraft fan but neither terrible nor a masterpiece.
With the improving weather, we managed a few days out, including RSPB Fairburn Ings, the National Emergency Services Museum and Knowsley Safari Park. As per usual, we went to see my parents in York for the Easter weekend, and from there we also went to the National Centre for Birds of Prey, Ampleforth Abbey and the York Model Railway Show.
May
I wrote about No Mow May at the beginning of the month; as it happens, it wasn’t until this autumn that we got someone in to sort our garden and trim the grass. May is also our wedding anniversary – 12 years this year – and my birthday, for which we went to Beamish to use up our annual pass from last year. We also called in at Kendall’s Ice Cream Parlour in Hipperholme – a favourite of Christine’s when she was younger which sadly closed down later in the year.
On the blog, I wrote the first of our electric car journey blog posts in May.
June
June was a big month in a way that I hadn’t expected at the start of the year. I was given the opportunity to represent my workplace at a summit in Athens, as a guest of PeopleCert who paid for my flights, accommodation and food. They also included a tour of the Acropolis on the first day. Though I have been to Greece before, that was a trip to the island of Crete when I was three which I don’t really remember. Whilst it was a short, intense visit, I thoroughly enjoyed it – especially the food.
June also marked ten years since we bought our house. It’s the longest that I’ve lived in one place since moving out of my parents home aged 18.
July
More travel was to come in July, as we went on our holiday to North Wales. Whilst we were only there for a week, we squeezed a lot in, to the extent that I was still blogging about what we did in September. Our holiday was also a test run for our new electric car that we bought in July. We managed pretty well to say that we’d only had it a week when we set off. We still really like the car, and have no regrets about the switch to electric.
Also in July, we went to an event at the Bradford Literature Festival with Robin Ince and Pierre Novellie. We ended up listening to Robin’s book around Wales, whilst I finally finished Pierre’s book earlier this month.
August
August is my busiest month of the year at work, but that didn’t mean that we weren’t able to have lots of nice days out. We went to the very wonky Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire, Bowland Wild Boar Park and Bolton Abbey in North Yorkshire. Further afield, we went to celebrate my cousin’s 50th birthday in Oxfordshire, calling in at Cadbury World on the way.
I bought myself a new iPad at Costco, making it my fourth overall and the first new iPad in seven years. Speaking of Costco, we let our membership lapse in November, as we’re pretty well stocked up at present. I imagine we’ll re-join some time in the new year, once we’ve finally used everything up.
September
Though not quite as busy as August, September is still a busy time for me at work. However, we did make it to a couple of exhibitions: The Cat That Slept For A Thousand Years and The Art Of The Brick. These have now both closed.
Christine had her birthday, and so we had a little celebratory meal in Leeds, along with a shopping day out in Manchester.
October
We were back in Manchester in October, to see the Brains, Bogies and You exhibition at the National Science & Industry Museum. Whilst there, we also popped in to see the nearby Castlefield Viaduct. I also took our nine-year-old to The World of Glass in St Helens.
At the theatre, we saw the Rude Science show – I’m hoping to finish the book before the end of today – and I met the Map Men in Leeds. My copy of the book went to my Dad as a birthday present but I’ve listened to the audiobook.
November
We received a big upgrade to our internet at home after we got fibre broadband installed. A couple of months on, and it seems better than what we had before on the whole. We also put up our Christmas tree super early.
We also managed some days out, to the Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield and York’s Chocolate Story, and had an enjoyable day at Thought Bubble in Harrogate. And we watched the first of two pantomimes at the Bradford Playhouse.
December
Back to the cinema again, this time for the second instalment of Wicked. We also had another family celebration, this time for my cousin who had her 25th wedding anniversary. Dress code was black tie, so I hired a suit for the occasion.
I finished work for Christmas on Friday 19th, to coincide with school holidays, and so we went to Quarry Bank Mill last week – our fourth National Trust property of the year. Christmas itself was, as usual, spent with my parents in York.
All in all
Overall, 2025 has been a good year for me. Going to Athens was definitely a highlight, as was our holiday in Wales. Let’s hope 2026 is just as good.
I love all these end of year posts from everyone. Yours is way more complete then my three (or four) are going to be. Nice one. Happy New Year to you and your family.