There seems to be some nostalgia for 2016 at the moment. It mostly seems to be about the music of 2016, but apparently it’s also because people have started putting filters on their TikTok videos like we used to with Instagram photos in 2016.
I did a review of 2016 at the time, so you can read that, I suppose. 10 years ago, our 10-year-old was, well, a newborn baby, and so whilst they were born in 2015, most of the first year of their life fell in 2016. So it was quite a memorable year for us in that sense.
2015 had been a big year – we’d bought a house, I passed my driving test and bought a car, and we became a family of three. So 2016 was more of a consolidation year, with Christine on maternity leave for the first half (and me having the whole of January off on paternity and annual leave). I changed jobs twice – securing a secondment doing timetabling in early February, and then moving to a new permanent role in August. I’m (essentially) still in that role now.
Our house that we bought in 2015 was (and to some extent still is) a work in progress, and so in 2016 we had a downstairs bathroom installed, along with a new boiler and a Nest thermostat – our first piece of smart home technology. And despite having a small child, we did manage some trips – I went to London twice, we had an overnight trip to Liverpool, we went to see two friends get married up near Durham and had a day out in Oxford.
The photo at the top is a then-and-now comparison; not having a newborn means I’m less tired, but I’m a little wider nowadays and need to wear glasses. Also, there’s quite the difference between the front facing camera on the iPhone 5S (2016) and the iPhone 13 Mini (2026).
So on the whole, at least for us, it was a good year. Although the Brexit referendum, Trump’s first election and all the celebrities who died that year were less good outcomes.
Today I’m written about ‘hidden’ motorway service stations. These are places which offer most, if not all of the facilities of standard motorway services, but they’re typically not signposted from the road.
M1 – Markham Vale Services
There’s one that we’ve used a couple of times at Markham Vale on the M1 – most recently on our way back from Hardwick Hall earlier this month. Like the other hidden motorway services that I’ll mention here, this is built at an existing junction, in this case Junction 29A. As you may gather from the ‘A’ in the junction number, this isn’t one of the original M1 junctions. It was added in the 2000s to improve access to the Markham Vale Employment Growth Zone, and so the area is mostly offices and warehouses.
But a strip of land next to the motorway is now home to Markham Vale services. Unlike typical motorway service stations, there isn’t one single amenity building. Instead, it’s a cluster of separate buildings with their own car parks. There’s a fuel station, a small Asda, a Starbucks, a KFC, a McDonalds, a local fish and chip shop and a pub. Of these food outlets, all of them (except the pub) offer drive-through service as well. I’m not sure a drive-through pub would be a good idea. Most of these are operated by EG (formerly Eurogarages).
For electric vehicle owners, there are three separate sets of chargers, on the EV Point, Osprey and Instavolt networks, and they all happen to charge slightly different prices. When we were there, EV Point was cheaper, by 10p per kWh, than the others. Across the road, Gridserve are building one of their ‘electric forecourts’ which may open soon as well. That’ll offer 25 rapid chargers and its own amenities, as well as a children’s playground.
Because there’s not one central building, and because it’s not signposted, it’s a bit quieter than others. We were there on a Saturday afternoon and it was moderately peaceful. If you’re sensitive to noise and don’t like big echo-y spaces, then somewhere like this may be preferable.
There used to be a huge totem sign next to the fuel station that was viewable from the M1, but this seems to have been removed in recent years.
M62 – Plantation services at Gildersome
A little closer to home is at Gildersome interchange, or Junction 27 of the M62. It’s where the M621 splits off towards Leeds, and, to the south, is home to Birstall retail park and Ikea.
But to the north of the junction, just off the A650, is another EG site, which calls itself ‘Plantation Services’. Again, there’s a fuel station with a small supermarket – currently Spar, but EG is under the same ownership as Asda, so it could change. There’s also a Greggs, a Subway, a Starbucks and a Popeyes Chicken.
For electric vehicles, there are several chargers on the EV On The Move network.
It’s a compact site, but it’s easy to get back onto the M62 (or M621) after using it.
M62 – Chain Bar services
Going back a junction, to junction 26, there’s also a smaller hidden service station here as well. Junction 26 is where the M606 heads off towards Bradford, but there’s also a massive roundabout here too.
Just off this roundabout, on the A58, is a small site with a Starbucks, a Greggs and a Subway. There isn’t anywhere to get fuel here, but there are rapid chargers, again on the EV On The Move network. It therefore won’t surprise you to learn that this is also an EG site, who call it ‘Cleckheaton Services’.
Separately, but a little further down the road, is a pub with more rapid chargers (Osprey network), and across the road is a Premier Inn and another pub.
A1 (M) – Coneygarth services
This is a bit of a cheeky one. Coneygarth services is located at Junction 51, which is also the nearest junction to Leeming Bar Rest Area. However, whilst Leeming Bar is officially signposted from the motorway, Coneygarth is merely marked out as a ‘truck stop’. That doesn’t mean that it’s restricted to trucks though – cars can use it as well, and there’s fuel, car chargers, a Londis shop and a Subway available.
Here’s why it’s cheeky. The ‘rest area’ at Leeming Bar pre-dates this section of the A1 being converted to motorway in the 2010s. As motorway junctions are more spaced out, traffic heading to Leeming Bar rest area has to leave at junction 51 and then travel around a mile along an access road. Coneygarth services was then established at the junction, and so you could just call here, rather than take a longer detour to Leeming Bar.
Also, Leeming Bar is generally regarded as being the worst in the UK. The fact that it is considered a ‘rest area’ rather than a full services should be a clue; we had the misfortune of calling there on a baking hot afternoon in 2024. There’s literally just a Costa, a hidden-away McDonald’s, a fuel station and some car chargers. The main amenity building, which once hosted a hotel, is derelict, and has been for some time.
Advantages of ‘hidden’ motorway services
I’ve just listed three examples that I’m aware of, but there will undoubtedly be others. Indeed, as building a few electric vehicle chargers is much easier than a whole fuel station, I imagine we’ll see more of these pop up alongside motorway junctions where the land is available.
Because they’re not signposted from the motorways themselves, they tend to be quieter. This is especially true of those that you can’t see whilst driving, as you need to know that they’re there. That may also mean that the fuel is cheaper, and that you can charge your electric car more cheaply too.
You may also find a different range of food options available. If you’re planning a longer stop, you could have a nice pub lunch at Markham Vale. Very few ‘official’ motorway services have pubs – Beaconsfield services on the M40 had a Wetherspoons until 2022. Of course, you absolutely should never drink and drive.
I suppose the disadvantages are a narrower range of shops or food outlets, and that they’re more spread out. Not so good if it’s raining.
A couple of weeks ago, we went to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. It’s a National Trust property to the east of Chesterfield, and I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard of it until a few weeks ago.
I came across it via this YouTube video from Auto Shenanigans. The M1 passes by Hardwick Hall, and when it was upgraded to be a ‘smart’ motorway a few years ago, the National Trust insisted that the new gantries must be painted brown, to blend in better. Anyway, it turns out Hardwick Hall is doable as a day trip for us, even though I didn’t include it in my list from last year. And, it’s something of a new year’s resolution for me to visit more National Trust places this year, so that we make the most of our annual membership.
History of Hardwick Hall
You can read a more detailed history of Hardwick Hall on the National Trust web site, but the building owes much of its design to Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury who lived in the Elizabethan period. She was more commonly known as ‘Bess of Hardwick’, and her initials ‘ES’ appear all over the building. She had four husbands during her life, the second of which was William Cavendish. If the Cavendish name sounds familiar, it’s because the Cavendish family owned nearby Chatsworth and Bolton Abbey. Indeed, following Bess’ death in 1607, the hall passed to the Cavendish family’s ownership, where it remained until after the Second World War. Faced with a large tax bill, the Cavendish family bequeathed Hardwick Hall to the National Trust in 1956.
More recently, Hardwick Hall has been used as a filming location. You may recognise it as ‘Malfoy Manor’ in the film adaptations of the books-that-shall-not-be-named.
Nowadays, it is one of the National Trust’s ‘top tier’ properties, and so there are regular events there during school holidays. We visited towards the end of ‘Wintertide’, which saw the rooms decorated for an Elizabethan winter and a seasonable tale of mischief installed throughout the house and gardens. During the half term break next month, there’s a planned Valentines event for kids.
Hardwick Old Hall
On the same site are the remnants of an older grand house, now known as Hardwick Old Hall. Most of the outer walls remain, but there’s no overall roof or window panes. It didn’t burn down; instead, the stonework was gradually removed and shipped over to Chatsworth to support work there. It would have been cheaper to use existing carved stones, than to have new stone quarried. Whilst the wider Hardwick site is managed by the National Trust, Hardwick Old Hall is in the care of English Heritage. It was closed when we went, but re-opens in February.
Gardens and estate
The Hardwick estate covers around 2500 acres of parkland, and there are a number of signposted walks. This includes a sculpture walk, which we would have considered doing on a warmer day but decided not to.
The formal gardens around the house are enclosed within walls, and will probably look fabulous later in the year. Alas, there’s not much to see mid-winter,
Accessibility
There are two car parks at Hardwick Hall; the main one, close to the hall and the stableyard, and a second one at Hardwick Park Centre which is further away and down a hill. If you have accessibility needs, park at the main car park; there is also an accessible buggy that can take visitors to the hall. The stableyard includes a Changing Places toilet.
At present, there is one electric vehicle charging socket in the lower car park (type 2). Planning permission for chargers in the main car park has apparently been granted, but work hadn’t started yet as I type this.
Google Maps gave up when I asked it to work out public transport directions to Hardwick Hall; there doesn’t appear to be any local bus services and the nearest railway station is in Chesterfield.
Entry to the whole site is free for National Trust members, and English Heritage members get free entry to both Hardwick Hall itself and Hardwick Old Hall. A cheaper ticket that just covers the estate and stableyard (not the houses or gardens) is also available to non-members.
That being said, I took a four year gap between 2018 and 2022, so you could argue that I’ve ‘only’ been blogging for 20 years. Still, that’s a long time, and way more than half of my life.
Since 2002, I’ve sat my A-level exams, started and finished university, moved out of my parents’ house, got married, passed my driving test, bought a house, started a family and settled into a career. The me that started this blog aged 17 is very different to the 41 year old me that writes this nowadays.
And yet, some things haven’t changed much. The blog has always been hosted on web sites running the Apache HTTP Server on Linux, for example. The tools have changed, but not much – first Blogger for a few months, then Movable Type and more recently WordPress. Data has been stored in either a MySQL or MariaDB database for over 20 years.
I no longer publish multiple blog posts per day – Twitter, and later Bluesky fill this role now. Instead, I aim to publish a new blog post every other day but most blog posts are written at least a few days in advance and usually in bulk. Back in 2002, scheduling posts wasn’t really a thing – you just wrote some words down and published them. Also, this was before web browsers routinely included spellcheckers.
I’m not planning to quit blogging any time soon, so, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to post about the big 25 next January. If you fancy it, here are links to previous blogiversary posts from 2025, 2024, 2023, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2007, 2006, 2004 and 2003.
If you’re looking for custom firmware for your devices with an Espressif ESP chip, then two of your options are ESPHome and Tasmota. I’ve used both – first Tasmota and later ESPHome – on some smart plugs that used to run Tuya firmware.
I’m going to share my experience with both and highlight the strengths of each. Other ESP firmwares are available, but for this I’m just going to focus on comparing ESPHome and Tasmota.
Tasmota is easier to install
If you’re new to installing custom firmware, then Tasmota is the easiest to install. This is because you first install Tasmota on the device, and then configure it using a web interface on the device after installation.
With ESPHome, the configuration is done first, using a YAML file. You then have to compile a binary and install this on the device. This can mean some trial and error with getting the configuration right.
If you’re running Tasmota on an older ESP8266 device, then it can be a pain to update. This is because of the limited storage space on ESP8266 devices and the size of the Tasmota binaries – there isn’t enough space to store the current and new firmware side-by-side. Instead, you have to install a ‘minimal’ version of Tasmota, and then install the new full version as a two step process.
Because the ESPHome Device Builder compiles the firmware specifically for each device, it’s smaller and so can be updated over-the-air more easily.
This shouldn’t be an issue with newer ESP32 chips, as these have more storage and so updating Tasmota should be easier.
ESPHome is updated more regularly
It’s a good thing that ESPHome updates more easily, because updates are also more regular. Normally there’s a big update every other month, and smaller bugfix updates most weeks. It also has a much larger developer community.
Tasmota receives updates less often, and its development is largely led by just one lead person.
ESPHome supports more DIY devices
Whilst Tasmota is generally used to convert existing devices with ESP chips, ESPHome is more suited to DIY projects that you can make yourself. For example, you could build your own thermostat, a miniature weather station or control your blinds. With the right boards and cables, you can build and automate lots of things using ESPHome that Tasmota may not support.
ESPHome integrates better with Home Assistant
Being both projects of the Open Home Foundation, ESPHome has better integration with Home Assistant. You can run the ESPHome Device Builder as a Home Assistant add-on, and devices should show up without much additional configuration.
Tasmota works over MQTT, so you have to set up an MQTT Broker like Mosquitto in Home Assistant first, and then configure your Tasmota devices to use it. You also have to enable an option using the device’s command line to allow Home Assistant to discover the devices.
In summary
Whether you want to use Tasmota or ESPHome will depend on your use case:
If you’re relatively new to all this, or are replacing the firmware on an existing device, Tasmota may be best for you as it’ll be easier to install and configure.
If you’re a more advance user, or have built a DIY device that requires functionality not normally supported by Tasmota, then you should use ESPHome.
Every autumn, for the past few years, a large group of Atlantic grey seals make a temporary home on one of the beaches at Flamborough Head for breeding. And over the Christmas break, we popped along to see them.
The seals haven’t always gravitated to Flamborough. It’s only been in the past few years that they have appeared there. I used to go to Flamborough quite a bit when I was younger, as my paternal grandparents lived nearby and my Dad was brought up in nearby Bridlington. It may be a sign of a stronger seal population.
The best time to visit is really in October and November. This is the core breeding season, and so you are more likely to see seal cubs at this time. By the time we visited in late December, most of the cubs were mostly or fully grown. Still, there were probably 50-60 seals there – more than we saw on the Farne Islands in 2024.
Access down to the cove, where most of the seals congregate, is restricted. The population is being monitored by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and we saw signage from the University of Hull’s marine biology unit who are involved in research there. However, you get a good view of them from a safe distance from the headlands.
Accessibility
We parked at the Flamborough Head and Lighthouse car park, which is the nearest car park. It’s pay and display, or you can pay on the MiPermit app. Electric vehicle charging isn’t currently available in the car park – we used a rapid charger at the Co-op supermarket in the nearby village of Sewerby.
From the car park, there are unpaved footpaths down to the cliff edge. These are uneven and a little steep in places, and probably not suitable for wheelchairs. Also be aware that the cliff edge doesn’t have any railings or barriers, so bear this in mind if you have young children or dogs with you.
Bridlington is the nearest town with a railway station; from there, you’ll need to catch the number 14 ‘Coaster’ service which runs hourly and can drop you in Flamborough village. From there, it’s about a 10 minute walk.
Other things to see
Flamborough Head in itself is interesting from a geology perspective, as it’s a relatively hard chunk of chalk in an area where most of the nearby coastline is eroding away. You can tell that I studied this for A-level Geography, can’t you?
There is a café at the car park – we stopped there for lunch on our visit. I bet they’re glad that the seals are providing extra custom in the winter.
Flamborough actually has two lighthouses. The one that is currently in use dates from the early 19th century, although it’s now completely automated. It used to be open for tours, but it’s not open at present. The second is slightly further inland and known as the Chalk Tower – it’s the oldest surviving complete lighthouse in England and is now grade II* listed.
Nearby is Sewerby Hall, which is a manor house, gardens, and small zoo, and to the north is RSPB Bempton Cliffs. Plus, there are all the attractions in the seaside town of Bridlington, further along the coast.
Last week, I upgraded the server that this site runs on to Debian 13 (also known as Trixie), and the corresponding version of Sympl. This ended up being a fresh installation of Debian; I tried and in-place upgrade and, well, let’s just say it went badly wrong and the virtual machine wouldn’t boot. Whoops.
A sign that I only partially learn from my mistakes is that this is basically what happened when I lost everything in 2018. However, this time I did have backups, thanks to the UpDraft Plus WordPress plugin. And, whilst I didn’t do a backup immediately before the aborted upgrade like I should have done, I did have one that was only about a week out of date. Furthermore, this included some blog posts that were written but not yet published at the time, so I didn’t even lose those. Phew.
The upgrade to Debian 13 means that I’m running a newer version of PHP. Debian 12 ships with PHP 8.2 and I had added a custom repository to upgrade this to PHP 8.3. Debian 13 includes PHP 8.4, and so I no longer get a warning message in WordPress’ Site Health checker. It’s not the latest version – that’s PHP 8.5 – but it’s newer.
As I write this, there doesn’t appear to be a public API for Rolec’s charge point back office system. The Rolec EVO charger in particular is relatively new to the market, and so I’m not aware that anyone has found a way to integrate this with Home Assistant through other means.
However, like many chargers, the Rolec EVO charger supports OCPP. This means that you can change which back office system your charger talks to, and I’ve specifically chosen Monta because it offers a public API. And, because someone has developed a custom Home Assistant integration that can be installed from HACS.
Aside from this, the Monta Charge app is better, in my opinion – it supports Live Activities on iOS, so you can monitor your car’s charging progress on your phone’s lock screen. You can also make your charger public and allow people to pay to use it, if you wish.
Changing the OCPP provider
Part of the reason why it’s taken me until now to do this, was because I couldn’t work out how to change the OCPP provider. There’s no option to do so on the standard Rolec EVO app, and I tried setting it up using the app in the Monta integration guide, but that didn’t work either.
However, I came across a thread on the SpeakEV forums that made me aware of a third Rolec app. Confusingly, this is called ‘Rolec Connect’ (with a black icon) rather than the ‘Rolec EV Connect’ app (with a green icon) that I was using previously.
Once you’ve installed the Rolec Connect app, it’ll ask for your name and email address. This needs to be a valid email address, as you’ll be sent a link that you need to click on, but you might be able to get away with using Sharklasers.
You then choose the type of charger, and then need to place yourself within Bluetooth range of it. I apologise in advance if you’ve got this far and it turns out to be cold, dark and raining when you read this, but you can’t do this over Wi-Fi. You’ll be asked for a PIN code; mine was printed in the manual.
Once connected, on the second tab, you can change the provider. The good news is that you can simply select ‘Monta’ from the drop-down list, and continue. Leave every other field blank, but make a note of your charger’s serial number – mine was in the format of Rolec_XXX12345. You’ll need this later.
Add your Rolec EVO to Monta
Your charger should now be talking to Monta’s servers, rather than Rolec’s. Next, you’ll need to create a Monta account; I already had one, as Monta has a network of public chargers including the one we used at Portmeirion in Wales.
The guide to follow is here; I found that I had to enter the serial number manually, but hopefully it’ll read the QR code on the outside. If all goes well, the app will be able to connect to your Rolec EVO charger, and you’re done. From now on, you’ll need to use the Monta Charge app to manage your charger; the Rolec EVO app will now only work via Bluetooth as you’ve severed its internet connection to Rolec’s OCPP server.
Install the Home Assistant integration
Finally, you need to install the Monta integration from HACS. Whilst it’s not an official integration, it is linked from the Monta API documentation, and it’s regularly updated with a major new release just a few weeks ago. As with all new integrations from HACS, you’ll need to restart Home Assistant before you can add your charger.
Once you have restarted, add the Monta integration as you would any other. It’ll ask for a Client ID and Client Secret, which you can get from this page. I would leave the rest of the values as is, and that should be it. Your Rolec EVO charger now appears in Home Assistant!
This means you can use Home Assistant to start and stop charges, view the charging status, and have the energy usage appear on your Energy Dashboard. That also means you can build in automations; for example, if you’re able to access your car’s charge status, you could stop charging at, say 80%. I use the Nissan Connect integration from HACS for this.
Going fully local
The great thing about OCPP is that it’s an open standard, and so it’s supported by a range of back office suppliers with Monta being just one. Should Rolec or Monta go bust, then I can easily switch my charger to a different OCPP server and carry on using it. That’s not an unfounded fear: another EV charger manufacturer, Simpson & Partners, were in administration last year, although they seem to be running again.
If I wanted, I could self-host my own OCPP server and have everything running locally at home, with no dependencies on third-party cloud services. Again in HACS, there’s a OCPP Server for Home Assistant, and it supports the Rolec EVO charger amongst a range of others from other manufacturers. I’m not quite at that stage yet, as it would mean I would have to manage charging solely through the Home Assistant app. Although I did come across this ESPHome project for a hardware control using an m5stack Dial (looks a bit like a Nest thermostat) which could be something to consider.
A bigger project would be to build a new integration that allows communication between Home Assistant and the Rolec EVO charger via Bluetooth. That would require me learning Python, and another Bluetooth proxy, but it would at least work without needing to change the OCPP server.
As per the pastcouple of years, I try to channel my inner Mystic Meg, and come up with some predictions for the new year. Last year’s were mostly on target, although some were rather low-ball predictions.
Bradford City will win promotion
I don’t really follow football or support a team, but as my employer currently sponsors their stadium, I check up on how Bradford City AFC are doing on a regular basis. And at the moment, they’re doing quite well; I’m writing this ahead of time but they’re currently third in League One. If they managed to finish the season as one of the top two teams, or win the playoffs, then they’ll win promotion to the Championship, having only been promoted to League One last season. The last time they were in the second tier of English football was in 2003-4.
A big AI firm will go bust
There have been warning signs that the AI ‘bubble’ will burst soon. I certainly think that a ‘market correction’ is likely, and one of the big AI firms will go bust. Indeed, there’s a web site called Pop The Bubble which asks Google Gemini each day when the bubble will burst. At one point, on the 19th December, it predicted the bubble would burst the very next day, but more recently it has revised its projections to some time around September.
Certainly OpenAI, probably the best known AI company, is in trouble – its operating costs far exceed its income. So much so that answers may start including sponsored content. I wouldn’t be surprised that it reaches a point where it runs out of money and its investors get cold feet. That could happen this year, but we’ll see.
There will be some kind of ceasefire in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine will have been running for four years by next month, and both sides have suffered heavy losses. The BBC estimate that 160,000 Russians have been killed, and the real total may be double that. Overall, something like half a million people have lost their lives in the war across both sides.
What the ceasefire will look like remains to be seen. I see Russia as very much the aggressor here, and rewarding it with territory that was part of Ukraine doesn’t seem just, in my mind. Certainly, Ukraine hasn’t wanted to cede territory, but to stop the war it may have to – at least, for now.
The World Cup will be overshadowed by politics
Hosting of this year’s Men’s Association Football World Cup is split between Mexico, Canada and the USA this year, with the USA hosting the majority of games. However, I expect the USA’s new immigration rules for people applying for ESTA could backfire. I expect a tense political situation as various celebrities or politicians find themselves turned away at US airports or denied visas, and the diplomatic fallout that this could create.
I’m pleased that Scotland qualified as well as England this time, and Wales and the Republic of Ireland are potentially still in the running. I doubt I’ll be watching the matches – as mentioned, football isn’t really my thing and the time difference means that some of the matches are likely to be late at night UK time.
Rolled over predictions
I’m also going to roll over a couple of previous predictions:
Labour will do poorly in local elections
Twitter/X won’t become an ‘everything app’
As a member of the Labour party, I hope it turns a corner this year, but I doubt it’ll manage it in time for the local elections in late spring. As for Twitter/X, I expect it’ll stagnate and Elon Musk will continue to be a terrible person, but it’ll neither shut down, be sold off or launch any major new features.
For the third year running, I’m summarising all those end of year reviews that apps like Spotify and Goodreads offer you. You can take a look at 2024 and 2023 if you want.
Countries and counties visited
Unlike last year, I did manage to leave England a couple of times – Athens in June, and Wales in July. I also spent some time at Amsterdam Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, but as I was airside the whole time, I’m not really counting it.
Over the course of the year, I have spent at least some time in the following English counties:
West Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
East Yorkshire
Lincolnshire
Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Cheshire
Norfolk
County Durham
Merseyside
West Midlands
Oxfordshire
Northamptonshire
Staffordshire
Tyne & Wear
That’s a few more than last year – East Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Tyne & Wear weren’t on last year’s list.
My trip to Athens was something of an outlier, but we also went further west than last year. Not so far north this time, though.
Methods of transport used
For the first time since doing this, I can include planes in this (Athens again). There was also a lot of driving, in our old and new cars, and I continued to mostly take the train to work. No trips to London last year, but I did travel by train to and from Manchester Airport, when heading to Athens, and to Leeds. Apart from those Manchester trips, which included time on Transpennine Express, all my journeys were with Northern. Speaking of which, I had 8 successful Delay Repay claims, totalling £6.25 (78p on average).
I’ve been on a few buses and trams as well. No ferries last year, but I did spend some time on a boat in Oxfordshire.
Music listened to
Over the year, I scrobbled 15,063 tracks on last.fm, which is more than the past few years. That’s a little over 41 songs per day, so on average I listened to six additional songs per day in 2025 compared to 2024. Assuming an average song is around three minutes, I listened to slightly over two hours of music every day on average. My ‘listening age’ was 42 – only out by a year, which is nice.
Whilst I don’t exclusively listen to music on Spotify, on there, trance was my top genre this year (it was pop last year), according to my Spotify Wrapped. My most-listened to song was Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra – look, a song that was released in 2025 – as it’s one of our (now) ten-year-old’s favourites. Similarly zeitgeisty was my top album – the soundtrack to K-Pop Demon Hunters.
My top artist was Alex Christensen, which is a weird outlier; he released several albums of classical cover versions of dance music which I marathon-listened to one day. Last year’s top, Armin van Buuren, was second.
Books read and listened to
According to My Goodreads Year in Books for 2025, I read 76 books this year, which is one less than last year (and 17 fewer than 2023). Unfortunately, I set my 2025 reading challenge at 80 books, so didn’t achieve it. Also, books ‘read’ include those that I have listened to as audiobooks.
The shortest book I read, at 64 pages long, was ‘Our Super Japanese Adventure‘ by Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins (not available on Amazon), who we met at Thought Bubble. Meanwhile, the longest book was ‘Rule of Cool‘ (sponsored link) by Matthew Siege at 479 pages, although I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Felicia Day over 12 and a half hours. The longest audiobook was ‘Neurotribes‘ (sponsored link) by Steve Silberman, which was over 20 hours and probably the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to, although the print edition is 477 pages (two less than the Rule of Cool)
Overall, the average length of book that I read was 270 pages, which is 39 more than 2024. ‘A Brief History of Time‘ by Prof Stephen Hawking (sponsored link) was the most popular book that I read last year. Although, I found it a struggle in parts and, unsurprisingly, some of the science has changed in the 37 years since it was first published.
Beers and ciders consumed
I log the beers and ciders that I drink using Untappd, and these stats are from my year in beer. Like last year, I drank less than one per month (11 in total) and my main style was ‘non-alcoholic’.
Steps taken
My total steps taken was very similar to 2024 and 2023. Overall I took 3,455,761 steps, which is only slightly less than 2024. My average is 9,468 per day; January was my most sedentary month and July was my most active, but not by much.
Time spent learning French
I started Duolingo’s French course on the 1st January 2022 (so I have a four year streak now), and in 2025, I spent 3,560 minutes learning – that’s 59 hours in total. Compared to 2024, that’s 11 hours less, but we didn’t go to France again this year.
My Duolingo Score for French is 118, which means that I’m in the medium B2 level (‘vantage’) of the CEFR for French. Currently Duolingo’s maximum score for French is 130, which is high B2 level and should be sufficient to study a university course taught in French. I was expecting to have reached 130 by now, but clearly not.
Still, not much further to go. I’m probably going to switch to German next – I got an A* in GCSE German in 2000, but a quarter of a century has passed since then and I’ve forgotten most of it.
A new stat that I tracked in 2024 was an estimate of photos taken, although it will also include some screenshots as well. In 2025, I took 1536 photos, so less than 2024 but more than 2023.
So, that’s 2025 quantified, and a useful summary of the statistics from various web services that seem to spend their December telling me data they hold about me but in a nice way.
