In 2024 I Mostly Read . . .

So as a starter for ten, here's the reading list for 2024:

October - December 2024 - The ambition was to start a re-read of Charles de Lint's 'Newford' books, starting with the short story collection Dreams Underfoot - but didn't really get any further than that (too much else going on!).

September 2024 - Well I can see from my daily blog that I was reading something, but for the life of me, with my less than timely blogging, I can't remember what!!

July - August 2024 - More fantasy stuff, with a set of 99p kindle books by CK McDonnell - the Stranger Times series.  Sort of comedy supernatural - about a 'team' of oddballs running a weekly newspaper reporting on the weird and wonderful - only of course for them to find out that much of what they are reporting is actually true!  Worked my way through the eponymous first book The Stranger Times which introduces our heroes, This Charming Man (book the second with allegorical vampires), Love Will Tear Us Apart (avoid new-age retreats), and Relight My Fire (celebrity zombies anyone?).  Funny, inventive, and real page-turners - looking forward to the next one!

June 2024 - Continuing the fantasy theme, and with a new Dresden novella The Law, although I had to dip back into the last novel Battleground to get the context first - good as always, and a bit of a lighter offering than Battleground itself.  There was also a new St Mary's short story in there somewhere . . .

May 2024 - Not been reading a lot, but did finally read Susanna Clarke's Piranesi - I adored Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and while this was very different (and much shorter!) it had that same immersive quality, although far more dream-like in its tone.  Very, very good.

March 2024 - Blast from the past (my Mills & Boon youth), with a couple of vintage romances I found on Google Books!  Interesting to revisit, but not something I can see myself getting back into . . .

February 2024 - Back to 'lifestyle' stuff with a Van Tulleken's Ultra-Processed People about all the food we shouldn't eat.  Expect a major change to our diet in the near future! 

January - February 2024 - Finally finished Jodi Taylor's The Chronicles of St Mary's time travel series.  Great read when I got stuck in (had a few 2am mornings on reading sessions).  Definitely recommended!  Might have to start on her The Time Police series next - at least there are only four of those (so far!).

Apologia #2

So here we are again, a new year, and at the time of writing (September 2025!) I've obviously still got a lot of catching up to do.  My only excuse is that life has been busy, with the van, family health issues, a bit of work here and there . . . and a good deal of procrastination!

As with my first Apologia I can't say that the year (in this case 2025) has been covering itself with glory - the world has never felt so uncertain, polarised, and just plain awful in so many ways.  Ukraine and Gaza, the return of Trump and what is increasingly looking like the emergence of a Fascist state in what was once termed the 'land of the free', the ongoing climate crisis, and the rise of the far right in many Western democracies.  

What happened to justice, truth, empathy and fair play?  Why can't people have honest, constructive and respectful discussions about stuff they don't agree on?

Anyway, in the absence of any useful answers to the above - and at far too late a point to be saying 'Happy New Year' - herewith are the 'Posts that Didn't Happen' for 2025.  I make no promises for how long it will take me to catch up, but hopefully at some point, normal service will resume!

Posts that Didn't Happen: December 2024

Year's end and the month of December . . .

Started the month with an early visit to family, where the remodelled town centre was sporting a (deliberately) wonky tree (in homage to last year's newsworthy effort)!

The plan had been to meet up with some old school friends while we were there, but Storm Darragh rather put paid to that, as we all had to travel to get to the dinner location.   

And while it may have been a wild night in Cambridgeshire, back in Wales the weather warning was ramped up to RED.

Travelling home the next day, it soon became apparent that our bit of Wales had indeed had a rough time - with lots of fallen trees on the road over to Aberystwyth.

Luckily the damage at home wasn't too bad - one missing roof tile, and a partially demolished bit of garden storage!

Then with the clock ticking down to Christmas, it was time to clear the front room of 'Project Van', to make room for the festive bling!

Decorating, cooking, eating - all the usual - duly followed, and we even got a sunny Boxing Day for a walk up Constitution Hill.

The end of the month saw us back with family across country for 'second Christmas',  a special birthday celebration - and more festive sights . . .

On to 2025 . . .

Posts that Didn't Happen: November 2024

And on to November - a month when 'Project Van' pretty much dominated life.

Endless debates over wall panels, ceiling panels, lighting, security and so on - and lots and lots of shopping, from automotive 'carpet' and cork tiles (for the walls), to plywood (for the ceiling), electrical bits and pieces, bed mattresses (a split mattress to accommodate the sliding sections of the bed), and even cooking appliances.

So what did we actually achieve?

 

Plywood panels, were covered with bits of old OS map for the Lake District (where I used to live) and our home 'area' here in Wales - pasted down, and varnished with decorator's varnish.

These panels were then fixed in place to form our new 'ceiling' (complete with LED lights):

 

Martin also wired up the ceiling MaxxFan (which should help keep us cool when the hot weather comes) - and got the new outside light fitted and connected - as you can see it works beautifully!

And a plywood 'Frankenstein' creation was (after much angst) fitted round one of the windows - ready for me to 'decorate' in due course.

None of this seemed to go as smoothly as we would have liked - and some days it felt like we just weren't getting anywhere.

So, when the new 'Captains' seats arrived for the front of the van - to replace the single driver's seat and double passenger seat - I was rather fearful of how the installation process would go.

The original seats were removed - and new seat bases (slightly lower to accommodate 'swivel' plates) fixed down.  So far so good!

 

The instructions for the 'swivels' were less clear, and it took us a while to work out which way up they were supposed to go, but we got there in the end.

In fact, it turned out to be one of the least stressful tasks to date - the new seats are much more comfortable than the old, and have really opened up the cab area.

They didn't come cheap mind you - the plan being to sell on the old seats to recoup some of the cost.

Still lots to do!

Posts that Didn't Happen: October 2024

At the time of writing (actually May 2025), the blog has rather fallen behind - so time for some catch up posts . . .

Back in time to October 2024 - life was pretty busy, what with the van conversion, and (for me) some archive consultancy work, although there was time to get out and about too.

At the beginning of the month, the planned meet up with the 'Archive Girls' went ahead on schedule.  

This was pretty much a re-run of last year's trip, staying at the same property, eating out at the same pub, and with another visit to Hay - time to relax, watch Strictly and have a good natter!

Then there was a trip to Cardiff (mostly in the rain) - some work, some 'van' shopping in Ikea, and an 'interesting' journey home through flooded roads - I was glad not to be driving!

Inbetween there was yet another Folly reorganisation swapping the desk with the sofa, so I'll be a bit closer to the heat from the wood burner as the days get colder.

Finally, towards the end of the month, we also had a trip to visit family - lovely to see everyone, and get a few bits and pieces sorted while we were there.

While all this was going on 'Project Van' was also continuing - albeit slowly, and with many frustrations - electrics, reversing cameras, window regulators, etc.  

Not least of these, was the realisation that the 'plan' for the bed layout wasn't going to work - there just wasn't enough room to overlay two single beds (as shown), so it was back to the drawing board.

The thinking now is to go for a sliding transverse bed (hence the trip to Ikea for more Skorva bed beams - a van conversion staple item!).

Some other tasks were completed, including the rather scary cutting of a hole in the side of the van for the electric hook-up:

So much more to do though . . .

Project Van: Solar Struggles

We'd always planned to add a couple of solar panels to the roof - to provide us with power for a leisure battery - particularly important for us, as this is intended to be an 'electric' only van, (i.e. without an onboard gas supply for cooking, or diesel heating).  

We duly ordered two 200W panels - then just had to work out how to fix them securely in place!

After reviewing the options - and watching a lot of Youtube videos of how other people had done it - we settled on a diy unistrut 'roof rack' as our preferred solution.  

While this proved relatively straightforward - working out how to attach the  solar panels was a bit more of a struggle.  We got there in the end (kudos to Martin who did all the hard work) but it was a fiddly and annoying precision job - as tightening one fixing point, often put another out of alignment, and so on . . .

Then there were holes to be drilled for the wiring - and a 'gland' box to be fixed to the roof to feed the cables through and prevent any water ingress.

  

 

Et Voila - the finished article - ready to be wired up to the electrical system - a job for another day!

The Order of the Slipper

Time to head across country from Wales for a few days - to dog sit and visit with family - while my sister and her husband travelled to Wales for a short break to climb Eryri (the mountain formerly known as Snowdon).

Waved them off and enjoyed a couple of days of sunshine, dog walks, and helping out with shopping, household tasks, etc.

Was honoured to find one day that my slipper had made it to companion status on the sofa!

Still, lovely to be home again - back to our own bed and a beautiful sunset on the prom.