Happy New Year's Eve to all of my readers, and I hope that the 2024 year was a good one. For me, 2024 was a mixed bag, but I know others had a very challenging year. For me, it was a year of hard work, long hours (although not as difficult as last year), and I did finally get to do some travel for the first time in a decade. At the end of last year, I was disappointed, so I decided against setting any expectations for this year to prevent disappointments that I have faced in the previous years. Below is my review of each month of 2024 with what I got up to, and I will finish with some hopes for 2025.
January:
January started quietly for me, and I enjoyed some Saturday morning wanders around a quiet west London where I explored a couple of new restaurants and cafes that I wanted to try. One that I visited was Attendant Coffee Roasters, which is located inside a former Victorian public toilet; I used to work not far from these public toilets before they were opened as a coffee shop, so this area of London brought back some memories for me. My visit reminded me of those few early Saturday morning visits into London while many were slumbering after the holidays.
In the middle of the month, I visited the annual Winter Lights at Canary Wharf 2024. This has become an annual tradition for me. I enjoy seeing the light installations across Canary Wharf as they bring much-needed colour to the dark January days. I saw a mixture of different displays across Canary Wharf, and although the temperature was cold, I was glad that Canary Wharf was not as busy as the previous year or two.
February:
In February, I took the first holiday abroad in many years. I opted to go to Brussels on the Eurostar Premier class as I had a lot of annual leave to use. I stayed at Hotel Amigo in Brussels, which I found welcoming and in a good location to explore the city. I enjoyed seeing Brussels at my own pace on a long weekend a day before Valentine's Day. Visiting at this time was a good choice because Belgium is known for its chocolates, and the shops were filled with the Valentine's Day theme (Brussels Valentine's Day). Although it was not exactly tourist season, I got to see the following attractions during my visit: Atomium, Manneken Pis and Other Urinating Statues of Brussels, Brussels City Museum, 'Le Cat' sculptures, Design Museum in Brussels, and Brussels Town Hall Tours. In the Town Hall Tours, I was able to climb the clocktower for some great views. On one of the evenings, I listened to some wonderful jazz music at the hotel bar.
Another attraction that I saw is Autoworld in Brussels, and I happened to visit at the weekend when there was a special Volkswagen car event being held at the museum due to it being the weekend before Valentine's Day: Love Bugs at Brussels AutoWorld. I enjoyed seeing the different cars arrive in front of the museum, and it reminded me of the events I used to do with MINI and the friends I made, but I have not been to any event for many years now.
Pancake Day took place a the day after I returned from Brussels, and I had half the day off in order to watch one of the pancake day races. I wanted to watch the one at the Guildhall, but it was cancelled due to the wet weather. Instead, I found myself at Leadenhall Pancake Day Race 2024, which I attended a few years ago.
I also enjoyed pancakes on Pancake Day. Valentine's Day fell on the day after Pancake Day, and I went to Feya cafe at Marble Arch and enjoyed a pink cocktail and pancakes made for Valentine's Day. The cocktail (mocktail) could have been fuller or had more ice in it to top it up for better presentation, and the staff were not so friendly at the cafe. The pancakes were pink with fruit and white chocolate and cream, and I enjoyed them.
Toward the end of the month, I used a couple of days of annual leave for a short break at Landmark London Spa. I had the use of the spa, a massage, champagne, and breakfast. The food was delicious, and the room was beautiful and spacious. I used the fitness room and spa. I want to go back next year.
March:
In late March, I went to Ohio to see my parents and family. I visited until the middle of April. I had a lot of annual leave to use, so I decided to coincide my visit over Easter. I expected nice weather as March can bring warm weather and sunshine, but I was not so lucky. However, I still enjoyed Easter in Ohio, which took place at the end of March, and tried to make the most of Ohio in the spring. This is the first time that I have been "home" in the spring since I left Ohio a couple of decades ago. I coloured some brown farm eggs with nieces and nephews out of a colouring set that I bought.
April:
April was a busy month, and I was in Ohio for the first half of the month. I stayed for the Total Eclipse, which I watched from Buckeye Express Diner in Bellville, Ohio inside the totality zone. My parents live only about a twently-minute drive from the "totality zone". The total eclipse was one of the most impressive natural events that I have ever seen, and I am glad that I got to witness it. I've seen other partial eclipses in Ohio and once in London (over cloudy skies), but the "totality" eclipse is awesome. I will always remember this experience. I watched it with my mother, and we were blessed with clear skies.
Later in the month after I returned from the states, I had Bottomless Brunch at Teatro Hall in Ealing for a friend's birthday. We received a delicious rum punch, Prosecco, and a selection of different flavours of liquer to create our own cocktails. The food was good although it could have been more filling, and we drank far too much.
As if April was not busy enough, I ended up in Brussels again for a long weekend at the end of the month. There were a few attractions that I never got to see when I visited in February (Spring and Winter in Brussels). One of the attractions that I saw on this visit was Mini Europe.
I also saw Beersel Castle, additional Mannekin Pis outfit changes, Comic Book Street Art in Brussels, and the Brussels Chocolate Museum. I spent a little bit of time relaxing in the hotel and enjoying the relaxed breakfast and drinks in the bar on this visit.
I also visited the artwork at Brussels Art Museums and Art Mountain and discovered some sculptures on display by Jean-Michel Folon. The tulips were mainly over during my visit, but the city still seemed to be under the spell of spring.
May:
For the first time in my life, I got to see the Northern Lights in London (via my camera's mobile phone due to the light pollution in London making it otherwise impossible) when they made an appearance in mid-May. I had never seen the northern lights before, and I do wish to see them without the light pollution at some point in the future, but the northern lights are elusive even if in the right place in the world.
As I had a lot of annual leave to use, I took a day off at the end of the month and went to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and this was my second ever visit to the event. I went during the weekday, and the event got exctremely busy by mid-morning. The previous day had hard rain, but my visit was dry. I ended up losing one of my daisy ear rings as it must have come off when I was trying to lift my camera above the crowds of people. The event was far too busy to enjoy. I thought that it would be less busy during a weekday, but I was wrong. I also had booked a meal at the event to enjoy something a little different on my day off. I really liked the National Autistic Society Garden (pictured below), the garden inspired by the show "Bridgerton", and the Roman villa garden. The Roman villa garden was my favourite.
I also visited Chelsea in Bloom, and the theme this year was Floral Feasts. I have enjoyed seeing these free displays for the past few years now, and this year was one of the best for the creative displays after a disappointing year or two. The event coincides with the Chelsea flower show and is only available to see for a few days.
At the end of the month, a friend that I have known for years came to visit me in London for the weekend, and we enjoyed Bottomless Champagne Afternoon Tea at The Montague on the Gardens.
The last piece of news involves my website. From early May, my website domain jenikya needed to be renewed, and I tried my best to renew it. I contacted the company and previous friend who used the registration company, but their account was locked, and a few of us tried and tried to contact support, but none of us could renew it. I tried for many weeks, and we got nowhere. In the end, my domain could not be renewed, and I had that domain since 2001. It looks like someone else has registered it now, so I had to purchase a new domain name. I am not at all happy about this. Yourwebhosting-inc.com is the incompetent company in this matter. I had to register a new domain name.
June:
My birthday month is June, and to celebrate my birthday this year, I had my second trip abroad to a new place for the first time in several years. I went to stay at Barcelo Mar Resort in Fuertaventura. I have never been to an "all inclusive" resort, and I wanted a mixture of relaxation and sight-seeing, and I was able to get that here. I enjoyed the trip, even though it was for less than a week. I wished that I could have stayed longer as the break really was not long enough.
While in Fuertaventure, I had a couple of days of sight-seeing via package tours. On one day, I went on a Fuertaventura Northern Visit of the island and saw some beaches and towns in the northern part of the island, including sand dunes. The next day, I went to the southern part of the island (Fuertaventura south of the island) to see some good views, and there was also a visit to Ajuy in Fuertaventura to see the sea caves. This was a memorable place with beautiful views.
Toward the end of June, I went to enjoy Bottomless Birthday Brunch at Chin-Chin in Pinner. This is an Asian restaurant, and they served up several courses of food with bottomless Prosecco, and we also had additional cocktails. The weather was scorching hot, and that heat combined with simple exhaustion made me to just want to fall asleep. We ended up at the pub opposite and had some more drinks, and I was struggling to keep awake.
The nice weather continued, and I decided to take off another day of owed annual leave, and I visited Kenwood House and had a walk across Hampstead Heath. On a weekend, I also met some friends at the Frog and Wicket pub, and we had a delicious lunch. We were supposed to visit The Vyne afterwards, but England were in the World Cup playing the final or semi-final, and my friends wanted to get home to watch that instead. So, we decided to plan a "part 2" later in the year to continue this original plan.
July:
Toward the middle of July, I spent a long weeknd in Oxford and had wonderful weather. I went to see the OxTrail Sculptures that appeared across the city for the summer months. I did a lot of walking and saw some beautiful places in and around Oxford. I came across a field in Christchurch Gardens with actual Oxford cattle and pleasant views, and this was my favourite spot in Oxford. More about my visit to Oxford can be read here: A Weekend in Oxford..
When I was in Oxford, I decided to stay at the former castle and prison in Oxford, which is a unique experience as I was able to stay in a former prison cell (Hotel Stay at Oxford Castle Prison - Malmaison). This was a unique experience and had to be done, but the service and experience was not what I would consider "luxury", so I would not stay here again. It is good to visit for the novelty factor.
A couple of the attractions that I did in Oxford were the Oxford Castle and Prison and Oxford Botanic Garden. The Botanic Gardens are next to the river/canal where the punting is, and I got a wonderful photograph of the flowers next to the riverside, and the gardens were in full bloom.
I did not do the punting on the river in Oxford, but I did do an Afternoon Tea Cruise on the canal boat on a beautiful warm day and enjoyed a couple of cocktails ahead of the visit. I spent time walking around the city and enjoyed some cocktails with a book. I normally prefer to stay at the hotel and relax, but I couldn't open the windows, and the hotel room did not feel it was a place to really relax in, so I spent time outside.
At the end of July, I headed down to the New Forest and Salisbury in order to see a friend for a long weekend. We visited Mompesson House and Salisbury, and we indulged in a bottomless brunch at Salisbury's Cosy Club. All of this brought back memories of almost two decades ago when I called these places "home", and the feelings all came back to me. I have always been fond of the city of Salisbury, and we had a nice walk through the water meadows, which is one of my favourite places.
While in the area, my friend and I had a day in Southampton to wander around and to see the Light the South Lighthouse Sculptures in Southampton. Southampton, another place that was "home" to me for a time, has also changed. I enjoyed wandering around the city and exploring the sculptures.
My friend lives in Fordingbridge in the New Forest, and we enjoyed our time there and had a drink at the pub on the river before I returned to London. The weather was beautiful.
August:
The weather was not great for the majority of the summer, and August was particularly wet. I spent a day in London and visited Primrose Hill, and this was my first ever visit to this part of London. On that day, the weather was warm and pleasant. I admired the view from Primrose Hill.
At the end of July, I had the second part of the visit to the Vyne with my friends which was postponed in two parts (The Vyne), and a few days later, I enjoyed a short visit to Worcestershire and Shropshire. I visited Greyfriar's National Trust and explored Worcester to see the Penguin Sculptures, Waddle in Worcester. It was a fairly long walk to see all of the sculptures, but I managed to do it in a day along with some National Trust places.
I also visited Kinver Edge National Trust, which is a few sets of "rock houses" created from caves in the soft rock. There was a bit of rain on this day, and I explored the houses and trail on my own and walked up the hill to the Iron Age fort site. Additional notable National Trust and English Heritage places that I explored on my short visit were: Witley Court and Gardens, Dudmaston Hall, Stokesay Castle, and Wightwick.
After a night in Worcester, I stayed for a couple of nights in Bridgnorth (Bridgnorth visit in Shorpshire), at a bed and breakfast. I was not aware of a music festival taking place on that weekend of the visit until the hosts at the bed and breakfast informed me. The bed and breakfast was located directly above the bottom of the funicular railway and served as a waiting room, so this was another unique place that I was able to stay at this year. Bridgnorth is a good base to stay at as there are several attractions near it. It is known for its ruined castle, so I had a wander around the ruins at Bridgnorth castle too.
On the last day of the month, I visited the Bournemouth Air Festival on the Friday. The day was warm, and the air show is always pleasant when the rain and cold stays away. I enjoyed watching the planes during the day and stayed for the night shows and fireworks, which I always enjoy.
September:
At the beginning of September, the country had another pleasant day of hot weather. I had Sunday Lunch at Boater's Inn in Richmond with my friend's daughter who works there. The restaurant / pub is located along the river Thames, and we watched the boats from our seat outside. This was the first time that I visited this part of London, which is a bit awkward to visit.
I had received some bad news toward the end of August, and this was followed by an additional two sets of bad news toward the middle of September, but this is too personal to post. I was not feeling in a good place at all. In all three instances, I felt betrayed, and this coloured my mood and made me feel very depressed and unappreciated. I have not had the best of times for a long while, and I have been trying to enjoy life and be happy. This put me into a place of depression.
To get my mind off of the problems, I went to ROXYFST in Roxbourne Park, Harrow and Dog show; the weather was hot, and I tried to make the most of it although my mind was not in the right place. I have been wanting to visit this event for the past three years but never got to before. I did struggle to really enjoy it due to the problems going on. I watched a couple of the dog show events before walking to Eastcote House Gardens, which also had an event on that day.
Frieze Sculpture in Regnt's Park took place again as it does every year, and since the pandemic times, the sculptures are now being placed in September instead of July. I went to see them after work one evening.
The most exciting activity that I did in the month of September was a short last-minute trip to Munich to visit Oktoberfest in Munich. I also met the colleagues that I have been working with for the past two years, and one of the bad news items was being rolled off the project that I've been part of for two years and had put a lot of my own personal time on. I had a lot of annual leaves owed to me, so I took a couple of days off to visit the city and enjoy Oktoberfest, and I am glad that I finally got to visit it and see some of the colleagues that I worked with. I visited the beer "tents" and had a delicious meal in the wine "tent". I've always wanted to visit Oktoberfest, so I am glad that I got to visit.
October:
October was another busy month, and it started with attending Hertfordshire Oktoberfest with friends. The Northern Lights made a second appearance earlier in the month, and I got better photographs and could even see glimpses of the northern lights with my eyes this time, although the best view was still via the camera on my mobile phone due to the light pollution in London.
The friend who visited me earlier in the year also visited me again in October, and we enjoyed Botanical Afternoon Tea at Lanes of London and bottomless brunch at The Arth Indian restaurant. We had a long weekend of catching up and trying to get my mind in a better place.
I also went with a different friend to the themed Bottomless Halloween / Day of the Dead Afternoon Tea at Roast at Borough Market in London. My friend and I both love Halloween, and we tried the three different Halloween cocktails that they had. The service was very chaotic and slow, and they were under-staffed. Afterwards, we had a couple of drinks at the London Bridge Rooftop bar and enjoyed the pleasant evening and vowed to enjoy more times together.
In the middle of October, I saw the Halloween Dog Show at Duck Pond Market in Ruislip with my friend and her daughter, although we had a very wet and rainy day for the event. The dog costumes were creative; there were dogs dressed as spiders and characters from different films and cartoons. "Beetlejuice" was popular as it seems to have had a reboot this year. The most creative were two dogs; one was dressed as the boy scout from "Up", and the other was dressed like the house with the balloons from "Up". I also enjoyed a dog dressed as the van from "Scooby Doo", and the dog looked like the title character.
I also had a short break away for a couple of nights in the middle of October, and I enjoyed a couple of Halloween trails. I went to Halloween at Quarry Bank (pictured below) and Halloween Lakeside Light Trail. These were the first Halloween trails that I have ever been to. Both were located near Manchester.
While I was on this short break away near Manchester, I visited a mixture of National Trust and English Heritage sites. These included: Little Morton Hall, Speke Hall, Quarry Bank, Dunham Massey, and Shugborough Estate. I enjoyed visiting a different variety of places. At Quarry Bank, I had tours of the worker's home, the apprentice home, the house, and the mill. The house and mill are self-guided tours. This place was the most memorable because the tour guides brought it to life. Speke Hall was also decorated for Halloween, but this was mainly an evening event; I also caught some of a tour of the grounds with a woman dressed in medieval clothing. Shugborough Estate was also unique as the owner who kept some apartments there was a photographer, and some of his photographs of famous people and the royals were on display. Some of the settings for the photographs were shot at the estate.
At the end of the month on Halloween, I took a half of a day off to spend with my friend and her daughter, and we explored Halloween in London and went to Kensington. Afterwards, I went home to surprise the local trick-or-treaters and get everything ready for Halloween. Diwali also fell on the same day as Halloween this year.
November:
November started with a bang. The fireworks took place over a couple of nights for Diwali and also for Bonfire Night weekend. I went to watch two consecutive displays at the start of the month.
After watching the two displays, I was promptly off to Tallinn in Estonia for a quick break the day after. I've never been to Tallinn nor Estonia (November Visit to Tallinn). When I was in Tallinn, I explored the Walls and Bastion Tunnels at Tallinn and Seaplane Harbour Martime Museum. I spent a lot of time wandering around the city.
Due to plans to spend Christmas in Ohio this year, I informed my friends that this year's traditional festive afternoon tea would have to be done in the middle of November as this was the only time that we could find that worked for everyone. This year, we had Festive Tea at Hotel Royal Cafe, and all of us were impressed with the food and service. This will be one festive aftrnoon tea that we will not forget. Afterwards, we walked to see some of the Christmas lights at Fortnum and Mason and Mayfair. We also went to see Lucy Sparrow's Festive Felt at Dipytique.
At the end of November, a couple of friends and I stayed overnight in Winchester on the first weekend of the Winchester Christmas Market. Unfortunately, it was the first of two bad storms that we had this autumn. The next bad storm would come three weeks later. We endured the Saturday afternoon and evening with the rain and wind, and we had mulled wine before finding a pub to enjoy more wine. The Sunday, we had a nice meal at a pub, and we started to head back to the market. Due to the storm (which was not nearly bad on Sunday and was not raining), the market was shut before we could go back and get items that we wanted to buy. We left disappointed. Despite the storm, we made the most of our visit.
For Thanksgiving Day, I went to enjoy Thanksgiving at Smith and Wollensky. The food was decent, but the turkey was far too dry to be enjoyed. After the meal, I went to Fulham Palace Illuminated Light Trail, which I was not at all impressed with either.
December:
December was a busy month, and it started with a visit to Windsor Great Park Illuminated with a couple of friends. I went a few years ago, and this year had different displays and more in the way of food and other attractions. It had improved from the first visit.
I also made my own Christmas wreath for the first time at a special Christmas Wreath-Making Workshop at Browns in Ruislip, although the second storm destroyed it a few days later while I was in Brussels for the Christmas market. I visited Brussels over a couple of days and went to enjoy the Brussels Christmas Market and Christmas Light Show. This made my third visit to Brussels this year, and I am glad that I got to see it.
As usual, I also went to enjoy London's Christmas lights and decorations. The lights and decorations are always enjoyable in London, and one of the big themes this year was for the "Wicked" film, based on "The Wizard of Oz". London is always beautiful to see during the festive season. There is just something magical about it.
Toward the end of the month, I headed to Ohio in the USA to spend Christmas with my parents, brothers, and the rest of my family. The short visit was to catch up with family, so I did not get to see any friends, and the festive season was split over multiple days due to everyone's availability. There was a lot of stress with lack of time, and we had some unfortunate circumstances, but we did the best with what we were given. I did get to see the Cambridge Courthouse Light Show and the Victorian Dickens figures, which I have previously seen. I also went to visit the "Garden of Lights" trail featuring the story of "Alice in Wonderland".
I returned back to London at the end of the month as I will be starting a new project and wanted to enjoy a couple of days before January and before the new year begins. This year finally brought some travel after many years where I was unable to, and although I was not able to set boundaries at work all of the time, I did manage to set them some of the time. My mental health still has not been perfect, especially when receiving some bad news, but I am trying to look after myself. I hope to travel more in 2025 and visit some new places, and I need to continue to prioritise myself and look after myself.
I hope 2025 is a good one.
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