Christmas 2025 Favourites – Part 1

It’s been a long year for my mother and I, so we’re glad that Christmas has finally come around, and thankfully the preparations have been going well, just as I hope they have been for you. Granted, there is the potential loss of my job next year hanging over my head, through no fault of my own, but that won’t affect me as severely as the friend I provide support for. And given everything that’s already gone on at home during 2025, my mother and I just want to relax, forget about our problems and over-indulge to celebrate Christmas, as you’re supposed to do. And we’ve got everything we need for that.

So I’ve actually been able to go out and about in London a few times this month, now that Mum’s more comfortable being on her own in the house again, having got some of her independence and confidence back. Sometimes it’s just been for walks, but I’ve also met up with a friend as well.

And then at home I’ve been enjoying a lot of entertainment, including dramas, comedies and music. Some things are still ongoing or are on my to do list, so I won’t mention them just yet, but there are already plenty of bits and pieces I can talk about already. So with the usual disclaimer that none of this is sponsored or gifted, I hope you enjoy this varied selection.

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Carer’s Journal – November 2025 – Part 2

Time to bring you up to date once again with my life as a carer. And things have gone much better than expected in the latter half of this month, as neither Mum nor I have had any problems resulting from our minor bits of surgery (I had a wisdom tooth out, while she had a small skin biopsy). And Mum’s continued to have more confidence and less anxiety, in large part thanks to her wrist recovery and improved sleep cycle, to the point where I’ve been able to go out for a while by myself like I used to do. So this is quite a positive update, I’m happy to say, and I hope you find it interesting.

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June 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. Those of you who saw last month’s roundup will know that I’m going through a difficult patch at the moment because of my mother’s health. We have started to get a bit of help, in terms of medical assistance and reaching out to support services, all of which takes time, and I will explain more in due course. Suffice to say for now that going totally blind has naturally had a big impact on her mental health and sleep, and by extension has affected my wellbeing as her carer. We are ok, but certain aspects are quite difficult to deal with

As a result, I’m not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, as it’s just not practical right now and I want to make things easier for myself. It also means I’m not doing as much out and about as usual, as my caring role is dominating my time much more than it used to – and I am therefore starting to explore the support that’s available for carers.

However, I did manage to go to the theatre a couple of times with friends early in the month, which I was really grateful for, as I needed to confide in them about what’s been going on, and the shows were great escapism, especially because of the touch tours and audio description.

So I’ve got those shows to tell you about, as well as some bits and pieces I’ve been watching at home, and none of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual. So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

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April 2025 Favourites

Hey there, hope you had a wonderful Easter and a lovely April in general. This has been my busiest month for a while, as there’s lots to mention in terms of outings, including social events, a musical and a concert, along with TV shows and films I’ve been watching at home.

The concert I went to was a PR invite for me to review, but otherwise nothing is sponsored to appear here, and in any case all opinions are my own as usual. So let’s jump straight into April’s post and video roundup, and I hope you enjoy!

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Variety Is The Spice Of Life

During my first few years in London I joined a few social groups – mainly those for people with visual impairment like the London Vision communities, as well as the non-disabled group Thinking Bob. And they all helped me to settle in, make friends, try new experiences and build my confidence.

However, I got rather pulled away from that kind of thing as I formed my own social circle, had a relationship and dealt with the impacts of lockdown, as well as having to focus more on changes to my career and home life over recent years. So I haven’t been an active member of a social group for quite a while, and those I mentioned above have long since closed.

I’ve continued meeting up with my friends of course, which is always wonderful, so I still have good social interaction. And I’m also happy going out and about by myself sometimes. But there are certain things I can’t or wouldn’t do on my own, plus I want to have more variety and meet new people.

So I’ve been looking to get into more social activities again. And while there are still one or two friendly groups out there for people with sight loss, there aren’t as many as there used to be, and their understandably limited range of activities don’t really grab me a lot of the time to be honest. On top of that, I really want to meet more non-disabled people anyway, as my sight is still good enough that I can do activities with them, even if I need to ask for a little bit of help now and again.

There was one particular group I had in mind in that regard – Spice Social – who I’ve been aware of for quite a while, so recently I decided to give them a try, now that I’m in the age range they market themselves to. It’s still early days of course, and things could easily change as time goes on for all sorts of reasons, but it’s going really well so far.

For clarity, this post isn’t an advert for them, as they haven’t asked me to do it and haven’t even been aware that I’m writing it. I just wanted to fill you in on what I’ve been doing lately, as I’ve attended several events with this group over the past couple of months that I’ve enjoyed, and I have more booked in the near future. So it made sense to dedicate a post to them, and then I’ll probably talk about any future events in my monthly Favourites posts as usual.

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March 2025 Favourites

Hey there, hope you’re doing alright, and welcome to my latest roundup. March has been a bit of a mixed month for me, what with losing our Virgin Media service for almost a week (thankfully now fixed), and hearing about the government’s plans to cut disability benefits (which I’ve talked at length about in a separate post).

But there have been good things too, as I saw a couple of my favourite entertainers live for the first time, and enjoyed a variety of bits and pieces at home. So I’m going to focus on all of that in this post and video, which is relatively short I know, but I hope you find it interesting as usual!

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Christmas 2024 Favourites – Part 2

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely time over Christmas!

Following on from Part 1 of my festive Favourites that I posted on Christmas Day, I’m now going to talk about a free exhibition I was given a tour of, give an update on events at home, and trawl through the many things I’ve been watching and listening to. And while the tour was courtesy of a PR invite, there have been no other incentives for anything to appear here, and all opinions are my own regardless.

So let’s dive into this bumper post, with an accompanying video that also features everything I mentioned in Part 1. I hope you enjoy!

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Christmas 2024 Favourites – Part 1

Merry Christmas! I hope you’re having a lovely time, or at least a comfortable one depending on your circumstances.

We’ve had a bit of drama at home that’s left us without a cooker for a while, as I’ll explain during this post. But otherwise this month has been going well so far. And as there’s a fair amount to mention already, I thought I’d do a post now to get some of it out of the way.

In particular, I’ve got out and about quite a bit already, as I’ve attended an office party, had a nice dinner with a friend, and taken a trip down to Devon. Plus there are a couple of pieces of technology I got in the Black Friday sales that I’ve enjoyed using.

So that’s what I’ll cover in this post, none of which is sponsored or gifted to appear here as usual. And then in Part 2 during January I’ll go through the myriad of things I’ve been watching and listening to, one of which will be getting a special post of its own anyway before the year’s out. There should be more to mention from London as well, as I’m hoping to explore a bit during the rest of my time off.

So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy this first part of my Christmas roundup!

January 2025 Update: I’ve now shared my Christmas Favourites video alongside Part 2 of this festive roundup, which includes everything I’ve mentioned in this post. So I hope you enjoy all of that too!

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November 2024 Favourites

Hello there, welcome to my latest roundup for November. As with October, we’ve continued having work done on the house, but I’m happy to say that it’s now all over for the time being. And it has been worth it, despite the inevitable stress, disruption and cost involved over the past couple of months. The kitchen had been badly in need of refurbishment, so it’s now much safer, brighter and looks more modern, while the lighting in the living room has been improved and the outside of the house has been repainted. So it’s been lovely to get back to normal in time for Christmas. We may have more work done next year, as there are other things we want to do, but we’re not rushing into anything. This has been quite enough for the moment!

Despite all of that, however, I have been able to meet up with some of my friends for meals and entertainment, which has been a welcome distraction, and there are a few things I’ve been watching on TV and DVD. The meal and theatre show I went to with Emily were free PR visits for her to review, but nothing is sponsored to appear here and all opinions are my own regardless. So I’ve still got a fair amount to talk about in this month’s post and video, and I hope you enjoy!

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September 2024 Favourites

Hello again! Because my 41st Birthday Favourites included the first half of September to cover the Paralympics, I had considered combining the rest of the month with October for a joint Favourites post later on. However, there are enough bits and pieces from the latter half of September that I can make a little post and video from, including another tasty free meal, a nice bit of comedy and some great factual entertainment.

So let’s get straight into it, as this won’t take long. As ever, nothing is sponsored to appear here and all opinions are my own, and I hope you enjoy!

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