This year I have been trying to keep track of what I am up to. Not keeping a diary as such, just noting down various stuff. The reason is that when it comes to the end of a year I look back and can’t remember much of anything.

What with the weather and everything, I haven’t ventured out much. I have had a couple of little rides on the motorbike, but only enough to keep the battery charged up. More importantly, I have managed to get through the whole month without driving at all. I did go in the car for two journeys to East Sussex but Jayne drove. I wonder how long I can go without driving? Will I remember how to? I had plenty of little walks, either with the dogs or trips into the Town Centre or the supermarket, but none of my epic hour-long walks listening to podcasts. I miss that, but its just too cold for me.

As a result of staying in I have managed to get through a few books. During the month I read five fiction e-books and two non-fiction hardbacks. The e-books were mostly ones I have downloaded while they were the 99p books of the day, including two by Val McDermid and a Chris Brookmyre that I had somehow overlooked. One of the hardbacks was a Christmas present, the other was the Steven Wilson autobiography that I treated myself to.

I watched a few films on Netflix and Amazon; four I had not seen before (the two Knives Out films and a couple of others) and I re-watched the three Expendables films. On television I watched the mini-series Romantic Getaway, the third season of Jack Ryan, and Our Flag Means Death, as well as the usual programmes (Pointless, QI, Death in Paradise, etc.). I also watched Fight the Power, which is interesting and depressing in equal measure, and left me wondering why black Americans are not even angrier than they are. It is supposed to be the story of hip hop but is as much the story of how black Americans have been systematically shat upon.

I made a few purchases in January. A new tumble dryer and a new crash helmet were the main ones. I also bought a few LPs, having discovered a Twitter account that flags up bargains, which is how I got the Beatles’ white album + Abbey Road as a bundle for £30 and the new Soft Cell album for a little over a tenner.

So generally a pretty wintery and miserable time. I didn’t go anywhere or do much. Not even a work visit to Glasgow. To be honest, I didn’t fancy going to Scotland while it was so cold and there was a lot of flight disruption. I have a couple of weeks leave to book before April so maybe I will actually do something then, even if it is just a short visit to Amsterdam to see the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum.