Previously I wrote “My 2018”, inspired by Always Improve, Never Stop, Never Pause, Never Appreciate: things I did; not necessarily “achievements”, but happy and/or notable things.

The end of 2019 was a bit of a whirlwind so I put off writing “My 2019” and never got around to it, but I regret that and wanted to rectify it, especially given how terrible 2020 was for so many.

So, in no particular order:

We celebrated our marriage with two honeymoon trips to places we’d always wanted to visit - travelling across Canada from Toronto to Vancouver and Vancouver Island in April, and around Japan (including the incredible Okinawa Aquarium) in October.

I joined Canonical, publisher of Ubuntu, as an Engineering Manager in the Snap Store team and of the Launchpad team, and got to meet and work with a fantastic bunch of people.

I had a slightly more exciting business trip than planned when someone decided to shoot up the bus stop next to the bar we were drinking in one night.

I finally passed my driving test. Having lived in Cambridge and London for several years, it was easy to put off for lack of need and/or impracticality, but living in Biggleswade it’s much more valuable!

I helped run another successful PyCon UK 2019 as treasurer, and incorporated UKPA Trading Ltd. to act as the new legal entity operating the conference, as part of transitioning operations and ownership to The UK Python Association.

I started building Emporium, a service for mapping Python dependencies, and also a reference architecture for client work and teaching.

I wrote An Unofficial Opinionated Django FAQ, to cover some of the common questions I see arise from time to time.

I wrote about how Wikis Are Terrible For Maintaining Documentation because this really bugs me!

I read some great books.

I saw some fantastic theatre:

• Phantom of the Opera with David Thaxton as the Phantom
• Fiddler on the Roof at the Menier
• Waitress
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• My Fair Lady, courtesy of the Ruislip Operatic Society, starring one of my wife’s friends
• Our Town at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre - I didn’t expect to particularly like it - “metatheatrics” didn’t sound like it would be my thing - but it was an absolutely wonderful piece of storytelling that had me hooked
• TINA - The Tina Turner Musical - wow
• The Clockmaker’s Daughter with John Owen Jones
• Noises Off - hilarious
• Evita at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre - I knew the Madonna song but otherwise this was my first exposure to the show and I loved it, though my wife was less of a fan of this interpretation!
• Les Misérables with John Owen Jones, and Michael Ball as Javert - always good fun, and fascinating to see how it had been re-staged as a concert version, with some ingenious tweaks
• Doctor Zhivago with Ramin Karimloo and Celinde Schoenmaker
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Groan Ups - another wonderful Mischief Theatre creation that once again had me worried I’d sprain something with laughter!
• Mamma Mia - I enjoy the film but I just struggled with the show - I don’t know if it was where we were sat or something was off but it just didn’t spark joy!
• Mary Poppins - my first time seeing the Mary Poppins story in full, and great fun
• White Christmas - classic and wonderful as always
• Les Misérables
• & Juliet - absolutely brilliant and I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack
• Ian McKellen on Stage - he is amazing
• Phantom of the Opera Christmas Eve matinee

So

The thing I remember most about 2019 is travel, and between work and pleasure, I certainly did a fair bit.

My 2019 goal was to be more conscientious about how I spent my time, and what things I chose to take on. As best as I recall, I did a reasonable job of achieving that.

I don’t remember my goals for 2020, but I’m not sure it would have made much difference!