A Year in Review: 2021

Hello 2022! 2021 was a funny old year wasn’t it? I remember looking back over 2020, and thinking “maybe next year will be different”. Turns out it wasn’t really. We had a glorious spate of “freedom” where we could return to the theatre, eat inside at restaurants and finally hug loved ones. And then Omicron hit (am I the only person late to the party in realising that Omicron is an anagram of moronic?), and we all spiralled back to March 2020. Except this time, we were double-jabbed, boostered and thrusting a vaccine passport at anyone that would look at it. And the shops still have toilet roll. So sit back and enjoy A Year in Review: 2021. And spot the differences between this year and last.

A Brummie Abroad in 2021 – Or Not.

For the second year running A Brummie Home and Abroad became A Brummie at Home.

So why didn’t we travel abroad?

After all, borders were open. My Instagram feed was full of shots from airplane windows. Red list countries became green list countries. Countries were crying out for tourists to return. UK accommodation costs were shooting through the roof.

But for me, something didn’t feel right about travelling abroad. Our vaccine programme may have been full steam ahead, but other countries hadn’t quite caught up. The UK economy – and hospitality in particular – had suffered immensely, and I wanted to prioritise supporting them over foreign economy. I felt uneasy about lining pockets of private companies with costly PCR tests. All the additional COVID-admin involved. And mostly the anxiety, the disappointment and the frustration of plans changed or cancelled at the last minute. Spending our holidays in the UK in 2021 was a no-brainer.

Disclaimer: I don’t think badly of anyone that decided to travel abroad in 2021. Believe me, I looked on with green-eyed envy at friends enjoying sun-soaked afternoons in warmer climes – especially as our summer seemed to end somewhere in week 2 of July. It simply didn’t feel right for us. Anyway, we didn’t have room to fit in foreign travel; after all, we had plenty of holidays planned, right here in England. Call them staycations. Or don’t.

A Brummie in the UK in 2021

We kicked off our 2nd year of UK holidays with a glamping holiday in Somerset as soon as travel restrictions ended. This was the holiday where we really learned to build and maintain an excellent fire in our wood-burner – much needed as end of April temperatures plunged sub-zero quite unexpectedly. Not what you want in a tent. A luxury tent, but nonetheless, still a tent. We explored Exmoor National Park, and the North Somerset and Devon coast, and had various outdoor pub meals as hospitality restrictions were still in place.

Surely we’d be guaranteed better weather at the end of June? Sure enough, when we arrived in Brighton, we were treated to blue skies and blazing sunshine. Fast forward 24 hours and it was wet, windy and I was cursing not packing more winter clothes. And so our South East road trip continued, with four seasons in one day becoming quite normal as we explored Brighton, Rye and Whitstable. We stayed in the most amazing static camper van, between Whitstable and Canterbury, which led people to ask exactly how I found the quirkiest UK accommodation.

In August, we headed down to London for the first time in 18 months. Basing ourselves in Paddington at The Pilgrm Hotel, we visited the Greenwich museums, meandered along canals and rivers, had brunch on a barge, ended up in an industrial estate in Rotherhite, and had sky-high views at the Shard (whilst drinking cocktails at sky-high prices). It was marvellous. And it only rained a little bit.

Ma and Pa Lee booked a little getaway down in Devon so we gatecrashed the party. Their caravan was so posh that it had a bath. Naturally, we took the rain with us. And then we were travelling again, this time for a couple of days in Buxton in the Peak District. It’s been three months and I still haven’t blogged about this minbreak yet. Other than a quick trip up Mam Tor there was no serious hiking this time around; instead we focused on visiting cute little towns, eating and drinking.

Our final trip of 2021 was to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a cottage in Mousehole, Cornwall. It was lovely to re-explore this part of the world after last staying here on our minimoon 13 years ago. Windy walks along clifftops. Decadent hot chocolate. Strolls along isolated beaches. Sampling the local seafood. A wonderful way to end a year of UK travel.

Travel in 2022?

As much as I’ve enjoyed our UK holidays, I’d love to finally leave these shores in 2022. After all, one of us has a big birthday coming up. I’ve missed exploring European Christmas Markets for our wedding anniversary. And I’d happily spend two weeks prostrate on a sun lounger with a cocktail in my hand, rather than our usual dash around multiple locations. But I’m not making any plans just yet. We can still make that zero-ending birthday a special one. Even if passports aren’t involved.

We’re starting 2022 off right though with a sneaky little post-festive getaway in the Yorkshire Dales. Snow is forecast. Which makes a change from rain.

A Brummie at Home in 2021

We had a January sprinkling of snow, which caused much excitement and made the world look much prettier for a short while. Although working from home has put an end to those “I can’t get to work because of the weather” excuses. Yes, we’re both still working from home. I’m still in my cupboard. Our business has gone through some huge changes this year, with a separation from our parent company, a re-branding, several IT “upgrades” and now our second office move in four years. But our staff still need development, and my tiny team of three are constantly working on exciting projects so it’s been a busy year. Let’s not talk about that first virtual staff induction in June which went horribly wrong.

We enjoyed spending more time in the garden this summer. I still have no idea what I’m doing but found myself harvesting seeds at the end of the summer for re-planting. Mr Fletche’s seedlings grew big and strong, and there was a gorgeous riot of colour at one point which the bees and butterflies loved. We gave our new garden fence a lick of paint – although this was limited to one side of the garden only as the neighbours on the other side didn’t trust us not to accidentally paint their side too. Probably a wise decision.

Naturally, we spent time in Birmingham once we were allowed to. The construction work around Chamberlain Square finally finished and Centenary Square is looking quite spectacular now the scaffolding around the ICC has been removed and it’s new facade revealed. We ventured down to Digbeth on a spectacularly sunny May Bank Holiday to check out what’s new – the clientele is definitely more “young and beautiful” than it used to be, and it’s sadly lost a little of its alternative vibe. Or maybe we’ve just forgotten how to be sociable around other people. The Night Owl never disappoints though, nor does the Mockingbird Cinema, The Ruin or Roberto’s. And Halton Turner is a great taproom addition to the area.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time being furious with our government, as one revelation after another comes to the fore. I managed to add a Tories Lie Bab t-shirt to my every growing Punks & Chancers collection. I was also furious at our glass conservatory doors for failing to be open when I needed them to be. Resulting in a split lip and a chipped tooth. Stupid doors.

In August my beautiful cousin got married after two postponements, and it was so wonderful to share in their joy, and most importantly to see family, some for the first time in 18 months. I became a Mental Health First Aider, and took up embroidery for some essential moments of self-care. I turned 44 (although I’m sure I must be still 43 as 2020 didn’t count). Accidentally ended up at Birmingham Pride and proudly waved rainbow flags. Accidentally ended up at the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market and decided I didn’t hate it as much as I thought.

Ma and Pa Lee sold their house. And bought a house. Then decided they didn’t want to move house. So they bought a caravan. It was an emotional couple of months. They now spend more time in their caravan than in their actual house. Correction. They spend more time in their new local pub than they spend in their actual house.

We ate food. So much glorious food. Mr Fletche didn’t always agree with my one-woman mission to keep local independents in business during lockdown, but he helped me along anyway. We ordered Greek food, burgers and baos, and a gourmet three-course meal for Mr Fletche’s 2nd birthday in lockdown. Of course I wrote about My Favourite Cook-At-Home Restaurant Kits from Lockdown 3.0. I ate my first ever oyster in Whitstable. Food festivals were back, and we stalked our favourite local vendors around Leamington, Warwick and Lichfield. I controversially decided that doughnuts are better than brownies. We ate in a glass pod overlooking the canal for my birthday, and drank gin carefully selected for us depending on our mood at 40 St Pauls.

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What kept A Brummie entertained in 2021?

Theatre was finally back. And I made up for the long absence by attending five shows in the space of 6 weeks. I treated Ma Lee to tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert for her birthday. Mr Fletche and I finally got our 2019 Christmas present when we went to see the amazing Six. And I got back into the swing of Press Night with invites to the Alex to review shows ranging from Heathers and Bedknobs & Broomsticks, to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Derren Brown’s Showman.

There was live music too. We started off with the much postponed Pulp’d at The Night Owl, followed by The Villagers at The Glee Club. Moseley Folk Festival was back – always one of my favourite ways to spend a September Friday. In another throwback to the 90’s, I saw my beloved Suede at the O2, before returning in December for Shed Seven.

In 2021 I managed to beat my 2020 total and read over 60 books. Top reads in 2021 have been Grown Ups (Marian Keyes), The Foundling (Stacey Halls), Beartown (Fredrik Backman), Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir) and Outlawed (Anna North). At the time of writing this, I’m still reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara; it’s a big book and a harrowing read at times so it’s best digested in bite-size pieces.

We re-watched Breaking Bad (still amazing second time around) and started a rewatch of Lost. Spoiler alert: I keep shouting “He’s Dead” at the telly. I’m finally caught up with Peaky Blinders, and we binge watched Line of Duty before the last season so we knew what everyone was talking about. Succession Season 3 just got better and better, culminating in that breath-taking finale, an acting masterclass from everyone involved. Squid Game. Wandavision. Loki. Vigil. Ghosts. Motherland. Lupin. It’s A Sin. The Terror. Dexter: New Blood. It’s been another year to lose ourselves in pure escapism from the tellybox.