A Year in Review: 2022

After two of the oddest years in history, 2022 got back to some semblance of normality. There was foreign travel again. We gleefully abandoned our face masks – and then wondered why we were all suddenly catching all sorts of lurgey. There was theatre and restaurants and socialising again. Family weddings. Blog events involving meeting real people. We even headed back to the office, albeit in a whole new hybrid way of working. So, in traditional A Brummie Home and Abroad fashion, here’s my Year in Review for 2022 – all the highlights (with a few low moments chucked in for balance).

A Brummie Abroad in 2022

The travel restrictions in the past two years definitely made us appreciate foreign travel that little bit more. The things we’d taken for granted. Travel had played such a massive part in our lives. We played it safe with our first holiday, booking a package holiday. After all, when we booked there were still plenty of rules and regulations in place, and we were wary of restrictions and cancellations being foisted upon us. Memories of trying to get our flight money back from our cancelled Japan trip still loomed after all.

But in June, we dusted off our passports (pointlessly renewed pre-pandemic) and headed to the Greek island of Samos for a week of rest, relaxation and olives-with-everything. It was wonderful to get back to exploring foreign lands once more, and we discovered that travel really hadn’t changed much at all. And in September we returned to our beloved Italy, with a Rome city break followed by a relaxing few days in Sorrento. My gran always wanted to visit Rome so I made sure I chucked a coin in the Trevi Fountain for her.

You can find our Rome Travel Diaries here, and here’s a post all about the amazing food tour we took in Trastevere on our first night in Italy!

A Brummie in the UK in 2022

It’s become a bit of a tradition to extend our festive break with a little January getaway, which is how we found ourselves in a North Yorkshire cottage in Hawes. Long walks across snowy fields, sampling the local beer and gin in cosy pubs, snuggling up in front of a roaring fire – perfect to blow away the cobwebs. In April, we celebrated Mr Fletche’s 50th birthday with a trip to Edinburgh. It was less snowy than our previous trip, but it definitely rained more. Which meant we had the perfect excuse to hole up in various bars sampling Scotch whiskey and fancy cocktails.

There were two trips to London: a whirlwind West End visit to see Moulin Rouge, and a trip filled with tourist highlights as we took Ma & Pa Lee to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary. It was wonderful to see one of our favourite cities through fresh eyes: Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and strolls along the Thames. And we partook in a Peter Pan themed afternoon tea at Aquashard; the perfect way to celebrate a special occasion. There’s a full-length video of me screaming all the way down the Superbloom slide floating around somewhere.

Living in Warwickshire now, we spent a lot more time exploring our local towns, visiting markets and food festivals in Leamington, Kenilworth and Warwick. The lovely Ellen (of Eat with Ellen fame) is responsible for my obsession with Warwick’s Dough & Brew, and Leamington’s Smowkhaus and Libertine Burgers. We welcomed a new Japanese restaurant and new tapas restaurant to Solihull, but lost my favourite little gin shop and deli Tastes of Britain.

And continuing our run (excluding 2020) of wedding anniversary getaways, we headed up to Northumberland for a short break. We stayed in a lovely cosy shepherds hut (blog post incoming!), strolled along almost deserted beaches, ate fish and chips at the seaside and visited the most beautiful Christmassy castle. And we squeezed in a visit to the Christmas markets of Newcastle on the way home. The perfect break before the festive madness of December!

A Brummie At Home in 2022

In May COVID finally hit the Fletcher household. Well, Mr Fletche anyway. I remained unscathed. And again in August. When I also remained unscathed. Am I one of those amazing people that hold the key to COVID immunity? Or am I just not very good at shoving those plastic sticks up my nose?

Our world was turned upside down a little in June, when Pa Lee suffered a stroke on his 68th birthday. Medical help was swift and Pa Lee had a week’s leisure stay at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. My office became the hospital Costa Coffee, with a daily commute from Ma & Pa Lee’s. I became chief taxi driver, hugger and family WhatsApp Group coordinator. Thankfully, the stroke was minor and there was no lasting damage, although it did reveal a heavily blocked carotid artery which was cleared by an op in October. Our family’s eternal thanks go out to the paramedics, the porters, the nurses, the facilities staff; give these people all the pay rises they request, they deserve every penny.

Don’t get me started on the state of the UK though. I don’t have the energy…

A Brummie in Birmingham in 2022

Birmingham was a bit special in 2022 wasn’t it? The Commonwealth Games came to town, and Brum became awash with colour. You couldn’t move for the orange-and-grey uniforms of the volunteers, smiling, singing and generally being tourist information/shepherds/ambassadors all in one. We found ourselves at the women’s volleyball final thanks to the kindness of strangers. The opening and closing ceremonies highlighted our cultural and industrial legacies, whilst being bonkers in other parts. A steampunk bull became the city’s newest tourist attraction.

Never change Birmingham, never change.

Want to read my love letter to Brum? You can find it here!

Gaia came to Millennium Point, a swirling whirling reminder that despite all the madness, the earth continues to turn. Pigeon Park was filled with blossom trees in the springtime, and then an independent market throughout December. A Sistine Chapel exhibition inspired our visit to see the real thing (spoiler alert: it’s underwhelming). Poli-Nations installed huge War of the World type structures in Victoria Square, surrounded by plants and flowers to attract bees and other pollinating insects.

We finally ate at Raja Monkey, despite it only being 10 minutes from where we used to live. There was brunch at Medicine Bakery’s new outpost in the Mailbox. Anderson & Hill became our sandwich purveyor of choice – they know how to make meat and bread sexy. And porridge from Morridge is my favourite new breakfast. Our friends Hayley and Paul paid us a visit and we went Out-Out, to Alberts Schloss and Jukeboxers Bar. Out-Out is very loud. As was mine and Hayley’s version of Total Eclipse of the Heart as we competed with the live band.

My favourite Digbeth taproom Dig Brew opened a city centre outpost, dangerously close to New Street Station. North Brew moved into the old empty Bar Opus building, giving beer fans even more choice. And we finished off the year by paying our first visit to Edgbaston Village to try out the newly opened Smoke & Ash pizzeria.

A Cultural Brummie in 2022

2022 started with me being glued to Anything Goes on the BBC (too hungover to do much else to be honest) and the theatre bug continued throughout 2022. It’s still available to view on BBC iPlayer and I may make this a new annual New Years Day tradition. Anything Goes that is. Not the hangover.

I’m extremely thankful to continue working with both the Alexandra Theatre and Birmingham Rep, attending Press Night events in exchange for honest reviews on A Brummie Home and Abroad. My favourite shows from 2022 include The Addams Family, Bugsy Malone, Fisherman’s Friend, South Pacific and Nativity, although my favourite single vocal performance goes to the outstanding Nicole Raquel Dennis in Dreamgirls. Outlandish theatre experience of the year definitely goes to the stunning Moulin Rouge for its gorgeous setting. We also made sure to visit our favourite independent Birmingham cinema The Mockingbird to catch some of the newest releases without giving our money to the big boys at Cineworld et al.

There was live music too. My lovely friend Clare had bought Skunk Anansie tickets so long ago that she forgot who was meant to accompany her, so I gladly went along for the ride. Mr Fletche and I took a Sunday evening trip up to Sheffield to see James Blake. We saw The Vaccines and Alt-J in Birmingham. And Moseley Folk Festival was back, with a Friday night set by Supergrass which made us all bounce with infectious glee. Infectious in a good way. Not a COVID way.

Naturally, I read lots of books. Although at 57 this falls three short of 2021’s total. According to my Goodreads Year in Books though, the average book length was 396 pages, so think I can be forgiven. The two Hanya Yanighara books came in at over 800 pages each!

A Brummie Home and Abroad in 2023?

Theatre-wise, both the Alex and the Rep have some amazing shows coming up that I hope to get the opportunity to review in 2023. I’m particularly looking forward to The Ocean at the End of the Lane in May. We have a little April trip booked to revisit one of my favourites, Wicked, in the West End. I have my eye on booking tickets to Bonnie & Clyde. One of my all-time favourite musical films Once is having a stage revival at The Barn in Cirencester so we’ve booked tickets for that in July.

Our Self-Esteem tickets were booked LONG before RLT became the UK’s newest national treasure (yes, we saw her live in a tiny room back in her Slow Club days) but I’m looking forward to barking like a dog with all the other Steemers out there in March. And we rarely let a Muse tour pass us by so we’ll be rocking out in Milton Keynes in June. I still rue not being able to get Suede tickets and I’m still holding out for a full Pulp tour.

Travel-wise, we’re starting off January right with a little Dublin city break! I look forward to sharing my Travel Diaries with you. In the meantime, you’ll be able to find pics and stories on Facebook and Instagram. We have a Norwegian Fjords cruise booked a little later in year – our first ever cruise – and we’re bringing Ma and Pa Lee along for the ride. And in April, I’ll be working with Jet2 Holidays on why spring is the PERFECT time to visit Greece. Lots of exciting things planned for 2023!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back over 2022. Are you making plans for 2023? Let me know in the comments! I wish you a healthy and happy New Year, whatever it may bring!

Emmalene, A Brummie Home and Abroad xx