My second to last word post for circa 2021.

What a year it has been.

Were given the go ahead. Had to sell the house, the stuff in it, the car. Had to stop all subscriptions. Had to pack everything we owned into four suitcases.

Bought tickets to fly. Got ready.

Airline was suddenly not allowed to fly to the UK anymore. Had to cancel. Would get the refund, but in their good time, not ours. Bought two different tickets.

Suddenly, out of the blue, had to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival. Unexpected additional drama and expense.

Spent 11 days inside a hotel room.

Got released into gen pop. Took the train back to Heathrow, so we could catch a train from Heathrow to Paddington. All along dragging my bags along. Security dude at Paddington, watching me struggle, actually said: “Next time, take more bags.”

Got on the train – a welcome green Great Western Railway. This took us all the way to our home city – the place we picked over every other place on the planet. It was great rolling into the station.

Still had the four bags.

Still felt like the walking dead.

We made our way to the city centre, dragging behind us every piece of anything we physically owned. Made it to a downtown hotel for one last night. We picked up our keys the next morning.

And boom. We were in. A new life, set to begin.

With every passing day, both of us know we made exactly the right decision. Or rather, series of decisions.

We made it. We’re free. We’re good. We’re home.

Then – kicking into overdrive. Sort out the house, from the ground up. Establish the infrastructure necessary… tax affairs, registering as employer, banks, utilities, register to vote, council tax, etc, etc.

Completed a course and got a certificate.

Establish new networks and relationships, in the city, in the county, across the nation and the union.

I’ve set up two new divisions.

Did the shoe leather thing at book fairs and conferences.

Wrote new first drafts.

Was due to launch Cursed Land at the end of the year – but finally just ran out of steam. Couldn’t commit to launches, functions, more selling, smiling nicely for people…

Needed time out.

Website went down for upgrades. Took a step back. Let the pros do it. From next year I don’t have to even be on social media. The infrastructure is there to do what it needs to do now.

It was a year of transplanting. So, careful extraction, precarious transportation, gentle re-placement.

Next year will be busier still. It’s the year we start growing and sowing.

I couldn’t have done it, without my awesum guy. Truth be told, without him, I wouldn’t have seen the point at all.

Here we are. One hell of year. A few more ahead where that came from. I will never travel with everything I own again. I travel light, now.

And again… gratitude… to those who read and love my stories. Without you, I wouldn’t bother, either.

It’s the end of the year. A big year, objectively, in my life. I have one more photo coming up tomorrow. On Thursday, the post about the Newsletter, which goes out on Friday.

Then things go quiet, until the 3rd of December. The website relaunches – and I’m excited. A hell of a lot of work went into it. But it is going to rock.

On the 10th, social media kicks in – without my help.

Next year brings more… more books, more videos, more audio, more writing.

But until then – have a wonderful year end break. Take care of those round you.

Love. Pete.