2022 in review: I’ve finally worked out how to format these things.

January 2, 2023 georgeaitchLeave a comment

1. Having Lucy up to London for the bridesmaids dressing shopping and taking her to Flour and Grape and a few other Southwark haunts. I think it was the first step we had properly taken towards organising the wedding with another person and we loved having her so close that we might show her our favourite London spots together.

2. The fake Christmas at home with everyone around one table playing board games, finally. Having the seven of us around one table was worth the (several months) wait.

3. Swarna and Ragu’s housewarming/escape room evening in Kingston.

4. Cooking a five course taster meal on the fly when Megan thought she had covid. She didn’t have covid, but it was an opportunity to give my kitchen muscles a flex

5. Ed’s Ashford reunion dinner party and Rachel’s marvellous story she made up on the fly. I can’t remember, I think it involved a three headed dragon from Ashford? Very talented raconteur.

6. Meggy fake turkey dinosaur Valentine’s Day celebration with mystic poem

7. Date night seeing Ocean At The End Of The Lane and the D- of York theatre to take my mind off of training interviews for an evening and catching a well crafted play which I didn’t honestly expect to enjoy as much as I did.

8. That night after clinical interviews when I stayed up drinking whiskey and reading while Storm Dudley blew outside and you felt an illusory freedom that you were in control. From the flat I can look across London and watch the clouds – felt a bit like being a soothsayer.

9. Watching Alexandra Donnachie’s twenty-eight at a theatre in Battersea with Ed and going to a bistro and for a walk along the south bank to Vauxhall in that storm.

10. My first visit to Ain’t Nothing But to see Subatomic Souls in a raucous bluesy boozy celebration, long overdue and just down the road from one of my parents’ favourite pubs.

11. that odd cultish tea in the Wimbledon tennis grounds on behalf of the Friends of the Common. We were living through the Stepford Wives.

12. Sleeping on Walter De La Mare’s floor in a house with no mirrors, filled with ladybirds, a rotting antler in the bathtub and eerie tenant drama – very much like one of his stories. Hayley, I’m glad you finally moved in after all the troubles you had. Not looking forward to our own forays into the property market this coming year.

13. Hanging out in Brighton Lanes with Lucy and watching the sun set over the burnt pier. Definitely had some flat jealousy there, but I liked to hear about the culture and weirdness in Brighton (the pier rivalries stick out). With the cover bands playing on the seafront and the pink glow off the sand we could have been a piece of vaporwave art.

14. Listening to Old Dirty Brasstards with Eliot and Hayley perform a medley of pop-punk and emo at The Garage in Highbury, taking us all back to Reading Festival 2008.

15. Grand day out in London with Megan culminating with seeing Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera House in the snow.

16. My first overnight med reg shift, which went well even as the PRUH went onto divert. Walking out of hospital feeling like an overcaffeinated superman. I had done daytime reg shifts before, but never at night. Couldn’t have done it without my fantastic team – group effort.

17. The day we visited the Francis Bacon exhibition and took an 11 mile stroll across London – checking off as many London minor landmarks as we could (the churches are all closed again), collecting the last of the wedding clothes on the way, ending up with a catch up with Jeremy and Nicola in the Westminster flat.

18. The easter Bank Holiday in total – from rambling across London through Regent’s Park and a cactus art gallery opening to staying awake into the wee hours arguing and telling jokes then drinking beer in the sun.

19. Making a bakeoff style cake with Hayley complete with hedgehog, coming second and taking it into work the next day to much applause. I’ve never been a good baker, so the kudos definitely goes to our lead baker, Katie.

20. driving to Brighton on the weekend to visit Lucy with Meg and hang out in Laines again with board game café and great Mexican food.

21. Granddad’s 90^th sunny birthday in Bath, having all of the cousins and second cousins around one table, all meeting each other then coffee on the balcony overlooking the river.

22. Spontaneous viewing of 47^th with Ed and Meg, some of the best seats in the Old Vic and hands down one of the best plays I’ve ever seen.

23. Chidham Opening Weekend celebrating my 30^th with fun not limited to a boat ride, the beach and walking back from Cobnor after being abandoned dockside.

24. Buying wedding clothes in Southall – being dazed by the colours and glamour.

25. chill dinner party at Shani’s with her prawns and lovely flat, taking my mind off of PACES for a little while.

26. finding out Megan was eating for two the morning after followed by Mol’s hen do and an upstanding Bloc Party gig at Ally Pally all in one day. Next year set to have many moments and much excitement in review indeed.

27. My wild stag do on and in the river at Henley. Getting soaking wet three times and regretting it on Monday. And that unspeakable nurse costume.

28. Our wedding day – all of the people who showed up and danced, all of the special ways we found to truly make it our own. I could probably write an entire review entry for the days either side as we set up, met people and put everything down.

29. The ensuing honeymoon, cramming as much as we could into a little taste of Asia – everything Singapore had to offer – swimming and cocktails on the rooftop, our late night safari, soaking the air and nightlife in the harbour and even the jungle trek.

30. Moll’s wedding – her Gaye Holud/Haldi ceremony and the privilege of helping with her saat paak.

31. Plopping an ultrasound probe on Meg’s tummy while we were at work to catch our baby dancing (ok, it was hiccups), but most certainly the coolest thing I have done with an ultrasound at work (even double CVC/VC)

32. Securing victory at this year’s Swingball championships and finally earning my towel (very good to absorb the sweat I’d accrued in the competition afterward)

33. Swarna and Ragu’s absolutely wild Tamil wedding at Syon Park.

34. Celebrating Hayley’s birthday at the Vyne followed by skydiving indoors

35. Last birthday of the summer in Reading with both Sam and Ben plus walking along the ridgeway to the Bell with Dad all in one weekend

36. Seeing Moll and Turja’s lovely apartment and driving back through central London in a thunderstorm – lovely scenes cosy behind the wheel of a car, just as long as I wasn’t actually driving that awkward route the satnav took us through St Pauls

37. Feeling the baby kick for the first time after driving back from Enfield after Mark’s birthday.

38. Bizarre spontaneous pub crawl across London the days after the queen died, leading to such Hogarthian visions of central London as broccoli being carried up the Mall to Buckingham palace, American tourists everywhere, a drunken first date in an imitation monastery, a racist rant about Lord of the Rings and a group of elderly freemasons procuring a rent boy.

39. Watching the Tempest at the Globe with Megan and mum for her birthday.

40. Spa day at the Reading Thames Lido and feeling as though I was swimming through a 1920s novella.

41. Checking out the Royal Opera House (La Boheme) with George and late drinks afterward at The Lamb and Flag.

42. Watching The Shining with Billy and Lucy at the Rivoli ballrooms and imagining as though we were sat in the Overlook.

43. Athenian Nights 1: wandering through Plaka and Anafiotika in the evening and smelling the jasmine

44. Athenian Nights 2: Watching the cover band play in Syntagma Square under cover of darkness

45. Athenian Nights 3: The view over Athens and Piraeus from wondering back down the twisty path up Mount Lycabettus in the evening.

46. Ed’s Christmas party – the beautiful far, far away costumes mixed with the jazz and too little time to catch up and chat with everyone I hadn’t seen in a while

47. Megan’s post-nights birthday – both of us worn out but happy at Cicchetti like the good old days

48. Watching England lose to France in the middle of the cold snap all of us sat around the fire apart from Dad who was too excited to sit down.

49. Giving a guest lecture at Oxford University (at age thirty, hopefully first of a few) and the formal afterwards at the Radcliffe Observatory, where they even let us into the top to look around.

50. Dropping by Brighton to watch the Burning of the Clocks with Lucy and gawping at the parade of lanterns being carried to the sea.

51. Byrne family Christmas – making puttanesca, drinking with cousins at the pub and playing with baby Corey

52. Huntington family Christmas – Manhattans and hat games, sitting by a roaring fire and listening to Granddad tell us about his misspent youth.

2021 in review: It’s my pandemic and I’ll cry if I want to.

January 1, 2022 georgeaitchLeave a comment

So we had a pandemic. Again. While clinging onto the last of whatever it is that keeps me going these days, I have managed to scrape some positive moments from down the back of the couch. Looking back on them, most of these seem surprisingly regular – garden parties, dinners, BBQs and the Eurovision song contest. We can eke out some normality in the face of the unexpected. Others have been completely life-defining. Let’s dive in:

Celebrating the New Year from the 15^th floor of the Royal London with the fantastic view of the fireworks and light show. This was both the high point (in terms of physical height) and the low point of my working through the pandemic (in terms of physical exhaustion). Despite having to work through it, we did get a world class view.
Nearly ending my career there a week later when a documentary crew watched a procedure I was supervising go badly wrong. I am glad to be able to see the funny side of this (no-one was harmed, though I still have scars on my palms from where my nails dug in.)
That dark evening in mid-January when I called Mark and Zehra to ask for their blessing. My feet didn’t touch the floor.
Hayley’s virtual Burns Night Supper, thanks for making sure that old acquaintance wouldn’t be forgot. I apologise for my accent.
That fantastic Twosday when I filled the flat with Twolips and candles and asked Megan to marry me and mum’s lovely reaction afterwards. We’ve been riding that high ever since.
The reflection of the setting sun over the Thames as we walked past the Naval College at the end of February on one of our first dares out of the flat.
Those warm days at the end of March when I cycled along the quietway to Waterloo and back, truly was very quiet.
Making mezze in Ed’s kitchen and making a bit of noise later in the back garden with his grandmother’s guitar
The four seasons in one day in Vicky’s back garden in Balham and not knowing whether to enjoy the sunshine or shelter from the snow.
Drinks with Sam and walking in a big circle around Greenwich in the sunshine after the end of lockdown.
Visiting The Vyne then playing kuub in Eliot and Helen’s garden.
Kim Yen and Nolan’s lovely garden/rooftop/not-quite-balcony party
Swinging by home the weekend before my birthday for a few walks up in the woods.
Birthday 29: magical mystery tour which included the Chelsea Physic Garden, lunch in Belgravia, a ring shopping and drinks in Hatton Garden, some closed churches and a few ghosts around Temple.
Hayley’s dedication to Eurovision night – the vast amount of organisation this took alone is impressive, let alone the sheer talent displayed by the videos.
Walking The Line to Zak and Billy’s new flat in Stoke Newington weird sculptures, sore feet and lovely food and company.
Eamonn and Emma coming down to visit and chilling in the flat – this has become a privilege and we are glad to enjoy it
Sharks reunited at the Nun’s Head – winning the quiz yet again.
Dropping by Crystal Palace for an Aperol Spritz and to exchange congratulations with Michael and Kirsten, then the lovely walk across the park to catch the bus home.
The trip to Sonning to sit in those igloos and eat fancy food whilst looking at the telephone installed on the bridge
First dinner party in the flat, hopefully not the last – ballroom dancing on the baseball diamond at sunrise with Sophie and Ed.
Cieran’s birthday BBQ and proposal, so glad it went well and we all got to celebrate together
Seeing George and Jen in Greenwich in the rain and having a great catchup before Jen’s flight
Weekend in Wessex with Anushka and walking around Stonehenge
Making pesto for Lucy and watching the England semifinals together
Mum visiting London and walking the old railway track with Billy and Zak
Taking Megan down to Devon to meet the fam and go for a dip in the sea at Exmouth
The rainy picnic at Buckingham Palace, strolling the ground with Beth, Hayley, Katie and Sam plus our two new doggie friends.
Hayley’s grand detective day out in London for her birthday
The Moon walk to Kensington with Beth and Hayley
Another day out with Hayley across London involving Sketch, a BDSM escape room and a lot of bao…
….followed by a garden party/pre-festival camping at Box Cott….
….then onto Foals and Bombay Bicycle Club at All Points East in Victoria park all in one weekend.
Going to the Sky Garden at the top of the walkie-talkie for drinks.
Exploring Southwark after dark with George and Carrie.
Rachel and Simon’s country wedding, ware was it?
The parents finally meeting at the Hare and Billet pub.
The dinner party in the flat with Ed, Mark, Nolan and Kim-Yen
Having Lucy stay with us for a week during her first week of uni.
Seeing Anything Goes with Zak and Billy at the Barbican
Impromptu Halloween board games with Sam and Badia
Visiting the Minack theatre, Lands end and everything else we did in Cornwall.
Granddad’s 90^th birthday party at the PH Hotel
Matt’s little jaunt into London at lunchtime.
Taking Megan out to see the Christmas lights and dinner in Fitzrovia for her birthday.
The London Symphony Orchestra rendition of Mahler’s 4^th symphony at the Barbican with Ed and Roisin after two long days of revision
Roisin and Ed’s long awaited Leading Ladies annual Christmas bash.
Not only did our article make the Christmas BMJ, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation wanted to interview me about it.
Dual Family Christmas day – our first successful visits, complete with three covid scares. And plenty of cheese and prosecco.
Board games night and watching the fireworks with Badia, Sam and Hayley – both on TV and from the window, not knowing how close they were to where we were staying.

Fifty pieces of good time in 2020

December 29, 2020 georgeaitchLeave a comment

Facebook stopped doing the notes option and removed the draft I had been working on all year. Screw you Mark Zuckerberg. I guess I should have kept it as a word document. I started keeping these eight years ago, shamelessly copying Hayley’s lovely notes. I’ve found that I need memories of these good times to hold onto when the light goes out, as it does often at this time of the year. 2020 has been an especially important year to generate and reminisce about the good times. Good times which I will refer to:

Ringing in the New Year from Westminster and watching all of the stragglers come home along Horseferry Road atop the balcony/terrace at Megan’s old flat, then walking down to the riverside as it got quiet to see a city in a new year, almost absolutely still.
The new years’ walk across Battersea where I managed to get Megan into a photobooth at a restaurant named after her.
Probably my last weekend away at the barn in the Peaks – feeling very old at Revue. I miss the funny things we used to do there when I was a part. Looking back fondly and going to the show is all I’ve got left of it, apart from watching the DVDs with Eamonn and booing.
Staying in a fancy hotel in Waterloo (the Park Plaza) with breakfast and a pool due to a gas company screw up – with our expenses eventually paid for! Very convenient to get to work, might I add.
Pranking Megan with the oversized boarding pass at Gatwick airport and watching her have to scan it to get through to the gate.
Visiting Rome and walking around the city in the evening, all the way along the Appian Way to the catacombs. I loved the architecture, the food and the people, particularly in Trastavere. Rome being a city with many periods in history, we could explore the ancient centre of the world right through to the Fellini café culture. Moreover, I’m glad there are still places in the world which I want to explore.
The William Blake exhibition at the Tate Britain (and everything else Blake related we’ve managed to do this year).
Zehra’s birthday escape room, the pub and cup of tea after – life can be about the simple pleasures.
Taking Megan to see her first football game – Wednesday versus Derby (let’s not mention the score). At least it wasn’t a London Club
The fellows evening with Adam at Mansfield college. Wonderful chance to speak to so many people with a wide variety of backgrounds with a whiskey laden soulful walk back through the park.
Catching up with Ben and Eliot at my favourite pub in London – a short walk from UCLH. I was hoping it wouldn’t be another year ‘til we saw each in person again, but the best laid plans….
The Whir-E-Gig in Hackney. Hands down the best rave I’ve ever been to – such awesome music, so many fun people. I can’t wait until it starts up again.
The adventure with the clock in my apartment and the cushions. That’ll have to stay between us.
The Harry Potter themed Revue show- that’s the filthiest it’s been in years, good job guys. Again, maybe the last time I’ll be there in person, looking at what this year is set to be like.
Amsterdam, the many walks through parks under grim skies and the many pancakes we had there. It was our last hurrah and goodbye to Europe before Brexit. I think we parted on good terms.
The camaraderie of working through a crisis with the NHS and the delicious biriyani donated by the East London Mosque. Though at times it felt like a battlefield, I have often wondered about the general coming-together-ness of the NHS and public service, I feared that it wouldn’t happen and the goodwill was all gone. How lovely to be wrong.
My fifteen seconds of fame having my experiences of working through the first wave featuring in the Stacey Dooley Lockdown Heroes programme on the Beeb.
Badia’s bumper birthday virtual quiz and all of the lovely zoom chats and meets and quiz nights and game nights and everything else online we used to keep in touch and together while we were apart.
Filling Megan’s room with 99 red balloons. It’s a good old prank and it certainly made us laugh when we weren’t allowed to go outside.
My lockdown murder mystery birthday party and feast, with the lovely video messages organised by Hayley. Spurred a few chats with some old, old friends.
Finally releasing lockdown and being able to explore the city properly again – resulting a series of Boris bike rides around the Thames and London’s parks.
Exploring some new/old genres of music and having my tastes this year totally changed. Ambient electronic music and chillwave are much less depressing that the indie-Morrissey inspired crap I’ve tried to distance myself from, leading to a purge of my music library.
The views from the 15^th floor CoVID ITU even while we were in PPE and being the last person there as it shuts down after the first wave. Life returned to normal, even if only for a little while.
Christina’s wonderful birthday bbq in her new place at Cheshunt.
The BLM protests in Westminster, the feeling that, once again this year, I was living through history and the sense of vertigo which that entails.
The last sunset and dinner in my old flat with its excellent views across London.
Carrying all of my cuttings to work from my rooftop garden which I was moving out of and how happy the aloes and spiderplants and mint leaves made everything who got one.
Moving into the cosy new Deptford flat – though I had one hour’s sleep post nights, we worked hard to badly put together our Ikea furniture and turn the place rapidly into a new home together. A new step forward and a place to shelter after woes at work. I also got to ride shotgun in Meg’s dad’s huge lorry – my 4 year old self would be very envious.
Getting my line competencies in ITU and really the whole ITU experience. It’s a career I’ve been considering for a while though this was my first taste (even at the height of a global pandemic). Not only did I find my niche, but I felt as though I thrived in it. I took a real pride in my work from the puzzle solving odd presentations to the family updates and sharing good and sometimes bad news. Perfecting a new skill and honing is a boundary marker to applying and interviewing in 2021.
Celebrating the end of the first wave in Whitechapel with the ACCU crew. In such a short time how much we’d gelled as a team. We’ll ignore what happened afterwards.
Trialling our seven new recipes which I’d borrowed from various places in the first kitchen I could call mine. It gets boring repeated the same 20 dinners or so. I’m glad we tried out new things to keep ourselves entertained and I’m even more glad that the chimichurri worked out so well.
Achieving my toxicology certificate through the University of Cardiff with a distinction and electing to continue through to diploma. This was my first real postgraduate qualification and it really rekindled my interest in medicine.
Ed’s Birthday dinner garden party he threw for Hazhee, with all of us cramped about a single table among the hedgerows, it felt as though we were in Alice in Wonderland.
Celebrating the Summer Solstice with some good old fashioned sun worship.
Hayley’s birthday atop a tour bus with Christina singing karaoke to the startled onlookers in Piccadily Circus.
Having dinner with Becky at Bishopsgate Duck and Waffle when she came to visit – the beautiful views up there.
Hiking in the Lakes with everyone for Dad’s birthday and the board games at the pub after
The Bath weekend – in particular the wedding we saw at the top of Glastonbury tor. In my mind, I have captured that scene inside a snowglobe, complete with the bridal party’s Gilbert and Sullivan themed costumes.
Checking out the Horniman museum with Hayley and Carl and their gardens afterward
Drinking on the last night before pub restrictions came into effect in the Shadwell basin with Sam. People ordering pints like it was the end of the world.
Dominic Cummings finally leaving Downing Street and trump getting voted out of office (even with all of the tension watching and obsessively refreshing my feeds)
The Dishoom and dinosaur day before lockdown – the manic Christmas shop
Having my work adapted for radio for the first time, hearing professional actors reading out the words I’d written.
The poverty walk around Deptford and learning the history of the place I’ve lived in for these past years with the friendly voice of an actor who read my story for a podcast.
Driving to Blenheim palace to see the magnificent Christmas lights displays, not quite as good as Kew Gardens but the setting makes up for it.
Walking across St Paul’s in the rain to see Hodge the cat and the memorial to heroic self sacrifice, thus ticking off many of the London Landmarks around St Paul’s and the Tower which I’ve been meaning to see.
Our Oxleas sunset walk with Alex through the woods which I’d lived and worked around for two years but not actually visited.
Getting covid. That’s a box ticked, I’m certainly more thankful for my health afterward. Hopefully I’ll ride that wave into the New Year.
Christmas. Though we had the once in a blue moon doctor Christmas that both Megan and I were off at the same time, we still didn’t manage to see our parents. Here’s to making the best of it in the worst of times.
All of the beautiful DLR journeys to and from work where the sunlight sync’d up with the book I was reading or the music on my iPod.