A trip to St Luke’s in Glasgow with the Braw Brides party night - my harp was part of the Jungle Book Orchestra and she was very happy to have a good seat for Mia Meow’s fire performance.
This year has been a packed year beyond any other.
For the first half of the year, and for the first time ever, I completely blocked out my harp calendar so I could concentrate on training for a big running event I had in the diary. It didn’t go to plan sadly, but this wasn’t a huge surprise and despite training much more efficiently and being in much better health than the last time I attempted the race, I still had to stop at exactly the same place. The strange thing was I wasn’t really disappointed - I felt so awful when I stopped that I just wanted it to be over. Heat and altitude do not agree with me it’s fair to say, but also I just wasn’t fit enough for that kind of race. I don’t think I’ll be back for another go - it was very busy and I like a bit more personal space around me in the mountains.
Grindelwald valley at 4.38am - I had climbed 1000m already by this point. Thankfully this view was worth the hard work!
I also have a bit of a strong reaction to the sight and sound of a helicopter at the moment, and these are ever-present at big European mountain races. This is left over from another big event of the year. My mum was taken ill very suddenly and very seriously over the summer and the sight and sound of the coastguard helicopter at Oban hospital is still pretty vivid. Thankfully she has mostly recovered, but the shock and the after-effects on her, my dad and me will take a little while to work through.
I left my very stressful day job in investment banking. This had been coming for a while but it was accelerated after everything happened with my mum. I needed some breathing space and some time to figure out what was next. I eventually found another day job - for now I’m happy that I do other non-harp things to cover the bulk of the bills, and it was good to take a little time to think about that and what that job could be.
I finally sold my old house in the hills and after a huge long phase of Marie Kondo-inspired rightsizing, I moved the rest of my stuff into my now husband’s flat in the city.
And of course I got married - while we were high in the mountains in Switzerland, a perfectly timed prosecco truck was taken full advantage of. He asked, and after a few moments where I thought he was joking, and a LOT of tears, I said yes.
In between all that, C and I explored some more island beaches and we had a proper holiday on Colonsay in September. There was still some running, but both of us needed a few days of Not Doing Much and it really was perfect.
My harp and I went to some beautiful places this year, but I'll be honest, I’m exhausted and we’re both ready for a rest after Christmas.
Here are just a few photos of some of the places we’ve been together this year.
