Glasgow, Scotland, UK • December 2021 • Length of Read: 2 Minutes
Welcome to my sixth annual year in review, in which I take a pause to reminisce and reflect on the past twelve months and tie a bow around the highlights package of the year gone by. Racing out of lockdown as winter thawed to spring, I was right back into the gym and onto the golf course, taking up a membership at Cathcart Castle, getting custom fitted for a new set of clubs, and earning an official playing handicap of 7. A weekend retreat with my family on the Fife coastline celebrated my 30th Birthday in May, followed by a 4-day hillwalking trip with my dad to Newtonmore as he attempts to bag all of Scotland’s Munros for a second time.
Things were stopped in their tracks come June, however, as I was stuck down with covid; pounding headache, loss of smell and taste, toothache and sapped of all energy. I can’t credit my girlfriend enough for how well she nursed me through what was a terribly rough time. After four long weeks I was back on my feet, having completed Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 on the Nintendo Switch, and was preparing myself for the second annual Kiwi, Kiwi Invitational with a joint birthday round of golf at Lundin Links.
Come Autumn things were uprooted as my girlfriend found herself relocating to Yarm, Yorkshire for a career in forensic psychology. Weekends spent up and down the road from Glasgow were smooth sailing in my new Audi A1, however, the VW Polo having given up the ghost after 5 long years of service. The adventures that car has been on and stories it could share… if only it could talk.
The soundtrack to my calendar year was spearheaded by 29: Written in Stone by Carly Pearce, Dangerous: The Double Album by Morgan Wallen, Sunshine State of Mind by Brian Kelly, Letters to You by Bruce Springsteen, and Heart & Soul by Eric Church. Five books that I couldn’t put down were The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park, Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, Educated by Tara Westover, and The Powers of Geography by Tim Marshall.
And as tradition states, here are the top five moments that I want to remember 2021 by:
Playing a Round of Golf at The Old Course, St. Andrews with my dad to celebrate our respective 30th and 60th milestone birthdays.
Completing the second annual David Goggins 4/4/48 Running Challenge in the coastal town of Whitby with Gadams and Jason; running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours on a local diet of ‘jumbo’ fish & chips.
Helping my amazing girlfriend move to Yorkshire to pursue her dream job and taking the opportunity to explore a beautiful and historic part of England. As an early Christmas present, I also secured a brand-new job myself which promises to be a fantastic next step in my professional career.
Competing in my first in-house CrossFit competition and ticking off significant movement milestones and personal records, including: bar muscle-ups, deadlift, back squat and 2km row.
Breathing in a heavy dose of nostalgia by Catching All 150 original Pokémon on the Game Boy, linking up multiple cartridges and consoles whilst falling back in love with a franchise that so captivated my imagination as a kid.
Closing out the year strongly, I was delighted to accept the honour of being best man at the upcoming wedding of my best friend since childhood and in a few days’ time will be boarding a flight to Greece to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my girlfriend’s family and friends (my first time on a plane in 18 months). There’s so much to be thankful for in this world and I have enhanced gratitude for those that surround and support me. As I enter a new decade in my life, three travel books and a million adventures in the memory bank, I find my focus shifting to other pursuits, but this blog will always be an outlet for my thoughts when needed. The posts may be coming less frequent, but the importance that the Crobs Abroad project still plays in my life is immeasurable.