From: Andy Kilpatrick
Sent: 17 December 2020 20:50
To: Andy Kilpatrick
Subject: Xmas Missive 2020 (aka Things Can Only Get Better?)
Hi everyone.
Well, another year rolls by. Nothing changes. Same old, same old…
OK, maybe not.
So: what can I say to cheer us all up?
- We can still play music in lockdown...
- Young people can still have fun... .
Hmm.
Well, here’s the Family News Bit
- We didn’t have a nice hiking holiday in Italy. But we did eat a significant quantity of pasta.
- We did conveniently had our children at exactly the right time, so that they didn’t have to go through the UK’s amusing comedy exam carnage. Not sure if this counts as News?
- Ellie went to Lille, France in August to do some TEFL. Then on to Lyon for her year abroad.
- Durham Uni : “don’t go to France it’s too scary”. Ellie :“I’m already there, ha!”
- In October Barbara went to visit her and had a nice time. Then M. Macron threatened to lock Ellie in a cupboard for a month so she came home with Barbara.
- I hid in an AirBnB to avoid having to hold my breath in the house while the ladies were quarantining.
- Hopefully Ellie will return to Lyon in the New Year. Assuming we’re not in a Fish War.
- Josh enjoyed his extended sojourn at home, engaging in much online socialising, and even once or twice being spotted by his parents.
- He’s been back at Southampton since – doing some Philosophy, Japanese and covid-(but-maybe-not-gravity)-safe indoor climbing in his spare time.
- I did some mental and physical exercises in lockdown:
- some cycling in the leafy environs of Enfield
- some silly Facebook posts, mostly featuring my exciting Facial Hair
- swam my first actual mile since I was, like, 10 or something. Then they shut the pool - ‘coz chlorine, like, doesn’t clean things, or whatever...
- I got tested for various things – no not That – with assorted results saying I’m no longer twenty-something, goddam it.
- Barbara put up with me.
- Which was actually quite an achievement.
- …
- You’re all supposed to say “No, you’re really easy going Andy”. Pah.
Work News;
- Microsoft bought Metaswitch (with whom I’ve worked for 31 years OMG) this year, so I’ll be beavering away empowering everyone in the cloud, or something like that.
- I think this means I could get people cheap Xboxes. If I wanted to. Which I don’t. Bah humbug: interact with real humans instead.
- I’ve been one of not very many folk actually working in the office since September. I think my emails to HR must have just been more annoying then everyone else’s…
- I’m moving my personal correspondence to my hotmail address as my Metaswitch one will soon be disappearing. Please update your many address books, contact folders, phone thingamajigs, scraps of paper, and so on accordingly (see also Science News/2 below).
Musical News.
- ☹ in general. Bloody bats.
- “I didn’t go to the Isle of Wight with my horn”. I feel this could be the title of my first novel?
- Did get some playing in gardens and exciting socially distant orchestra rehearsals. Furthest I’ve been from flautists for years!
- Ow! Come on Barbara, no violence.
Science News. I thought I’d do some experiments to fill the time, but Nobel Prize have eluded me.
- I lost some kilogrammes somewhere this autumn. Hopefully I’ll find them over Xmas holidays.
- I performed an experiment in Graph Theory, in which I communicated with a bunch of people by email / phone / whatsapp / facebook messanger / actual meetings / etc., to see how many people would reciprocate. Awaiting results.
- I tried calculating how many 100-nanometer viruses could fit on Mr Trump’s tiny hands, but ran out of chocolate and beer.
- You may enjoy this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes.https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/#ig2020. Nice to see Our Great Leaders winning something.
Ranting News.
- There’s been so much for me to rant about this year, I think you can all take this as read. And it is Christmas. But if anyone wants to hear some, I’m available for parties.
I guess that’s it for 2020. I hope this finds you and your loved ones well. Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy (and hopefully better) New Year.
Love,
Andy
P.S. If you don’t want to receive this sort of email, or don’t know / care who I am, please let me know, so I can report myself to my local GDPR consultant (aka Her Indoors), and perhaps pay her a fine.