Where I was 2009

This is my annual round up of where my feet have taken me over the past twelve months. You can compare my footsteps in 2009 with previous years here and here.

It has been a good year, and quite a momentous one now that I look back at it.

I started the year, as I always do, working long, difficult hours at the bank for the whole of January putting together the financial year end.

Walking to work, January 2009

But nine months later I left work - happily - and January 2010 will not be anything like the previous twelve Januaries for me at all. I am looking forward to it. I don't know what 2010 will bring for me work-wise, but I have a few plans that I want to try. And I rather like not knowing how that part of my life will change. I like mysteries!

Leaving my office in the City for the last time. September 7th 2009.

My feet went on holiday a few times this year. We spent a week in the Isle of Wight in February for G's birthday where we walked along cliff tops and shorelines and blew away the last of the winter cobwebs.

Scrambling over rocks, Isle of Wight, February 2009

We went to France at the beginning of the summer holidays. We travelled by train and had a week in Paris and then a week in the South, staying with Mum & Dad.

G and me, outside Notre Dame, watching the children leap about in the sandpits on our first evening in Paris. July 2009.

An afternoon by myself at the Musee d'Orsay, looking at all my favourite Renoir paintings, July 2009.

In the Jardins de Luxembourg, Paris, with a good book, July 2009.

Hiding indoors from the midday heat, with my knitting. Tarn-et-Garonne, August 2009.

Watching my mother teach O to swim, Tarn-et-Garonne, August 2009.

And in September I grabbed myself a last minute bargain and whisked the children off to Aldeburgh in Suffolk for the final week of the summer holidays. We ate lots of fish and chips, I taught C to row on Thorpeness Mere, we caught loads of crabs, and we sat on the beaches and looked out to sea.

The best fish & chips in the world, Aldeburgh beach, September 2009.

We sneaked in a couple of camping trips as well. We went here in April, here in May and here in June.

The orchard campsite, Suffolk, April 2009.

Ashurst Campsite, the New Forest, May 2009.

Holidays are exciting, fun and refill us with enthusiasm - particularly camping holidays. But real life continues in between those high days and holidays. There are quiet, substantial moments of relaxation and happiness to be found in the most mundane of places.

One of the nicest aspects of not working is being able picking up the children from school every day. Here we are in October, in the garden of the local community centre, before O's ballet lesson.

Wanstead House, October 2009.

Long family walks are good for the soul, and a reliable and cheap day out when houshold finances have to be tightened. When we knew I was going to be leaving work, G and I bought ourselves a season ticket to Kew Gardens. Within just three trips it had paid for itself and it is now saving us money each time we go. I never tire of that place. It changes so dramatically with each season, and amazingly it is vast enough that I am still discovering parts of it for the first time with each new visit.

C and I making long shadows in Epping Forest, January 2009.

All of us in the Temperate House at Kew, March 2009.

Bare feet and daisies near the Pagoda at Kew, August 2009.

I taught myself to knit in 2009, and in April I went on a short six week course where I learnt how to use dpns and knit socks.

First sock finished! May 2009.

There were days out with friends throughout the year. In August, Miss Moss Stitch and I discovered the Horniman Museum.

C and T doing sudoku on the tube, August 2009.

There was a great deal of happy family news this year. In April my little sister married her soldier amongst the cherry blossom, in October we said hello to a new nephew, and a couple of weeks later my mother had a much needed hip replacement operation.

New nephew, Ben, October 2009. Photo by my sister-in-law.

And now here I am, about to start a new year and a new folder of photos. I never make New Year's resolutions, but I do have plans and ideas. I will keep you posted!

Sunshine in St Paul's Cathedral churchyard, September 2009.

Snow in London, December 2009.

A very happy New Year to you all.