This month marks 1 glorious year since I touched down on Aussie tarmac and my ‘quarter life crisis travels began’. And given that I am still paying for this dotcom (seemed like a good idea at the time) and I’ve pretty much spent this entire last weekend wallowing in nostalgia, I thought I’d churn out a special anniversary edition as I know it’s really what you’ve been waiting for #thankstothefans #givethepeoplewhattheywant

So 2016 was kind to me (apart from that bit where George Michael died and I was unemployed for 4 months…those bits were proper shit!) and I now more than ever I look back so fondly on what really was an epic adventure.

I jumped out of a plane in Melbourne,  climbed the great wall of China, listened to the blues in Memphis and (here comes the cringe) made some real friends for life. I never underestimate how lucky I am. Even when I’m crammed under someone’s armpit on the commute, but where has life taken me 1 year on?

Pre -travels was triggered by several factors including: Work in an office, being single, still living in the same place and still filling the days counting down to annual leave and drinking a lot of gin to fill the boring ones.

One year on? I now work in an office, i’m single, i’m living back in the same place and still filling the days counting down to annual leave and drinking too much gin…..oh wait?

So despite my epic quest to ‘find myself’ it turns out I wasn’t in a dive bar in New Orleans, on It’s a small world in Hong Kong, amongst the waves of Bondai…(but it’s good to check anyway right?!) In fact I can’t help thinking as I stare out the gloomy, rainy window of my generic London office block that I haven’t really gone that far at all.

I think it’s mainly because actually believing that ‘Life is a journey’ makes you a massive wanker. Sure it’s a ‘journey’ in the sense that you start in one place, travel to work and end up in a physical ‘nother, but what really changes? Not sure that a massive, properly fun holiday changed my entire perspective on life. It mainly made me think, wow, pissing off for a year is well expensive and turns out you do have to work for a living. And probably for a really long time. But hey ho, I am nothing if not a professional cynic so one year on, I expected my ‘place in life’ to be much the same anyway.

Caveat of COURSE being I had a LOT of fun and do know I was very lucky to go at all (so hush your ‘entitled millenial’ heckles!!!!)

I did do a thing where I joined a gym…which anyone who knows me will wheeze at. Blog post on that to follow…

Personal transition into full blown Bridget Jones trundles on. I am now back in the world of dating apps, and just as unimpressed by the outcomes (Bumble is the latest and an idea I really should have made a lot of money from as it is just my entire approach to dating anyway!) Maybe one day someone will invent a thing called ‘friend of a friend’ where people go ‘nostalgic and old skool’ and don’t use technology but instead introduce you to a decent not mental mate and you live happily ever after?

It’s also getting to an awkward stage where most people I see on my daily commute / at work / at Starbucks look like really good prospects and this is normally closely followed by what I call the ‘make bad decisions’ phase, so i’m trying to keep that at bay best I can.

In recent wondrous news the beloved Foo Fighters did agree to headline Glasto this year (oh how nice of you / about bloody time) and I will be attending in full force so pretty sure Dave Grohl will come to his senses and sack off Jordan Blum in favour of my sparkling wit and charm. Surely, right?….failing that there’s always that bloke in IT with the eye patch!!!…Pray for me!