If 2020 was weird and different, 2021 has been depressingly familiar. A never ending pandemic that continues to bring hardship to millions around the world either directly or indirectly. As always, I end the year with a look back at the previous year, the 6th time I've done this.

You can read my end of year review for 2020 here.
​You can read my end of year review for 2019 here.
You can read my end of year review for 2018 here.
You can read my end of year review for 2017 here.
You can read my end of year review for 2016 here.

This was the first time since I started this blog that I didn't make a single trip out of the country, for obvious reasons, but I opened my Travel Shop. The furthest I went was the Jurassic Coast. I spent most of my time in the Midlands visiting the West Midlands Safari Park, Bridgnorth, different Gurdwaras in the area, and the Black Country. I also finally waved goodbye to London after almost 7 years in the city, and covered my favourite London Museums. The summer of 2021 brought us the delayed Euro 2020 and I wrote about my experiences of attending the final between England and Italy. 

As always, you can click any of the blue links to read in depth reviews of each location

After 7 years in London, living in zones 1,2 and 3, north and south of the river, and east and west of Charring Cross, I thought it was about time I summed up my experiences of living in the city. It's obscenely expensive, and an echo chamber for metropolitan elitism that bears little to no resemblance to the rest of the UK. It can be cold, grey and miserable - and it is nothing but a giant monopoly board for the privileged few who buy property to launder their money, and then let it sit empty while rent prices go through the roof for everyone else.

But it is also creative, energetic and lively and with something for everyone. It has architecture that will make your jaw drop, history that will immerse you, and open spaces that'll make you forget you're in one of the world's most powerful cities. You could live here all your life, and by the time you figure it out, the city has changed again. It's a city you can love and hate in equal measure - but there is nothing quite like it anywhere else.

Popular culture in the UK seems to distinguish between the 'north' and London, with scarcely a mention of the land in between. However, the Midlands is culturally, historically and economically one of the most important regions in the country. After all, the Midlands is where the Industrial Revolution took birth, the middle-earth of Tolkien, it's the place that gave us league football and the sport of rugby, it's the birthplace of William Shakespeare and is home to the UK's second largest city. This article focuses on the (West) Midlands and I look at 10 reasons why you really should visit it.

When we first went into lockdown a year ago, I don't think any of us could have predicted the 12 months that have followed. People have lost jobs, and many others have lost lives. I count myself fortunate to be in neither of those categories, but I wanted to share a visual account of my lockdown, if for nothing else, to remind myself years from now how things can change in an instant.

​Before I begin, if you want to read my thoughts on the coronavirus from a year ago you can do so here, but just remember things have changed a lot since then. If you want to read my review of the year 2020, you can do that here.