Seasons greetings everyone! I hope that you're having a peaceful time and enjoying the festive season. My family is a mix of faiths, none of them very observant, but my mum and my brother always come over on Christmas Day for a big dinner, games, gifts and lots of belly laughs. It's become one of my favourite days.

2022 has been an exciting year for Emm in London. After a five-year hiatus, peppered by a few attempts to post in-between, I finally revived the blog in earnest and have been publishing a post every fortnight since May. I'm taking things slow this December, so there will be just this post, but I'll be back to fortnightly posts in January.

Here are some of the highlights of 2022:

January

We started off the year with a visit to the Banksy exhibition in London. Later in the month, we went to the Winter Light Festival in Gravesend, which I'll be blogging about in January.

February

We started off the month with a visit to the Francis Bacon: Man & Beast exhibition at the Royal Academy, London. I wrote about how I first fell in love with Francis Bacon at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. I enjoyed the London exhibition but the New York exhibition back in 2009 gave a more nuanced insight into the man himself.

I ended the month by taking my mum to the Eventim Apollo to see Shen Yun, a beautiful performance of song and dance showing China before communism. We enjoyed it so much that we'll be returning in April 2023.

March

We celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary in March with dinner at Parsons Seafood Restaurant and an overnight stay at NYX Hotel London Holborn. It possibly sounds a bit subdued, but wait until you see what we did in November!

We also went to the Doctor Who: Time Fracture immersive experience, which was a lot of fun and went to Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation which I'll tell you about next year.

April

April started off with a bang as I took my mum to see Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds at the O2. There was much excitement when we discovered that Kevin Clifton was playing the artilleryman.

April was the month that I took my friend Sarah on a 5km walk around Cobham that turned out to be a 5 mile walk. I still haven't blogged about it because I am still so embarrassed. At least we had a lovely Sunday lunch afterwards to make up for it.

We also attended the Van Gogh immersive experience that month and I finally took my mum to see the Carol King musical Beautiful which was marvellous.

May

May began with a visit to Northern Ireland where we attended a wedding at Mussenden Temple and explored the Giants Causeway.

We also saw Luke Jerram's Gaia at Rochester Cathedral in May.

June

June was a bumper month! I travelled to Barcelona to see Nick Cave and Bauhaus at Primavera Sound.

We also visited the Gunpowder Plot. Stephen's parents arrived at the end of the month and we visited Rye and Hastings.

July

July began with one of my favourite days out: a visit to the Battle of Hastings battlefield and Battle Abbey.

We also visited the Dartford Big Day Out and the church in Kent where you can see Marc Chagall stained glass windows. I previously blogged about the Dartford Vintage Car and Steam Rally and All Saints Tudeley in 2014.

August

We went to Cakes & Bubbles in August and I saw Bauhaus at Brixton Academy.

We also saw the Frida & Diego immersive experience. It was okay but made me promise myself to go to more actual museums and galleries in 2023.

September

We went to Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing in September and saw Arcade Fire in concert at the O2.

We went to the Bournemouth Air Festival and visited Corfe Castle and Tyneham.

Finally, we went to Loch Monzievaird for my mum's 70th birthday celebrations where I got lost on Laggan Hill

October

October was quiet. I took my mum to see Deep Purple at the O2 for her actual birthday and spoiled her with lunch at Miller & Carter on the actual day.

November

November was pretty epic because we flew to the Maldives to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Let me tell you, choosing one photo to represent our trip was not easy but I'll be telling you all about it in January and February!

December

December has been all about finishing work for the year and completing my impossible 520 mile run / walk target for the year. I'm spending new year in Dublin and Courtown, County Wexford and will tell you all about that next year.

Wishing you all the best for a happy, healthy 2023 and I'll see you next year!

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