Ladies and gentlemen, on 19 December 2025 it finally happened: I woke up no longer a vibrant young man in my thirties, but a full-on middle-aged dad-bod-sporting man in my forties. What a difference a day makes, hey.
I haven't written a blog post here in a few years, so for the sake of my future biography let's share a few milestones shall we?
At the end of 2023, I bought a house with my girlfriend. We celebrated Christmas in our very own home, and for the first time in my life I could stop paying rent to someone else (instead paying bond payments to a bank - same difference except now I don't have a landlord to complain to when things go wrong).
In some spectacularly poor timing, I installed a spanking new inverter and two batteries in the very month that South Africa declared an end to loadshedding. The inverter has helped my house stay powered every since, even with a couple shortlived local power interruptions, but loadshedding surprised everyone by not coming back.
There were other surprising things as well, most notably that COVID didn't come back. And the ANC and the Democratic Alliance and some smaller parties entered into a Government of National Unity (cue endless Gnu-related humour, not that any of us in South Africa really even know what a gnu is). And Donald Trump somehow getting elected to a second term (may it be forever recorded in history that he is known as the first Cheeto president due to his orange colour).
While things have felt a tiny bit more stable in South Africa, the international landscape has never looked worse: an endless Russian invasion of Ukraine, horrific public shootings of all kinds, the confusing emigration programme implemented by Trump for Afrikaans farmers to escape persecution in South African by moving to the United States (I'm genuinely not clear on whether Afrikaans bakers and candlestick makers are ineligible under this programme - or if all Afrikaaners are now classed as farmers).
As I write this, on 30 December 2025 while on holiday, I recently completed a lengthy roadtrip holiday with my girlfriend and stepson: from Johannesburg to George, then George to Cape Town, and back up to Johannesburg (sleeping responsibly halfway in Colesberg on both directions) ... and it was both weird to see how much I still remembered for places I haven't visited in decades, and also how some of the things I remembered most fondly have almost completely changed.
I described a childhood growing up in that area which is no longer possible: driving a bike from a school that was not surrounded by the protective fences it currently is, to a games arcade that is now a mechanics workshop, to grab a pie at a train station where the train station no longer runs (but the pie store is still there and we enjoyed some tasty pies there) ... and off to Knysna on the weekend, where the library my grandfather dropped me off at is now switched around, with the children's books section I spent so many happy hours now on the "wrong side" of the library, and the donut shop he and I sat and enjoyed the most delicious donuts I'd ever tasted in my WHOLE LIFE (of around 10 years) is now a cellphone accessory store ... to eventually work as a newspaper reporter from an office which is now in the building next door to where it is now, and take photos of stage plays at the Knysna Playhouse which is now a funeral undertaker.
Mixed feelings hey. While in George I also met my old High School buddy for the first time since we matriculated in 2003. We chatted easily, but he now has two kids and a wife and is gray like me in places but I could still chat to him and feel like I was in High School still and it was almost time to submit that big Geography assignment.
Professionally, I finally had a change at my job: I now have a different key client at my advertising agency, and focus more on media than outright project management. Same agency though, making this easily my longest-ever job.
Personally, I'm planning to get engaged in 2026. I'd never have thought that was possible if you'd asked me a few years ago when I went through the trauma of divorce, but my girlfriend is the perfect woman for me. It hasn't been easy, but nothing is ... that was the Offspring who sang that right? We've both grown as individuals and as a couple, and truly love each other in a way that I've never experienced before.
My website is also starting to get a bit more daily organic traffic, mostly from Asia ... if it blows up there, I'm not sure if I'm ready for what that will mean. My biggest concern is the Google Maps license fees and how I'd cover those if my website pushes out of the "free" tier with Google. But it's definitely time for growth there too, so let's see what 2026 brings.
Aaaaaand ... that's about us up to date on the big stuff. I'm suffering the typical midlife regrets of "I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to by 40", and trying to use every last shred of wisdom I have to understand that this is 'just a phase' and I need to power through this.
If you tune into this blog waiting for the post where I say "I've made it" (after winning the lottery or having some massive boost to my career - or both why not), just know that I'm also waiting for that post.
Roll on 2026, let's make it good.
