2025
New Year’s Eve
My wife and I have come to the decision that I will come home after I finish work this evening at 9pm, and stay home. Whether we stay up until midnight is another thing entirely!
Bloody Freezing
It is quite literally freezing out there this morning. 31°F. Blue sky and sunny when I look out of my front room window. I can pretend it’s summer. Hopefully, we’ll have a good one this coming year. I can’t wait for winter to go away.
Last Working Day of 2025
The last working day of 2025. I hope it’s a non-eventful one. Will I stay up tonight? I’ll see how I feel. These days, I’m usually in bed asleep by ten pm or so.
I shall start the New Year with a four-day long weekend off.
That Time Again
Another day at work, but it’s the second best bit.
That’s when I get a break and get coffee and cake!
The best bit? Well, that’s when I get to go home of course.
Anyway,it’s pretty quiet today, and as we go into the evening it will get quieter. It normally does. Not sure about tomorrow though, as that’s New Year’s Eve. WE shall see then.
Current Listening
I’m working my way through some of Compact Grey’s Sets on Soundcloud. Some great stuff if you enjoy house, deep house and techno.
Some of the sets are five hours long, and I seldom get that much time in one hit, so I listen in ‘instalments’.
Headphone Listening
I have always enjoyed headphone listening, though until recently most of my home listening has been via speakers. It’s quite a solitary thing listening through cans, although it is more immersive, of course.
When I sit down and listen to music, I want to be immersed. I’m not talking about background music, while I am doing something else, but JUST listening to music.
I’ve tried IEMs. I have a set of AirPods Pro 2. They’re pretty decent, but I’m not comfortable walking about with them as they tend to fall out, and it’s super easy to lose them.
I got my first good pair of headphones about thirty years ago, when I got some Sennheiser HD25s. They were about £250 back then - around 1995.
A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Apple AirPods Max. They’re pretty good, and the Active Noise Cancelling is superb. The best I’ve heard. Thing is, they’re Bluetooth, so they’re not lossless.
Having upgraded the hifi and invested in a Home Cinema system, I wanted to get some wired headphones. Firstly, I got a pair of AKG 701s. Pretty good, but perhaps a little bright.
Next came the HifiMan Ananda Nanos. These are currently my go-to headphones when listening at home. I am really pleased with the audio, plenty of bass for me, with a good midrange and treble that’s clear but not too bright or sibilant.
I wanted something for mobile use, and I found a decent budget pair - JBL 720BTs. They have an option for wired use, though, and after a short while with the Apple DAC Dongle, I got a Fiio KA13 DAC, which is a definite improvement.
For Christmas this year, though, I was given a pair of Fiio FT1s. I wanted these as they’re a closed-back headphone, which is, of course, necessary when out in public.
Cold & Dark Again
I”m sitting in a local coffee shop typing this. My wife and I bought each other a folding keyboard and iPhone stand for each other for Christmas.
I’m typing on it now. It’s quite ok. Easy to type on - certainly better than using an on screen keyboard that’s for sure.
It’s warm in here, and I have a hot coffee. I’m looking out through the window and it’s cold and dark outside. I’ve got another 25 minutes in here before I venture outside again though
Lucky For Some
Yes, I’m looking at you lucky buggers that get a break all the way from the weekend before Christmas to the weekend after New Year’s Day.
I went back to work on Boxing Day and will be working through to New Year’s Eve. I don’t always stay up to see the New Year in these days, but I finish just before 9 pm, so it’s an option to do something if I wish. I’m then off for four days, and go back to work on January 5th. Just happens that my long weekend off falls on those days.
This Evening’s Listening
Judith Owen - Happy This Way
Coffee & Cake
Having my lunch break. It’s dry outside, although it’s rather chilly at only 42°F
#BoxingDay
