Eyebeemania

Actually I don’t really bother about it that much. Post much everyone I know is broke and/or boozed out by now anyway.

Not sure what I’ll get up to today yet. We shall see.

Happy New Year. I quite like this time on New Year’s Day morning. It’s quiet everywhere. The party revellers and the pissheads from last night are still either asleep or nursing hangovers. I had a couple of small glasses of wine before midnight, and that was it, so I’m clear-headed this morning.

Aside from aircraft landing at Heathrow, it’s very quiet outside, and I can hear the birds singing. It’s a cold morning, much too cold for my liking, but at least it’s a dry, sunny, blue-sky day.

I might go out for a walk later, take a few photos. I have a break from the salt mine until Monday, which is always a good thing. First, though, it’s time to enjoy another mug of coffee.

Of course this is worldwide and we all live in different time zones but here in London England we are now in 2026. It is a few minutes past midnight and we’ve started the New Year.

We stayed at home. I finished work at 9 pm and went home at dinner. Had some cheese and wine and watched the London fireworks on the TV now it’s time to go to sleep although the neighbourhood currently sounds like a war zone with fireworks going off everywhere!

It just remains for me to say a happy New Year to all of you wherever in the world you may be.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

Judith Owen - Happy This Way

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lsuurLqASR-_q8Od6U9jfM2JWN16yoKKI&si=PCHknzK_58dcbAm0

Having my lunch break. It’s dry outside, although it’s rather chilly at only 42°F

#BoxingDay

I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2026

#Christmas

After a quick trip to the local shops, at the end of the street, and a quick breakfast, we got home and stayed there! The current temperature is 40°F, but a nor-easter is making it feel like 27°. It’s dark by 4 pm in any case!

Some music listening, a pork stir-fry for dinner, and some time spent updating a couple of WordPress sites have been my activities for the afternoon.

Here’s a photograph I took yesterday at Paddington Station.

Once upon a time, these were a regular thing, but these days, I only seem to have them at Christmas!

Sad & Beautiful World from Mavis Staples, the last surviving member of the Staple Singers, who started out in 1950. Mavis is 86, but you wouldn’t think so, when you listen to her singing.

There is a coating of frost on the cars parked in the street. It’s still dark after 7am. The temperature is just edging 40°F.

I’m waiting for the bus to work. I am not relishing the day ahead.

it was a nothing kind of day today. I got up at just after five and went to work and got home around 3 pm and then I eat my sandwiches that I didn’t eat earlier and had a cup of coffee and across a beer and listen to some music and they went to bed and that was it really.

The highlight of my day was probably the chocolate cake I had on my morning break.