December 2021 Five Questions 🤔

Christy's questions

1. How far in advance do you like to start planning things?

Two days ago I thought that I should answer these questions. Yesterday I started on the answers. That's quite far in advance for me.

2. What do you hope happens in 2022?

Obviously Covid should go away. And something positive on climate change. And a few personal things that I won't be making public.

3. What challenges have you recently overcome?

After months of barely going out of the house, and plenty of days where I didn't even go downstairs, I felt like my head was full of jelly. When I started going back to the office, I found I was helped by the structure and the clear demarcation between work and home. This was a surprise to me because I would previously have thought people odd who felt that way. Mental health is... crazy.

4. Seasonal traditions you're most excited about

For many years we went to a large family gathering on Christmas day. But when some of the older members died, there was less pressure to all meet up. We did it at home with just immediate family and it was magical. My family in my house, not wondering when we could go home. So that's a fairly new tradition that I'd like to continue. We'll have vegan pie for lunch and then play a game. Nothing fancy required.

5. Are you good at directions and maps?

I'm more content when I know how to get from one place to another, and when I can place myself mentally in my surroundings. So I find looking at maps comfortable as well as helpful. A young person I know said in a puzzled tone that his dad was obsessed with maps, and would buy one whenever they went somewhere on holiday. No, that's normal! And when I've tried to get kids to learn about their surroundings and how to find their way to places, they often say "just use Google maps".

In England, grid layouts for streets are almost unheard of. You learn your way around town by building a mental map of where places are in relation to each other. Then when I was in Glasgow, which *does* have a grid layout, I never could figure out where I was. It's like trying to tell by looking at the squares on a fragment of graph paper whether it came from the top left or the bottom right of the page. There's almost nothing to go on.

back to gemlog