3 x 365 = 1095

This is my 1095th blip so for 3 x 365 I stood on Princes Street between snow showers in the freezing cold this morning to photograph the number 3 bus.
 
It has become my habit to write a longer narrative than usual on blipdays (or on a weekend date soon after the blip date falls). The last time I did this was on 12th October to mark my 1000th blip earlier that week on 7th October. So here I am again reflecting on the past 3 months in the world of hazelh.
 
A quick read back through my blips leads me to conclude that if you're lucky enough to find me not working, I'm partying. There’s also a bit of exercising (including a placing in a timed race on 8th November), sports injuries, and insomnia thrown into the mix for good measure.
 
My work highlights of the past three months have been the Ada Lovelace Day dinner at which I was a speaker alongside Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, submitting the University’s Athena SWAN bronze award application, and learning the good news of REF2014 results for my team.
 
There have been some great parties along the way. On 22nd November I managed to fit five into one day! Others I have hosted, for example, Curryoake on 29/30th November, and our Christmas drinks party on 20th December.
 
It is also in this period that we suffered some heart-breaking personal news with the loss of the two young sons of my best friend from University in December. The day that I travelled to Bolton to help identify the bodies was the worst of my life, and although the funeral went well, the weight of the boys’ deaths will be felt forever. Thank you to all my blipfriends for your kind words in early December.
 
Talking of blipfriends, I’d like to say how much I love hearing from you all. It’s funny how I have come to learn your habits. For example, it’s usually friedaquilter who is the first to comment on my blips when I post in the evening, and if I don’t hear from Tigger101 towards the end of weekday afternoons I wonder if she is OK. I’ve also noticed how so many of you comment on one another’s journals. I’d love to see a social network analysis of our interactions to reveal the relationships across the bliposphere.

So thank you to all my regular commenters: alfthomas; ArcLight; bivbov; friedaquilter; Gallopinggran; keibr; KJD; Romay; Ridgeback13; snapper; my cousin TBay; Tigger101; yeeeed; and walkingMarj.
 
Like many of you, I have found the recent changes to Blipfoto perplexing. It feels like we have all been rehoused from our village to a new estate where the accommodation isn’t quite ready yet. I am reminded of how I reacted to the changes to the Radio 4 schedules in 1998. I didn’t wholeheartedly approve at the time, but I got used to them. (However, I still think that half an hour of whinging, and not a full hour, is really all we need on weekday lunchtimes, and The Archers repeat was much better placed at 13:40 than 14:00.)
 
These are my favourite blips from the past three months:
 
Windy at the summit: 25th October
Fruit salad: 26th October
Botanic lights: 1st November
The dalek post: 4th November
Forter Castle through mossy branches: 15th November
Strange ladies: 20th November
Queen’s Tower: 4th December
Adult family Christmas: 25th December
Moomins in a hurry: 28th December
Leith landmark reflected: 29th December

Exercise today: walk up to town to meet S at the National Gallery and wander round the sales, with a dress purchased for Miss TBay's wedding in August.