Make Sure You Take a Polaroid Picture – 365/2025

Lyrics: “Polaroid Picture” -Frank Turner, 2013

Even if I’d wanted to do a written recap of my year, I wouldn’t know where to start or what to say. 2025 was… okay-ish?

A little while I ago I finally started looking into photo editing a bit more. I’ve got this expensive camera kit and only ever did the mere basic of editing, and not even very well I think. Anyway, I watched some tutorials and instead of berating me of doing such a crappy job before I just decided to do better in the future. That reaction is progress on the mental health front at least.

Anyway, I thought I share some photos from last year. It’s a curated and also a bit random highlight reel of course, because the rest of my life is so boringly mundane.

January
Birthdays are always a good reason to get together and play games and such…

A game of “Uno”

February
My first trip across the channel for some fangirling and being a touris

March
More gigs the next month…

April
In April I turned 50 and had a lovely “3 days of celebrating” with friends and family. I didn’t take all that many photos from that. Sightseeing was part of that celebration. Afterwards I spent some days in Antwerp.

May
One of my birthday presents was an organized street-art centred scavenger hunt in Cologne, which was fun.

June
In June I took tons of photos at a art gallery in Düsseldorf, but also had a go at my own urban art photo project about stickers. I also saw Robbie Williams (and the Lottery Winners) on the arena tour. Which was lots of fun.

July
A lot of my highlights are gig – related, it seems. I’m fine with that. I went to Paris to finally see Brandi Carlile live and also to be a tourist. When I got home I managed to damage my SD card before I could transfer most of my photos, which sucked. That’s life, I guess..

August
It started with a lovely weekend away with good friends: lots of yummy food, walks, games, talks, massages… bliss. Later that month I took my camera to Düsseldorf once more.

September
A vacation in Scotland. The trip had it’s ups and downs, my mind was all over the place, which was a bit annoying sometimes. But a wonderful trip all in all. I played “air” bagpipes on stage in front of 3.000 people! Nuts!

October
Yet another gig and I made the most of the lovely weather by the end of the month to tackle another section of the Westphalian section the Way of St James.

November
There hasn’t been much interesting happening.

December
There were more gigs (of course) in December, but those photos are up here already. I spent a few days before the holidays by the sea in the Netherlands. Much needed break to recharge.

A sunset is a lovely and fitting imagery for the end of year and the beginning of a new one, right?

“We’re Running Out of Labels for Our Messed up Minds…” – 353/2025

Lyrics: “Lost Again” – Pet Needs, 2022

Just a fly by post to share some photos from last night’s gig: Pet Needs supporting Levellers at Zeche Bochum. About two weeks ago I was at the Lottery Winners gig, but those photos didn’t turn out well. I had taken a new / different camera, because I thought it might be a better option. It wasn’t. Oh well.

Anyway, Pet Needs were fun as always. I’m looking forward to their gig in Cologne in January.

Still no idea what to do with this space here. Maybe I’ll get an idea over christmas. Maybe not.

Closed Until Further Notice – 324/2025

Yesterday I had another “existential blogger crisis”. Do people, who (sometimes) write on their own online space still call themselves blogger? Anyway, these past few years I haven’t been writing as much as I have when I started “a blog” decades ago. My ‘output’ if you want to be technical about it, slowed down and dwindled away. My motivation as well. Yesterday I was wondering once again what am I doing here. Or rather, what do I want to do? I have no idea.

I put a lot of the more personal or mundane / random content that had remained after the big 2024 purge on private. It might stay there or will be delete for good, once I’ve figured out what to do with this space in the future.

New perspectives. New horizons and all that. Or not.

Over and out.