2017 in pictures

Another year has passed which gives me an excuse to to reflect on what’s happened. As usual, I look at the photos that I’ve taken and frame my thoughts around them.

January

I started the year with one of my favourite pictures of the kids. I also spoke at CodeMash in Ohio. This was a new conference to me and I knew no-one there. Fortunately, I was introduced to Mo, so had at least one person to talk to! She also introduced me to more people :)

Brotherly loveGirl Develop It organisers


February

We had our annual trip to FOSDEM in February. It was also quite windy.

Community room at FOSDEMIt's a bit windy…


March

My Nintendo Switch arrived in March! Great console, I’m still loving it. I also visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to see Royal Scott.

Breath of the Wild on Switch46100 Royal Scot


April

In April, we celebrated my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary & my sister ran the London Marathon! Conference-wise, I spoke at the inaugural PHP Yorkshire conference and also spoke at Craft conference; both great events.

My mum & dad are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary today!She got the medal!


May

May is the month of birthdays in our household. I went to Turkey for PHPKonf and then to Serbia for PHPSerbia.

Discussion a potential PHP anomalyEnjoying ice cream

June

I was really happy to speak at the Lead Developer conference in June and then immediately afterwards spoke at PHP South Coast, filling in for a speaker that couldn’t make it.

Randall KoutnikStarting the conference with a cup of tea


July

July started with DPC and I also attended the inaugural JeffConf.

ChrisJames Governor moderated a panel on serverless adoption


August

We were on holiday in August and I also saw a Land Rover on wheels at the Severn Valley Railway.

ReflectionsLand Rover on rails


September

As is becoming a tradition, we started September with a family gathering where we discovered that my youngest cousins once removed have gained personalities! I reorganised my office so my desk was no longer in the afternoon sunshine. At the end of the month, conference season started up again when I spoke at APIDays in Zurich and then CodeTalks in Hamburg.

My youngest with his cousinStefan & Anna


October

We visited our friends in Tallinn, Estonia in October; it’s cold there, but a lovely city! I photographed steam trains twice in October, visting the KVWR in Yorkshire and taking my favourite railway photos of the year in Worcestershire: Royal Scot on the mainline.

Visiting TallinnRoyal Scott on The Cotswold Venturer excursion today


November

November is Fireworks Night in the UK which we celebrated with friends. Again, we contributed wood for the bonfire and also delivered wood from Kevin as I visited with my car a few weeks earlier. I spoke at muCon in London and attended CodeMotion in Milan.

Toasting marshmallowsKeynote space


December

December saw me geeking out about cameras at the local Beers & Cameras meetup. My friend Alex visited the UK from New Zealand, so I was especially happy to get to see her too. We also found time to get down to the annual get together with our online gaming friends in a pub in Croydon which is now into its 17th year.

Worcester Beer & Cameras meetupBL Christmas meetup


All in all, a great year and I’m looking forward to 2018.

Lack of preparation is shocking

Frankly, I’m shocked at how unprepared this government is towards exiting the EU.

I can’t quite believe that they haven’t assessed what happens when we leave for the three cases of in the customs union, in a negotiated situation and under WTO rules. I expected better.

The cabinet hasn’t even discussed and agreed what their end goal is!

The fundamental problem is that the Tory MPs & the cabinet are as divided as the country still is. Practically, they should only have started down this road when 70% or so of the country wanted it.

It’s a shambles that was entirely predictable by the closeness of the vote result which was reinforced when May lost her majority.