Blog - December 2025

December is supposed to be a fun but simple affair. Friends and family, lots of food, the same old Christmas films. Taking a knee before the next year starts swinging.

Christmas Day was amazing and did what it was meant to. All the kids came round. Two of them are grown now with their own lives and routines, so the fact they made the effort mattered. Lewis, the eldest, stayed over on Christmas Eve for the first time in years. That meant a lot.

We had a variation on the Christmas dinner. Pheasant and venison, or as Booths announced it "Royale Pheasant". I was happy with how it came out. The youngest was not impressed with eating Bambi's mum, which I can understand. Fair enough. Courtney enjoyed the Pheasant, which was a tick in the box. Sadly, my wife’s mum missed it, taken out by a dodgy prawn the day before and has only just recovered recently. 

The rest of the day was very traditional, gifts, Kings Speech with my dad and a glass or two of port. Xmas movies and then a few beers before bed. No game on Boxing day, which was strange but that allowed us to show our youngest, who turned 16 just before Christmas how to behave in a pub. That didnt really work out too well, so they left early with their sibling to return to the comforts of home whilst we enjoyed Barrowford.

Weather, Flu, and Wood

Outside of Christmas, most of the month felt like pushing through thick mud.

I finally finished the decking in the garden. It has taken the best part of a month, not because I was dragging my heels, but because the weather would not give me a break. Early December was just rain on repeat. Any dry spell was short and unreliable.

On top of that, I was ill for the first couple of weeks. A flu-type hit that knocked me flat and took a chunk out of my fitness. Training dropped off a cliff. When you are used to being fairly active, that hits harder than you expect.

Still, the decking is done. It is there, solid. Sometimes it is good to have something you can stand on and say, I built that, even if it took longer than it should.

London in a Box

Work sent me to London for a planning event that rolled into a Christmas party. First work Christmas do I have properly taken part in since leaving the Army.

The stand-out part was where I slept.

I booked a Pod Capsule near Piccadilly Circus. To those that might not be aware of what a Pod Capsule is, its a small, self-contained, whole in the wall that doubles as a bed., a no frills hotel adventure. The hotel was disused building/ storage place above shops at Piccadilly. Each floor has corridors filled with numerous Pod Capsules. A pod capsule is basically a self-contained bunk built into a wall. You slide in rather than walk in. It’s just long enough to lie down, high enough to sit up if you hunch, and wide enough to turn over without elbowing the sides. Inside you get a mattress, a pillow, a light, a plug socket, a tiny shelf and a control panel for fan and brightness. Both of which are required.

From the outside it looks like a stack of washing machines. It reminded me of being on operations: reinforced bed spaces we called coffins, stainless steel wash areas, everything designed for function, not comfort. The whole thing felt cheaper than the price tag suggested, but it did the job. I was able to get my head down, a few hours’ kip, beforegetting on the road to head home.

Writing and MOTs

Sadly, with decking, illness and travel, my writing didn't move as far as I wanted this month.

The plan was six chapters by the end of December. That did not happen. A two-day saga getting my car through its MOT took out the time I had ring-fenced for a final push that just never materialised.

I will need to pick up the pace in the new year. I feel its in decent shape, so its not a huge drama. I just need to be more focused when i do get time after work.

One useful step: I reached out to self-published author Robert Enright for advice. He pointed me towards his podcast, Two Indie Authors. It is full of solid, practical guidance for indie writers. I have started working through it and taking notes. The theme tune is annoy, but the content is worth pushing past it.

A great point of their advice was to look at branding. So, one thing I was able to complete this month, was a overhaul of the website (which I hope you like) and new book covers for Squaddiesaurus and Beneath the Red Cap, which brings them more in line with Protegimus and the forth coming books of Corporal Henry Knox and Knox Investigations.

Closing the Year

So that was December: a good Christmas Day, one missing chair at the table, a finished deck, a flu that took the edge off, a metal box in London, and fewer pages than I wanted.

Not a big, showy month. More a collection of small wins and reminders that progress is rarely neat.

Next job is simple. Start January sharper than I finished December.

Exemplo Ducemus

Pete