It's that time again! So here's our usual ghastly selfie (come on, you'd worry about us if we didn't have the baggy eyes and goofy smiles...).

And here's the A-Z of our year:

A is for Accommodation. This has very definitely been the dominant theme of 2025... March: Move into a lovely, airy, spacious flat in a nicely situated condo in Kuching, only to find we've also opted into a summer-long renovation cycle... October: Start the process of buying a house on the Isle of Man (see M).


B is for Busy. As a result of A... B is also for Birds. Our Kuching flat is GREAT for birdsong, especially early in the morning before any renovators/water-blasters/tree-fellers/hobby-hammerers/fill-in-your-own-noise-makers have got going.

C is for China. Our first visit since 2018. We went to Kunming and Dali, both in Yunnan Province. We have always found China a fun place to visit, and we really enjoyed being back.


D is for Dubai. Our stopover between China and the UK. Malls and monorails; gold and girders; pomegranates and poets; cardamom and coffee... All interesting.


E is for Early-Year Travels. Last year's newsletter came from Sardinia, and that totally brilliant trip continued, by means of boats and trains and feet, to Sicily, Malta, mainland Italy, Austria, Belgium, and back to England. We LOVE backpacking... To be honest, that's when I feel most ME: The two of us co-dependent, autonomous, and on the move... Anyway, by then it was February. After a bit more time with rellies in Derbyshire, and a few days in Istanbul, we were back home in Kuching by the end of the month.


F is for Footsteps. Whether we're carrying a big travelling backpack, a small hiking rucksack, or just a little bag with our daily odds and ends in it; whether we're pounding the streets of China, or squelching over the moors of the Isle of Man; whether we're sun-creamed up or rugged up -- we still get a lot of joy out of just walking...


G is for Good Friends. You're valued more and more with every passing year. Truly.

H is for Health. This is such an up-and-down thing, isn't it? Nigel had a summer run-in with what was probably covid, and that caused ear problems for a while afterwards. But all that stuff of mine that they were so worried about last year just seemed to melt away... This time, instead of threatening me with further operations and nuisancy drugs, everyone was telling me to go away and come back in a year... At this point in life, you're always waiting for the second shoe to drop, so who knows what next year will bring? But it has been REALLY nice to be able to temporarily push all that aside. Friends and family, on the other hand, have been facing all sorts of trying stuff this year. If that's you, may 2026 grant you respite...

I is for Indonesia. Again, it was a ridiculously long time since we'd been to a country that's not only right next door but was also home for a while. Our last trip was 2019... This July, we caught the bus over the border to Singkawang, and really enjoyed being back there too.



J is for Jaunts in Sarawak. We had a fabulous break in Miri for Nigel's birthday (with a side-trip to Marudi). Some trips just turn out quite magically, and that was one of them. A little more basic, but also fun, was our week-long bus-and-boat epic to Sibu, Dalat, and Mukah. More locally, we banded together with friends for day trips to Matang, and Serikin, and Telaga Air, and Jong's Crocodile Farm. And we revisited Bau on the big new pink bus.


K is for Keyboard. Nigel's new hobby is electronic music. Not just listening to it (he's been doing that for a long time), but also writing it. He's good. Of course, I'm biased, but he takes the type of music I don't normally listen to, and makes it enjoyable and atmospheric.

L is for Looking After Cats, which we briefly did in September. We're still too mobile to be some cat's permanent humans, but it's really nice to borrow someone else's moggies for a while. There's no view like the feline view.


M is for Man. As in Isle of. Aka PT's birthplace, where we're hoping to set up a base. We're definitely not going to lose touch with Sarawak, and plan to continue spending a chunk of every year here. But we're also looking forward to being a bit closer to our family. What we're attempting to buy is a modest terraced house on the outskirts of Douglas. And when we're not in it, friends and family will be welcome to use it.


N is for Not Knowing. We've been back in Sarawak since mid-November, and there has been an awful lot of Not Knowing. The house purchase could, even now, still fall through. We still need to find homes for the bits and pieces we've accumulated here (we're giving up our apartment, and it's way too expensive to ship things). Logistics will all have to be managed. Packing, selling, cleaning, organizing... Then unpacking, buying, cleaning, organizing... Jeez, I think I need to go and lie down for a while...

O is for OK, Back Again... And also for Onwards and Upwards.



P is for Photographs. We still enjoy taking them, although the quantity is down from the peaks of 2023 and 2024. Taking pictures is a way of seeing things differently, and that's always a good thing.


Q is for Quiet. That precious quality that eluded us all summer... I know some of you suffer the same problem. Must the world be SO noisy? Genuine question...

R is for Reading, which is still one of my ultra-favourite things in the whole world. I got really into online book clubs last year, currently subscribe to two, and occasionally dip into a third. There's something really nice about reading a book in the company of others over a period of weeks or months; getting a bit of guidance from your convenor; and sharing thoughts and rabbit-hole investigations with fellow-bookworms. You find yourself reading things you wouldn't otherwise have tried, and learning heaps from the collaborative environment.

S is for Suboptimal, a kind word for the political climate we're dealing with in so many parts of the world at the moment. Like many others, we ration our news intake these days. Just enough (from different viewpoints) to know what's going on; not enough to feel the blood pressure rising and the soul despairing.

T is for Track. Nigel's still a Formula 1 fan, and was very happy that the "right" man (and team) won this year.

U is for Umbrella. It's the rainy season here at the moment...



V is for The Velvet Cushion, where I continue to document my reading endeavours. Over the years, it has been building up into a nice little database.

W is for Website. Which went through a period of being difficult. Hence a distinct tailing-off of Purple Tern posts in recent months. I'm still wondering about starting a Substack newsletter... New geographical centre of gravity ==> new medium? Not sure... What do you think?

X is for Xmas. It's the first time for a number of years that we've been in Kuching for the end-of-year festivities. We've not been relishing the music (understatement), but have been very much enjoying the exuberance of the decorations.



Y is -- as it always is -- for You. And we'd LOVE to hear from you...

Z is for Zonked. I was thinking of us mainly. But the zonkedness of others seems to be hitting the headlines at the moment, too. So let's close with lines from the inimitable Yes, Prime Minister: [PM] "Bit worrying, isn't it? Statesmen such as myself jetting all over the world, attending major conferences on the future of mankind and we're zonked?" [Sir Humphrey] "It would be, Prime Minister. Perhaps that's why negotiations are done in advance by humble servants such as I. They can hardly be left in the hands of the zonked." Ah, whatever happened to that quaint world...?


Congratulations if you reached the end! We wish you all a healthy, love-filled, and peaceful 2026.