First day of the New Year. Not much has changed over night, but this is the time to look back on the year that we just left behind. I am able to say that it was a tad better than the previous one, but far from what many of us would have wanted it to be.

I haven’t been particularly chatty this year either, but at least this page hasn’t seen the silence that it saw in 2020. I cautiously did some travelling, made it to Bulgaria for the first time, spent some time staring into the endless skies of the countryside where I grew up, and even made it to two concerts. This was the second year in a row when I only attended two such events, but happy to say that I got to see both The Mono Jacks and KajHolst play live after a very long time. I am a certified Trekkie, having watched everything that was released as part of the franchise before 2021. Still have to work on the new ones, but for now, nostalgia brought me back to The Next Generation.

The end of the year brought back live tennis for me. This year’s Stockholm Open was a pleasure and a huge challenge in the same time but we made it! Unfortunately, tennis-wise, the end of the year also meant Hora Tecău’s retirement. He leaves behind an empty space on the Romanian tennis scene, and I will miss seeing him play.

2021 was a year of ups and downs, a year of looking around in amazement, sometimes in a good way, sometimes wondering what was wrong with this World. It was a year of reconnecting, of daring to go out again, of learning to be responsible and flexible and of saying goodbye to a dear, sweet little creature that made the World a better place just by existing in it.

As always, no resolutions, let’s see how 2022 will be like. I wish us all peace, love, health and happiness. Happy New Year!