2020 - A Funny Old Year

I can hardly believe 2020's at an end - I'm not celebrating it in style in my usual fashion by just spending it on my own completely sober.

I did have an offer of a party somewhere nearby, but that's basically my idea of hell - being trapped somewhere I'm unfamiliar with with people who I don't know, but who all know each other, and on top of that convention working against my ability to leave early - tonight's basically the only party day of the year where you can't just make your excuses and sneak out before midnight.

So better off on my own for sure!

I did think about buying a few beers earlier but I just walked on by - I'd rather be fresh faced for the first day of the year tomorrow! Much better that way!

2020 - A year of change, to put it mildly!

I think this year has had four distinct phases:

1. Working as usual
2. Lockdown and prepping to leave the UK
3. Leaving the UK
4. Settling in Portugal

January - March - working, working, working and the attack on Steem!

I remember very vividly NOT being impressed when I had to go to work (teacher training) at the very end of January for the first time that year.

I'd had what I regarded to be a pretty good start to the year, blogging - getting ahead with updating my main blog and writing for what was then still Steem, just churning and earning away.

Then February into March was more face to face work, with a lot of courses to teach and marking and still keeping up with the blogging.

I remember I was in the middle of a teacher training course when Justin Sun attacked Steem and there was that whole Discord panic and then the eventual resistance.

I did my final face to face to course in mid march, then all future courses for the rest of Spring and Summer were cancelled and we went into full lockdown

April - August - Lockdown, prepping to leave the UK and the birth of Hive

It seems odd thinking that I basically spent 5 months indoors in my house in spring and summer and hardly went out, except to run.

I spent a lot of this time very productively getting ahead publishing a new teacher resource subscription package and updating my blog - it sorted out my hit rate very nicely, so why I lost a lot of income related to covid, probably about £6K in the spring, I think I've made up for this in the long run, it'll just be a gradual earn-back through more traffic and sales!

I also spent a few thousand gradually getting the house ready to be rented, and sorted out the rental - fence, new kitchen unit, painting the entire house, shower, electrical safety check, dealing with the estate agent, quite a steady stream of stuff needing to be done every week, and of course chucking things out!

AND I sold a lot of stuff on Ebay, that took a lot of time - got rid of ALL my old records, for example.

In retrospect just about the only thing I got wrong was not packing and storing and chucking stuff out sooner - could have saved me a panic!

And all during this time the birth and slow decline of Hive - I remember the initial excitement, the spike, the shitposting on steem and then the gradual decline....

September - October Leaving the UK

I managed to rent my house out easily, for a decent enough price, which was nice!

I had planned to leave the UK right at the end of September, but I panicked due to the talk of a second lockdown and rushed to leave a week early - which in retrospect was totally unnecessary, but only minimal harm done as a result!

I took a week driving to Portugal, then two weeks in Covilha and a Yurt in Orca, which was all great until I found my way to the cabin I'm currently sitting in.

October - December - settling in Portugal

TBH I think I was settled by November - I've found a nice place to stay, I've got a nice routine going, I'm on top of the bureaucracy for the most part.

I've even managed to buy some land, so happy days.

All in all it's been a pretty good year, pandemic aside!

Defo the right decision to forgo drinks this evening and then just crack on with tomorrow as if it's a normal Friday, I've got a lot to get on with!

Here's a moon shot from a couple of days ago, hopefully what we'll get for Hive in 2021!

Happy New Year!