As it comes to the end of another “random” year, I felt it was time to round off with one more post. My last of 2021. (Unless something major happens!!)
Coming into the year, I think we were all worried about what Covid would bring.
My household had just moved into a new downsized place because of the effects the pandemic had created for our personal situation, Vicki was unaware she was about to lose her license due to health issues, and we were hoping things would only be getting better for us!
Very quickly, we learned our new home was in fact “hell”. We had to learn to live with a neighbour situation that was only going to get worse.
Very early in the year, Vicki had a seizure that took us both by complete surprise and of course, shock. A lot of worries began, scans booked and completed, back and forth discussions with the hospital ensued, and naturally, the license was put on hold for 6 months. This also meant getting rid of her lovely VW Polo GTI as there was no point in it sitting unused for so long.
Thankfully, whilst this story continued for many months, the outcome was all clear and we will probably never know what caused it.
We fought through the situation at home and managed to turn things around a little, find a very nice place to live in a lovely village and things started to get back on track.
During all of this, work kicked off hugely!
Whilst 2020 killed the AV industry in some ways, 2021 and the return to a more “hybrid” way of working completely turned this around. I don’t remember ever being quite as busy as we were this year.
All of this of course meant that we could start looking at the pandemic in a different way than before. Especially with the enormous rollouts of vaccinations and boosters.
For me, I’ve changed massively. My outlook on many things has altered. In some ways, I’m grateful for what the pandemic has done. Clearly not because of the devastation it has bought millions of people around the world, but personally, for the change in mindset it has created in me.
The main thing is that money isn’t everything. It’s of course nice to have a huge comfort blanket, but not actually necessary for happiness.
I’ve always loved nice big houses, fancy new cars, all the latest tech, and so on.
We’re now in a smaller house. But much nicer and in a much nicer location.
My phone is now 3 years old!! However, it’s out of contract and costing me very little per month. And it’s still a very nice looking and nice to use bit of kit. So, I’m sticking with it until I drop it or it just dies. Who cares which version of phone you have tucked away in your pocket?
We now have 2 older and smaller cars on the drive. But guess what…
They’re ours!! Not owned by a finance company screwing us over on monthly payments.
On this point a little more, we are both car snobs. Hence, it was a difficult decision (initially) to get rid of nice new cars and go for older ones with a little more mileage.
With a bit of self-control, we managed this as per my previous post.
Vicki is loving her Leon FR 2.0TDI DSG and I’m loving my VW Scirocco 2.0TDI DSG!
They’re both fun cars to drive and having completed my first 7-hour round trip to grab my boy for a weekend, I can safely say, I’m utterly blown away by mine.
And here’s to the point of this post really. Why do we need the biggest, newest, and best of things?
The pandemic has forced our hands if you look at it in that way. But honestly speaking, it’s actually taught us that life can be genuinely hugely satisfying, not having these things.
We still have nice phones. And, we still have nice cars. The big difference is that they are all completely ours and provide us with all the happiness we need from them.
And then Covid hits properly…
Less than 10 days before Christmas, I was confirmed positive for Covid.
And oh boy does it hurt!
Firstly, the pain in the backside of this is that we literally have to cancel everything we had planned for the few days of Christmas. This includes having my son as it’s our year to have him for the holidays.
In addition, all our Christmas food is ordered and has been delivered as originally agreed, 3 days before the big day. Most of it can’t be frozen and now means the 2 of us have a LOT to eat!!
The government has changed isolation from 10 to 7 days so long as you test negative on days 6 and 7.
Day 6 – I’m still positive!
There are varying degrees of symptoms with Covid. Needless to say, I got bloody most of them. Thankfully not the loss of taste though.
I spent the first 4 days completely in bed. Mainly because the aches through my muscles and joints were completely unbearable.
Once they eased, I ventured out of bed and planned to start working again.
My brain on the other hand had different ideas. The brain fog that ensued is one of the weirdest and most frustrating elements of this virus.
The simplest of abilities (thought and focus), out the window completely. I’ve found it hard just ploughing through the emails and even typing this to be fair.
Typing…That’s another one.
I taught myself to touch-type when I was 13/14. And I’ve always been proud of the ability to type quickly, without mistakes, and even without having to look.
Right now, it’s error after error and I’m finding myself concentrating on even where my hands should be.
Then there’s the weirdest one. My bloomin’ hair has changed! Yeah – told you it was weird.
It’s gone flat and dry/dead feeling. I’d rather it had just gone grey, to be honest.
On a serious note though. I’m damn glad I had the vaccine. I can’t imagine how much worse this could have been had I not. Having somehow avoiding the virus for this long, I’ve now experienced my version of it. And I wouldn’t want anyone to go through it. I’ve seen so many people get hit by it this year. The variation of symptoms is insane. Some people don’t even know they’ve got it. Others are a LOT worse than me.
I’ll just be massively grateful when it’s completely gone and even more so if Vicki manages to keep avoiding it.
Then, maybe we can have our Christmas…
On that note, I wish anyone reading this, a VERY Merry Christmas, and of course, here’s hoping for a happy, positive, and healthy New Year.
DD out…