COVID cries and how this year is going.

2020 is quite the shitstorm, isn’t it?

My plans for this year were to buy a home of my own and travel as much as I can throughout Europe.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic these plans have not come into fruition.  Despite job losses and the economy collapse the housing market has went up by 10% meaning the houses that I do see and bid for are going for more than I can afford.

Luckily job-wise I’m in a pretty decent position.  I was furloughed for about 4 months full-time and then a phased return back to full time work.  Throughout the organization where I work there were major job cuts and reduced hours, it was only due to my teams’ job choices that I was able to keep my full-time hours in the same position.  For this I am grateful but I am fully aware nothing is guaranteed going forward.

Being furloughed/unemployed has thankfully allowed me to save more money as all my holidays/social activities were completely stalled for this entire year.  The only holidays I had planned were Poland with David in April and a musical theatre cruise from Southampton to Belgium in September.  Unsurprisingly these were both cancelled but thankfully was able to get my money back and it’s went right back into the savings pot!

The past few years I have each year pledged to read 12 books in the year and I have failed every time.  My lack of motivation and enjoyment of the books I chose just made it doomed to fail.  It must have been late 2019 when I started enjoying and getting back into ready. In 2020 I reached my 12-book goal, my 30-book goal and my 50-book goal.  I then decided to go hard and set my goal at 100 books for the year.  At present I am 68 books in (9 behind schedule) and I am hopeful to hit the 100 by the end of the year!

I’m bored and frustrated at the lack of help for so many during this pandemic and I have to do everything I can to remain mentally healthy – which is a challenge anyway.  It feels like every few days I get bad news about something worldwide or more personal in my life or those close to me.  I hope the next few months get a little brighter…

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