How's Your Year Been? (2020)

Read this late last night while getting presents ready for the little.

Really sorry to hear about your friends, there's always more questions than answers when they leave too soon.

Congrats on your new side gig, I'm excited for the new "Geordie Shaky Cam" film style to get popular!

Thanks mate ? ?
 
Complete mixed bag of a year for me. I had a big fallout with a lifelong friend and while I'd say that breakup was needed in the long-term, it was a big shock that it happened so suddenly. Work was also getting me down in Jan & Feb, traffic getting to and from work seemed to be worse that ever, job seemed more repetitive than ever...meaning I was getting in late and miserable.

Then Lockdown hit and like many of us I switched to working from home and have done ever since. In Lockdown1.0 I loved this: no commuting saved me loads of time, I can do time saving jobs in the house during the day rather than after work. Was able to shop local at the Butchers, Bakers etc so was eating better. It was the sunniest Spring I can remember so lots of walks and later when lockdown eased a bit drinks with family in the garden. It felt like a Mediterranean summer and lifestyle had hit Britain.

But after 9 months of working from home the novelty has worn off a bit and I am missing people now. Also the UK Winter weather doesn't help, i find it hard to get motivated to go out for a walk in the dark, cold and wet. Physically having to go out to work at least got me out of the door each day. This Xmas has been OK but have missed people randomly popping in for a brew or a pint and a chat, or popping to the pub for a quick drink.

Also missed my holidays a lot, intended to go to Tenerife and Ibiza and ended up in Norfolk and North Wales. Both were nice, but its just not the same as seeing another culture and lapping up the sun. This pandemic has made me realise just how much time I spend researching and booking trips away and events, its like a hobby has been taken away. I can't even be bothered to browse during the uncertainty.

Challenge for 2021 is to try and recapture some of those good changes and block out the bad habits, but that is always a big battle! I've started by unfollowing a lot of negative social media pages, such as the ones that share cruel memes or made up football transfer rumours etc that are often just repeats anyway. Have instead followed some photographers on Instagram to get a stream of landscapes to inspire me in a morning instead.
 
2020 strange year for me too, this forum really helped keep me going

My dad came to see me in Madrid in Feb and stayed for a week was so nice spending time with him, my dad messaged me before he came "how are things with the virus there" I was like rolling my eyes "virus, what virus all fine here don't worry dad its in China" little did I know what would happen. My dad had radiotherapy for prostate in Nov/Dec 2019 so he came to Madrid to relax, go for walks, and go gym. He got the all-clear in the summer but has to have 6 months check-ups so I hope he will be ok and not going to worry about that until the next check-up

Then beginning of March my poor sister was pregnant and had a miscarriage at 6 months, that was really hard, had a funeral and everything was going to go but couldn't because of COVID.

I remember going to work early March and my managers running around saying take your laptop and everything home you have to work from home. I remember the virus being in Italy and me thinking shit, we are f***ed, it's started to get real. That's when I started to look at the worldometer stats and freak myself out.

Working from home at the start was hard, I had bad anxiety I was worried about my family, always thinking the worst, I was scared felt helpless and overwhelmed. Not to mention work was crazy, (I work for expedia/HomeAway) similar to Airbnb so so many travellers cancelling their holidays wanting refunds and home owners stressed out. A lot of pressure and a lot of work.

Lockdown in Spain was really hard felt surreal walking on the streets as no one was around it felt like a war zone. They had police cars with messages from a speaker saying "stay in the house". How did I cope, not by drinking (I don't drink much) you can imagine the rest.

BLM stuff was really difficult but glad that all that happened, hard seeing not so nice stuff online about it all. I will say that I have noticed some small changes, more diversity in adverts, more big companies being more diverse...still along way to go but at least they are trying

Summertime was hot in Madrid, one minute I would be sitting at my desk fine and the next melting, sweat dripping from me.

dating front - I was talking to a guy on lockdown for a couple of months on and off, he re-appeared in August and asked if I would like to go for a drink, I wasn't ready to date really but thought I would give it a go, the day we were supposed to meet he I messaged him "still ok to meet later", he was like" yes I am". Was getting ready to meet him and he messaged me that he couldn't meet today as he had to get a flight early the next day and would have to re-arrange. After the blunt message I sent him back, I knew I would never hear from him again.
Also, November, met an Italian I liked, thought we got on well and I liked him, we met up about 5 times, in the end, he made up a lame excuse of why he cannot see me anymore and then ghosted me, nice.....I didn't expect it or deserved it so that got me down for a while

October time, the original plan was to go Ibiza for my big 40 with friends so could not go for obvious reasons, so ended up going to a restaurant in Madrid and then going back to my friends for a session, was ok nothing spectacular.

Work-wise, there have been lots of redundancies luckily my job has been ok. I also applied for another job billing lead which is a promotion and no longer on the phones, more money and good salary and can work at my own pace and manage my own time, I love it.

Feel so sorry for people that have lost loved ones and wouldn't if it was not for that damn virus

edit: also bored as f*** and have nothing to look forward to has been really hard
 
Yeah, tbh to begin with I enjoyed the novelty and convenience of wfh but I genuinely struggled with home working as the year wore on. Theres been so much going on family wise, including my bro living among some of the worst wildfires California has known which caused a huge amount of stress and worry (although thankfully wasn't directly affected and his family are all ok) but distractions were never far away.

Don't even know where to begin with my year....

The covid situation itself obviously brought a lot of fear and worry with it but i consider myself one of the lucky ones who could continue working. There was also the big reset and more time spent going lovely country walks and cycles with my better half. Again, all things considered i feel lucky with regards to Covid etc.

Like most people, I've spent the year trying to shield my parents and loved ones from the horrible monster out there, but in April my Dad broke his leg in 2 places resulting in 5 weeks in hospital. I also lost my dear Uncle who has battled alzheimers for the last 10 years.

Throughout the year I have also been accompanying my Mum to various hospital appointments and minor surgeries which unexpectedly resulted in a early stage cancer diagnosis in September. Due to the type of cancer the only option was major surgery. Mum went in on 10th December and was doing great post op amazing all the docs with her progress, but 5 days later completely out of the blue, she suffered a massive heart attack and couldn't be resuscitated. My Mum was my best pal and I just feel totally lost at the moment. Can't believe its just over 18 months ago we we're out in Pikes together dancing and having a great laugh, Mum was 69 years old at the time and it was her highlight of a beautiful week spent together covering near enough every corner of Ibiza and Formentera. She had grown to love the island from reading all my books, in particular A Valley Wide by Alexis Brown. The trip had been a pipe dream we talked about doing for years, and I'm so glad we managed it eventually. Was great to take her round the north of the island and show her the San Vicente valley.

What makes this personal tragedy even more difficult to come to terms with is that me and my partner are expecting a baby in March. My Mum was so excited to be a Grandma again, and with my brother living out in California I was made up for her having a baby to fuss over so close.

Obviously we have a lot to look forward to in 2021 so hanging on to that and the hope that vaccines will be rolled out ASAP and allow life to return to some kind of normality, although I don't think anything will ever feel normal again.
 
Yeah, tbh to begin with I enjoyed the novelty and convenience of wfh but I genuinely struggled with home working as the year wore on. Theres been so much going on family wise, including my bro living among some of the worst wildfires California has known which caused a huge amount of stress and worry (although thankfully wasn't directly affected and his family are all ok) but distractions were never far away.

Don't even know where to begin with my year....

The covid situation itself obviously brought a lot of fear and worry with it but i consider myself one of the lucky ones who could continue working. There was also the big reset and more time spent going lovely country walks and cycles with my better half. Again, all things considered i feel lucky with regards to Covid etc.

Like most people, I've spent the year trying to shield my parents and loved ones from the horrible monster out there, but in April my Dad broke his leg in 2 places resulting in 5 weeks in hospital. I also lost my dear Uncle who has battled alzheimers for the last 10 years.

Throughout the year I have also been accompanying my Mum to various hospital appointments and minor surgeries which unexpectedly resulted in a early stage cancer diagnosis in September. Due to the type of cancer the only option was major surgery. Mum went in on 10th December and was doing great post op amazing all the docs with her progress, but 5 days later completely out of the blue, she suffered a massive heart attack and couldn't be resuscitated. My Mum was my best pal and I just feel totally lost at the moment. Can't believe its just over 18 months ago we we're out in Pikes together dancing and having a great laugh, Mum was 69 years old at the time and it was her highlight of a beautiful week spent together covering near enough every corner of Ibiza and Formentera. She had grown to love the island from reading all my books, in particular A Valley Wide by Alexis Brown. The trip had been a pipe dream we talked about doing for years, and I'm so glad we managed it eventually. Was great to take her round the north of the island and show her the San Vicente valley.

What makes this personal tragedy even more difficult to come to terms with is that me and my partner are expecting a baby in March. My Mum was so excited to be a Grandma again, and with my brother living out in California I was made up for her having a baby to fuss over so close.

Obviously we have a lot to look forward to in 2021 so hanging on to that and the hope that vaccines will be rolled out ASAP and allow life to return to some kind of normality, although I don't think anything will ever feel normal again.
Your mum sounds like a real character. I'm so glad you got to spend that time together in Ibiza. Those will be such special memories to have and to share with her grandchild x
 
Yeah, tbh to begin with I enjoyed the novelty and convenience of wfh but I genuinely struggled with home working as the year wore on. Theres been so much going on family wise, including my bro living among some of the worst wildfires California has known which caused a huge amount of stress and worry (although thankfully wasn't directly affected and his family are all ok) but distractions were never far away.

Don't even know where to begin with my year....

The covid situation itself obviously brought a lot of fear and worry with it but i consider myself one of the lucky ones who could continue working. There was also the big reset and more time spent going lovely country walks and cycles with my better half. Again, all things considered i feel lucky with regards to Covid etc.

Like most people, I've spent the year trying to shield my parents and loved ones from the horrible monster out there, but in April my Dad broke his leg in 2 places resulting in 5 weeks in hospital. I also lost my dear Uncle who has battled alzheimers for the last 10 years.

Throughout the year I have also been accompanying my Mum to various hospital appointments and minor surgeries which unexpectedly resulted in a early stage cancer diagnosis in September. Due to the type of cancer the only option was major surgery. Mum went in on 10th December and was doing great post op amazing all the docs with her progress, but 5 days later completely out of the blue, she suffered a massive heart attack and couldn't be resuscitated. My Mum was my best pal and I just feel totally lost at the moment. Can't believe its just over 18 months ago we we're out in Pikes together dancing and having a great laugh, Mum was 69 years old at the time and it was her highlight of a beautiful week spent together covering near enough every corner of Ibiza and Formentera. She had grown to love the island from reading all my books, in particular A Valley Wide by Alexis Brown. The trip had been a pipe dream we talked about doing for years, and I'm so glad we managed it eventually. Was great to take her round the north of the island and show her the San Vicente valley.

What makes this personal tragedy even more difficult to come to terms with is that me and my partner are expecting a baby in March. My Mum was so excited to be a Grandma again, and with my brother living out in California I was made up for her having a baby to fuss over so close.

Obviously we have a lot to look forward to in 2021 so hanging on to that and the hope that vaccines will be rolled out ASAP and allow life to return to some kind of normality, although I don't think anything will ever feel normal again.
I am so sorry to hear about your mum :(
 
know what you mean digital 2013. working from home can be hard if you're not used to it. I´ve done it for 15 years. has its obvious perks but not great in every way (esp the paranoia!) but fully institutionalised now and used to it. it was always balanced out though by seeing people in evenings or weekends...

I can only imagine the challenge of working from home for a long time. I usually get a few weeks off between rotations and after a few days at home I'm normally climbing the walls ?
 
2020 strange year for me too, this forum really helped keep me going

My dad came to see me in Madrid in Feb and stayed for a week was so nice spending time with him, my dad messaged me before he came "how are things with the virus there" I was like rolling my eyes "virus, what virus all fine here don't worry dad its in China" little did I know what would happen. My dad had radiotherapy for prostate in Nov/Dec 2019 so he came to Madrid to relax, go for walks, and go gym. He got the all-clear in the summer but has to have 6 months check-ups so I hope he will be ok and not going to worry about that until the next check-up

Then beginning of March my poor sister was pregnant and had a miscarriage at 6 months, that was really hard, had a funeral and everything was going to go but couldn't because of COVID.

I remember going to work early March and my managers running around saying take your laptop and everything home you have to work from home. I remember the virus being in Italy and me thinking shit, we are f***ed, it's started to get real. That's when I started to look at the worldometer stats and freak myself out.

Working from home at the start was hard, I had bad anxiety I was worried about my family, always thinking the worst, I was scared felt helpless and overwhelmed. Not to mention work was crazy, (I work for expedia/HomeAway) similar to Airbnb so so many travellers cancelling their holidays wanting refunds and home owners stressed out. A lot of pressure and a lot of work.

Lockdown in Spain was really hard felt surreal walking on the streets as no one was around it felt like a war zone. They had police cars with messages from a speaker saying "stay in the house". How did I cope, not by drinking (I don't drink much) you can imagine the rest.

BLM stuff was really difficult but glad that all that happened, hard seeing not so nice stuff online about it all. I will say that I have noticed some small changes, more diversity in adverts, more big companies being more diverse...still along way to go but at least they are trying

Summertime was hot in Madrid, one minute I would be sitting at my desk fine and the next melting, sweat dripping from me.

dating front - I was talking to a guy on lockdown for a couple of months on and off, he re-appeared in August and asked if I would like to go for a drink, I wasn't ready to date really but thought I would give it a go, the day we were supposed to meet he I messaged him "still ok to meet later", he was like" yes I am". Was getting ready to meet him and he messaged me that he couldn't meet today as he had to get a flight early the next day and would have to re-arrange. After the blunt message I sent him back, I knew I would never hear from him again.
Also, November, met an Italian I liked, thought we got on well and I liked him, we met up about 5 times, in the end, he made up a lame excuse of why he cannot see me anymore and then ghosted me, nice.....I didn't expect it or deserved it so that got me down for a while

October time, the original plan was to go Ibiza for my big 40 with friends so could not go for obvious reasons, so ended up going to a restaurant in Madrid and then going back to my friends for a session, was ok nothing spectacular.

Work-wise, there have been lots of redundancies luckily my job has been ok. I also applied for another job billing lead which is a promotion and no longer on the phones, more money and good salary and can work at my own pace and manage my own time, I love it.

Feel so sorry for people that have lost loved ones and wouldn't if it was not for that damn virus

edit: also bored as f*** and have nothing to look forward to has been really hard

Hope next year is a better one for you @cunninghamali ?
 
Sorry about your loss @fatphilb, and congratulations on the coming new addition. Parenthood is quite the adventure!

@cunninghamali you should come to the USA once the Covid-madness subsides, you will be fairly exotic here (I assume you have a British accent). The reverse held true for me when I lived in the UK for a brief stint. You will have to beat them away with a stick!!!
 
I can only imagine the challenge of working from home for a long time. I usually get a few weeks off between rotations and after a few days at home I'm normally climbing the walls ?

One of the weirdest things is now have a few new starters I've never met in person. It's not mandatory to add a picture on Teams either so there's a few I could walk past in the street and wouldent know. Means you can't vet who to trust as easily and get to know people properly as you would face to face.

One of my closest mates was made at work and I still remember the moment at lunch when we realised we both liked raving, which of course led to further rave related questions once off work premises ;)
 
One of the weirdest things is now have a few new starters I've never met in person. It's not mandatory to add a picture on Teams either so there's a few I could walk past in the street and wouldent know. Means you can't vet who to trust as easily and get to know people properly as you would face to face.

One of my closest mates was made at work and I still remember the moment at lunch when we realised we both liked raving, which of course led to further rave related questions once off work premises ;)

Yeah I imagine it's difficult to train and mentor people in these circumstances.

And of course the out of work activities you can plan with like minded partners in crime lol ?
 
I just can see some old regulars here have suffered at different levels.
I just want to say to you all I feel sad for you, even if I don't know you personally.
This forum is like a virtual family, when you're sad, I am too.
Stay strong for 2021.
 
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