Onward!

“From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached”.

Franz Kafka

I predicted in my recent ‘Review of the Year‘ post that this effort (a look ahead to the year just started) would either be dealt with in short order (there being nothing much to which to look forward) or really rather difficult to write.

We shall see which turns out to be the case…

Now – I could write a very simple list of things that we would like to achieve this year. It would look something like this:

• To get to see family and friends – face to face!
• To be able to entertain again
• To dine out
• To see some live theatre
• To enjoy some live music
• To attend a live sporting event (preferably Rugby!)
• To be able to travel… anywhere!

I do realise, of course, that these objectives may well be very similar – with minor variations – for many, many people this year. In the spirit of making a proper effort, however, I will see if I can do a little better in terms of our particular situation.

Extremely blessed as we are financially with the relative security of our pensions (who would have ever thought to be able to write such a thing) and our on-going part-time jobs, the one positive side-effect of not being able to do any of the things on the list above is that we do not currently have any major outgoings. For this reason we have decided to invest a little further in renovations to our home.

Readers may recall that in the spring of 2017 we had our new deck built on the back of the house. In the winter of 2017/18 we tackled the greatest challenge, with the wholesale renovation of the main floor of the house. In 2020 we had the exterior redecorated.

All that remains is for us to do some upgrades and tidying up in our basement. Our main guest bedroom is down there and needs a proper bathroom in place of the lashed-together affair that it currently has. The small kitchenette needs remodeling and upgrading and the family room – that which we re-painted in 2019 – needs to have its purpose properly defined and to be re-jigged accordingly.  We are thinking that we may turn some of it into a small fitness room.

This is all currently in the planning stages with a view to being effected in the spring/summer.

As I say – we are both expecting to carry on working – at least part time. I am not teaching this term (too small an uptake) but may instead teach a condensed version of the course in the spring (summer) term. The Girl will continue three days a week at her volunteer agency and is still seeing clients with her other hat on. I too will continue to make and promote music with The Chanteuse – following whatever course that may take.

As things stand I don’t think we can look further ahead than this. Like everyone else – we wait and watch…