I think it goes without saying that 2020 was a challenging year … and each of us had our own unique set of challenges to contend with.
Some got a crash course in home-schooling. Others had to discover how to pivot their business to something more pandemic proof or figure out how to balance work and life when the dining room table has transformed into the office. The extroverts had to learn how to deal with reduced social contact, and introverts like me discovered that socialising online could be even more draining than in person. We all learned how to use Zoom.
In the scheme of things, my main challenge was relatively minor: I found it difficult to write.
Don’t get me wrong: there was a lot of tea to power us through both lockdowns, the nature in our garden was entertaining (if occasionally gruesome), and I know that this year will certainly appear in future history books. But there was very little travel and travel is what helps spark my creativity: it shakes up my routines, exposes me to new sights and ideas, and forces me to step away from my business to rest my mind.
Yet much of the travelling we managed to squeeze in before Lockdown 1.0 (or between 1.0 and 2.0) I haven’t actually finished writing about. Instead, there are half a dozen unfinished blog posts languishing on my hard drive.
However, rather than dwell on my increasing to-do list, I thought it would be good to take a look back at what I did manage to publish this year:
- Looking Back, Looking Ahead (January 1, 2020)
- The Colours of January (January 21, 2020)
- A Series of Fortunate Events (January 29, 2020)
- Marlborough Magic (February 12, 2020)
- Sneak Peek (March 19, 2020)
- Down the Rabbit Hole (March 19, 2020)
- CSI Garden Edition: Who Newt This Was a Cold-Blooded Killer? (April 16, 2020)
- Musings on History (June 16, 2020)
- Wildlife at the Tower (July 12, 2020)
- MissElaineous’ Adventures in Anime (August 19, 2020)
- A Walk on the Wild Side (Plus Sheep) (September 9, 2020)
- Touch Wood: An Interview with Simon Webb (October 5, 2020)
- MissElaineous and the Very Proper Adventure (October 11, 2020)
- Autumn and Art (October 21, 2020)
And if you’re curious about what happened on the rubbish side of my life this year, you can check out all of the Off the Ground blog posts here.
As the sun sets over 2020, I wish everyone a bright and safe New Year!
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