Goodbye 2021 and Hello 2022 (Part 1: New Home)

Happy New Year Everyone,

For me, 2021 was both a challenging and a good year. I have had plenty of stress involved with moving house (more so than any other house move). The wild and mostly sudden fluctuations in the price of Hive has been stressful. The Government’s approach to Covid-19 and its various variants has not been easy to handle. I have picked up a few injuries this year as well. I hurt my neck causing me terrible headaches for almost 3 months. I strained both legs at various times during the year. I hurt my hands and left elbow while working several garden construction projects. At the moment, only the sore hands are causing me problems.

On the plus side, I am now in a new home. It is much better than the rented accommodation that I lived in for the previous 2 ½ years. The price of Hive moved around a lot but the overall trend for the year was very positive. The price was around 11 cents at the beginning of the year and it ended up over US$1.50 at the end of it. For the price to have increased by around 15 times is unbelievable. That has been a massive boost to my financial wealth. Covid-19 restrictions were up and down, the Governments’ vaccine push has been intense and the introduction of Covid-19 passports for access into certain venues is discriminatory. However, the Covid-19 push is becoming unsustainable. The Omicron variant has smashed the connection between infection and hospitalisation. Further restrictions based on Covid-19 has no basis and it has become obvious. My aches and pains were annoying but none of them were serious or permanent. I am beginning the New Year feeling better than I did for most of last year.

In 2021, we gained two new members to the family. A goat named ‘Lily’ and a pig named ‘Hamlet’. The work on the land at our new home made it possible to have these two lovely animals live with us.

Photos of Lily and Hamlet

Fun in the Hay

Moving House

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The biggest event was moving house and everything that went with it. House searching began in February. We put in offers on several different houses from March to May. Each time someone else put in a higher offer and we missed out. Finally, in May, our offer on a house was accepted. We offered high than the posted selling price, which seemed the only way we could actually have a chance of getting an offer accepted. The property market had gone nuts at the time. I was expecting it to be slow considering how Covid-19 restrictions had slowed down much of the economy. It seemed people were able to save money during the lockdowns.

We were hoping to move into our new home in July. We assumed that since there was no chain at either end (we were coming out of rented and the seller was a property investor), the process would be quick. Unfortunately, it was not. Instead, we did not move in until the first week of September. It was unclear why everything took so long. People just appeared to be very hard to contact. I imagine Covid-19 restrictions did not help the process.

Upgrading the House

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The house needed many things done. The back garden needed to be reconstructed. It was a hilly mess but it was big and had potential. We had the whole garden dug up and then split into three tiers. The top tier was to be used as a viewing level as it has a great view of the town and surrounding area. I constructed a base for a sun house and then assembled the sun house, which came as a flat pack. Some trees and bushes were planted, they are still small and will take a few years to reach a reasonable size. The middle tier was to be used as the living area for Lily and Hamlet. It was separated from the upper tier by a retaining wall and a gate. It was separated from the lower tier by another retaining wall and a gentle slope from the backdoor. I assembled a small shed, which is being used as the home for Lily and Hamlet. The shed has been lined with hay bales, burlap blankets, and doormats from natural materials; this is to keep them warm at night during the winter.

Garden Before

Garden After

New Sheds, Sun House, Etc

The lower tier was to be used as a yard for storage and would have an area for sitting and observing Hamlet and Lily on the second tier. This area currently contains the retaining wall, drainage, fence, a stone bench, some plants, and the garage/shed for my brother’s scooter and wheelchair. This area will be a work-in-progress for a while.

Lower Level Before

Lower Level After

The front of the house was altered considerably. The front section was cladded with stone. This both beautifies the front of the house as well as reduces the cost and need for frequent maintenance. An awning was added above the front door to keep the rain off when entering the house. New front lights were added as the old ones were falling apart. A nice new house sign was added as well. This showed the address of the house as well contained a symbol of a phoenix, which has become the new symbol of the family as part of our crest. The front garden has improved as well. Many new trees, bushes and shrubs have been planted. A few new lawn ornaments have been added as well.

Front of House Before

Front of House After

Inside the house, the biggest project was adding an upstairs bathroom. The upstairs had two huge bedrooms but no bathroom. It made sense to use some of that space to add a bathroom. The new bathroom is quite big. It has a toilet, a sink, a bath/shower, and plenty of storage space. It has been fully tiled (floor and wall). The only thing left to do is add a coat of paint to the ceiling. I plan on doing that this week. For the rest of the inside of the house, a few things needed doing here and there. A few rooms were painted, light fittings were added or updated, electric sockets were added, and extra storage was added.

New Bathroom

More to do in 2022

View from an upstairs bedroom.

The house has changed considerably since we moved in but there is still some work to be done.

• Change the steps at the front of the house.
• Change the front door.
• Change the backdoor.
• Add another gate to the soon to be courtyard.
• Clean up and set the sitting area in the courtyard once all the work in that area is complete.
• Paint the exterior of the house.
• Clear and clean the gutters.
• Add a path to the top tier leading from the gate to the sun house.
• Add another step leading up from the gate to the path.
• Add grass to the lower part of the garden if it does not grow in Spring.
• Paint the hall.
• Add the finishing touches to all of the rooms.
• Plan a possible upgrade to the downstairs bathroom.

Later in the year, I will provide an update of how the house is going. By then, most of the remaining work will be done and it will be summer. Therefore, we should have some grass and the photographs will be a little brighter from the better weather.

What else in 2022

Besides continuing working on the house, what else do I plan on doing in 2022? I will continue publishing content on Hive. I will discuss these plans in Part 2. I would like to go on holiday at some point but the Covid-19 restrictions and health/vaccine passes/certificates/passports are likely to put a damper on these plans. I think I will wait a couple more years. I want to finish my book. It has been on hold for about 2 years. It seems to slip down in priority when something else comes up. I will need to be more committed to it this year. I will discuss the book more in Part 2. At this point, I do not have any other plans for 2022. However, things can change quickly. In early January last year, I did not plan on moving house but that changed very quickly. I expect plans will change again as the year moves along.

In Part 2, I will discuss my Hive content and plans for 2022.

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More posts

If you want to read any of my other posts, you can click on the links below. These links will lead you to posts containing my collection of works. These 'Collection of Works' posts have been updated to contain links to the Hive versions of my posts.

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