I don’t think much can more can be said about 2020 that you won’t find elsewhere. It was a very “interesting” year both globally and personally.
It’s a well-know fact that humans did not have a good year in 2020. A global pandemic struck out of nowhere forcing a lot of people to not only view the world differently, but to vastly change their lifestyles, for better or worse. Covid-19 took many lives this year and many people lost their jobs and sources of income. But I’m not here to recap what we all already know so well.
I’m going to talk about 2020 from my point of view and my personal experiences.
This year already started out quite different from past years in that I woke up in Miami, Florida on New Years Day as I was on honeymoon in the States with my wife at the time.
Fast-forward a couple of months, the Covid-19 pandemic had hit globally – fast and hard. By March 2020 I was working from home and South Africa had gone into a full-blown lockdown. I’m in a very fortunate position that that I work for a fantastic company and my job can be done remotely, without any loss of income.
There was a minor adjustment working from home – but nothing too jarring. Usual home interruptions, noise from the dogs and working just mere meters within proximity to my wife with the TV in the background all become my new normal and so the months went on. Not leaving the house on days (if not weeks) on end became the new reality.
It was around September when an opportunity presented itself for a transfer to the United Kingdom. After a couple of dizzying, frantic and panicked months, a work contract had been signed and things had started falling into place for a phased immigration (me first, my wife and pets second).
By end of November, with most of our belongings sold, I kissed my wife goodbye and set off to the UK – with just a suitcase of clothes. As of writing, it will still be months until I see her and my pets again, but our immigration plan was not easy or fast and we agreed this was a necessary sacrifice for our future.
Fast-forward to early 2021, being nearly two months in a new country, there has been lots of uncertainty, worry, doubts and stress coupled with an ongoing global pandemic (that has just seemingly gotten worse, not better) – all of which hasn’t made things any easier, but I’ve managed.
England is a really beautiful country and I’ve loved what I’ve seen and experienced so far. I’m still just as positive (if not more so) to get settled and have my wife and pets join me early next year.
2021 is looking promising. There is a Covid-19 vaccine being dispersed and my little family will be in a few short months. While 2020 was not the best of years, 2021 is certainly full of promise.
Development Highlights from 2020:
- Moving over to a Mac from a Windows PC.
- Using Laravel in a professional environment.
- Using Python a lot more in my day to day.
- Getting to learn and use the Google Cloud Platform.