A reverence to 2020: The Almost Series of the most Fortunate events

It is time for a yearly blog post and goodness me what a year it was, say I and says 95% of all my friends, clients and colleagues. The other 5% refusing to say anything at all as 2020 left them pretty much speechless.

On one hand, this year was really uneventful. On the second hand, thank God it was! When the Global pandemic kicks in, you nor want nor need any events, just to stay healthy, employed and mentally afloat. And it might sound cheesy, but the quote that came to my mind most this year was:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, saying:

For everything, there is a season, A time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.


2020 was time to stop. Not voluntarily, but forcefully and yet some of us might felt it was very much needed.
When leaving the office around 17th March to work from home, one of my colleagues asked 'how much do you take with you? Do you think we'll be back soon?'. And then, being super cheerful of the prospect to work from home without asking for a special permission or feeling that I'm missing on the office life, I said 'I don't think this will be long. Maybe some 2 weeks, 1 month at max. Don't worry, it should be fine. I'm not even taking my shoes (I always keep high heels in the drawer for meetings and 'looking good' days) or my lappie stand'... 
And some 3 months later we got the necessary items shipped to us as England went to Tier 2 and our administrator was able to enter the office. 5 months later I collected my high heels and other stuff, still leaving some of it behind for another time when a group of 6 will be allowed to return and work from the same room... Oh, saint naivety! Today is 28th of December, we opened the office for 5 days in total since that day in March,  with a maximum of 5 people, and I have totally forgotten what I have in my drawer. Surprise surprise! I mean, I hope I haven't left a 'Snickers' for my future self! 



                                                    My office plants Johhny and Spikey are travelling 
                                                    home in a Birchbox box last summer. 


As to working from home, I went through a variety of stages - from a true satisfaction of being able to get up at 8:30 and work more independently to a complete frustration when the communication of the team went nuts and getting things done turned to be extremely difficult. To sum up this part of the story - work-wise this year has thought me more than I ever expected to learn, it partially killed the image of myself that I had for years (that of a freelancer working from a remote village in the middle of evergreen Lithuania), made me understand how much I appreciate being a member of an organisational community and find the best ever 'colleague' in my husband who was (un)lucky to find the last 9 months working beside me. 



As mine and my husbands work duties partially focuses on an enormous amount of calls, we made this cosy little corner in our bedroom to accommodate for the clashing call times.


And yet, even if the biggest and groundbreaking event of the year was the 90% angle change of the daily routines, there were some really bright and positive days this year that I would love to tell you about. I call it 'The Almost Series of the most Fortunate events in 2020' and it starts with....

Theatre! Those who know me long enough will remember that theatre is something very dear to my heart and takes an absolute priority over cinema and music and, most of the times, over castles and museums, which, as some might know, is another obsession of mine.

I have a special board in our apartment where all those theatre tickets (along with some reminiscences of travels) are getting pinned and then taken down at the end of the year. This is how this year's board looks like: 


 
         Pretty empty, huh? :(  The photo of us is back from 2018, just too sweet to take down. The map is of Portsmouth, the postcard from the Isle of Wight, a trolleybus ticket from Vilnius and a sticker from Lithuanian Parliament elections... and only a few theatre tickets.

This year we were lucky to see a musical called 'Waitress' (nice American musical, nothing to take, nothing to add and for me personally - nothing to get hooked on), both inspiring and terrifying, but ridiculously good in theatrical decisions 'Touching the Void', an outstanding adaptation of 'Uncle Vanya' and always new 'The Seagull', where Emilia Clarke (the khaleesi from 'Game of Thrones') literary blown my mind with her brilliance on the scene. Really, guys, GOT shows maybe 1/3 of what she really can...


My London theatre shoutout - come early to stare at the amazing ceilings! 



Next, of course, are the Birthdays! Even if I and R. needed to have ours in quarantine, we managed to celebrate Z. birthday with a splash getting her some really cool afternoon tea cruise on the River Thames. 


JD & co are certified B-day breakfast providers before the river cruises. 


                                           A moment on the boat with R. Guilty for missing the amazing
                                              shots of the afternoon tea itself...

Isle of Wight...  Is a story of two people trying to have some Holidays in the midst of Global pandemic and, without doubt, succeeding.
As this year proved to be rather challenging for travelling abroad (last time we been abroad was February in Lithuania and we haven't seen our families or been anywhere since...), we decided to take a long weekend off and get some last-minute tickets to Portsmouth and from there to the Isle of Wight.
I can't name many cons of this trip if I think about it. Travelling with face masks on isn't so easy, but far from impossible and if you add an empty train... you see where I'm going. Those 3 days in the Isle of Wight were truly and really brilliant!



The Portsmouth shipyard was closed due to the pandemic, but hey, that's a reason to come back and we still found a couple of beauties. 


No words needed to describe this. Just a pure joy of living. 


The nature of the Isle of Wight was a pleasant surprise. 
Somewhat reminding our honeymoon in Spain. 


There are more pathways on the rocks. 
'And they last forever' - decided I on the 16th kilometre that day....


Cattles were really grazing, but FYI, the National Trust allows you 
to hop through the fence an explore. 



The Osborne House, the former Holiday home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  
Now closed for restoration, but grounds are open for exploration. 



And the next morning the sea was gone :D 


So I went to look for it... (p.s. wrong direction)


...but instead found the longest ever pier...

 
                                                  ... and a lighthouse castle worth of every fairy tale.


Overall, the memories of our travels are always sweet... And if I can add a couple more trips - one to Hatfield House and another to Hastings, the travel year would be complete...




A glance at the Hatfield House from its gardens. Good to be back. 


                                    The House is pretty massive and part of it is still lived by the 7th Marquess and                                          Marchioness of Salisbury and their family. Part of the gardens are in private use, but open for the visitors a couple times a week. 


Couldn't add more...


Neglect of social distancing rules?



A moment from the picnic in Hatfield House grounds.



Hastings! We're coming! Just not sure how....


Seasides never disappoint.


As so does the vegan ice cream. 


More of incognito travelling. 


And here is opposite to the seaside. Once there was a castle, now only remnants of it
and yet it must have been magnificient.


And here ends all the travelling we managed to do in a year. Way less than what we would normally do, but hey, normally I would have no time to finish another 45 credits in a semester for my studies at Open University. And although I decided to take it nice and easy with the studies from this point onwards, I feel my year were probably the most productive work-wise since the time we moved to UK. 

And definitely the most productive cooking-wise for me and the chef of our kitchen - Dom Ramzie... Here would be some of our star dishes from 2020:

   
My take on the blueberry pie. Salmon feast and Home Made burgers.      

  
Finally, a perfectly made lamb, home made bread stew pot and caneles!  


                
                   The epiphany to fluffiness in Japanese cheesecake, homemade waffles 
                   and a take on the fish pie.


And to prove (firstly, to myself!) that this year wasn't just about cooking and eating, there were almost 50 hrs of runs with 346 kilometres complete in 2020 that inspires me not only to keep up, but to beat this number next year:



So here it comes. 2020, the year when the s**t hit the fan and yet I can be only grateful for all the amazing moments that we had, wish strength to those who had it way less fortunate than myself and hope for the next year without major disasters. 


Love,
Juste






























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