New Year's Eve 2020 Thoughts

​Another year has passed but what a dreadful year it has been for everyone! When I wrote my New Year’s Eve 2019 reflection this time last year I was quite optimistic about how 2020 might turn out, but nobody could have foreseen what was to come from late February with the arrival of COVID-19.
 
First let’s briefly reflect on some of the things I did before I talk about my thoughts on the effects of COVID-19. Once January 2020 was over, I was lucky enough to travel to London in late February for a 36hr work trip to visit the UK Space Agency and able to meet my mother and youngest brother for a quick lunch in central London. I never knew this would be the last time I could visit them in 2020, otherwise I would have stayed a little longer and also visited my other family and friends. I left London feeling very tired, but energised and excited about the plans for 2020. However, a few weeks after in mid-March COVID-19 arrived and changed things for everyone. My work went into a remote learning mode, so much of my time was spent teaching my students using Zoom or MS Teams from home. The house was busy as my wife was also working from home and kids studying remotely too - all housebound for many weeks.

​By early April, with all the time stuck at home, I decided to set myself a target of getting healthier. My health target consisted of fasting (18hr periods of no eating) and daily exercise in the form of 10km – 13km walks. To supplement my healthier lifestyle, I also decided to do a lot more gardening and grow plants and flowers – any excuse to spend time outside when free from my work computer. Another project I started was rebuilding my front house deck to keep me busy.

​By the time June arrived the COVID-19 situation in Finland seemed to have calmed down a little, so my family and I were able to travel to northern Finland for a small holiday break. Our original plan was to visit the Highlands of Scotland, but travel restrictions meant this had to be cancelled. However, this gave me a unique opportunity to do salmon fishing on the Tornio river (Tornionjoki) with some other international friends – something I had always wanted to do. I also invested in purchasing new camping equipment and spent many times wild camping around my local lake (Tuusulanjärvi) - I even managed a forest wild camp for the 1st time with my son (watch the YouTube video of the trip adventure below). In some ways over the summer I felt I rediscovered Finland and learnt to appreciate nature and the wilderness again. At the end of summer was my son’s confirmation celebration and we had a small family garden party to celebrate, which was really nice but also emotional for my wife and I – kids grow up so quickly, it makes you wonder where the years go! When August arrived, it was time to be back at work, but again working from home because of the slowly deteriorating COVID-19 situation. Luckily, I felt much more mentally ready and had lost over 30Ibs of body weight to keep me motivated and ready for the Autumn start. 

​Because of the COVID-19 situation it has been challenging being forced to spend most of my days working from home, as I really value my time with students at the university and having social contact with them. Although the COVID-19 situation is worrying and difficult, I have been very lucky to be living in one of the safest countries in the world as Finland has handled the situation really well. I fully embraced the situation being forced to be at home and combined it with exercise, gardening and camping. There is much doom and gloom around the world right now, but sometimes in these situations you have to think what matters most and for me these are – Elina, Alex and Olivia, health and nature. I was lucky to be able to spend Christmas with my wife and kids in the beautiful Finnish Lapland surrounded by snow and beautiful nature.

​For 2021 I feel the spring will still be dominated by COVID-19 and there are some tough times ahead for every country. By the time summer arrives there might be a small rest bite and improvement as the vaccines will start to have impact and perhaps less restrictions. If I am lucky, I might even be able to visit my family in the UK, who I miss a lot. As with the start of 2021 I feel optimistic and hopeful that things might start to return to some kind of normality by the time the year is out.

​Obviously Brexit will bring its own challenges but it was good a trade deal was agreed and signed at the last minute. As a pro-European I am very upset to see the UK leave, but I respect the democratic decision. Maybe over time people who voted leave will realise it was better to stay united rather than be separate. Time will tell on this matter and I will just have to bite my lip and accept what has happened. 

​I wish everyone who has read this short blog a Happy New Year and better 2021!