Ten Unexpected Miseries of 2020

 

It's been a rotten year for most of us and I don't want to dwell on the Covid 19 death toll in this post and depress everyone even more. Instead I want to take a look at the more lighthearted miseries of this year.

 

1) Closed Charity Shops

Clearing out the house became very difficult when the charity shops were closed most of the year! I always donate books, cds, dvds, clothes and other things to them wherever possible and now my house is full of bags of stuff waiting to get taken away!

 

2) Ripping Up Delivery Boxes

Our paper bin gets collected monthly and with tons of deliveries all year, you get a lot of big cardboard boxes. With the rubbish dump in town not available, to fit all the boxes in the bin we had to rip it all up into small pieces every time. My hands were aching on a daily basis!

 

3) Jimmy Krankie TV

I'm no fan of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon so seeing her on TV daily, bashing the UK  government, blaming England for everything, accusing English health boards of stealing masks/equipment from Scotland, banning English visitors etc drove me bloody crazy.

 

4) The Never Ending US Election

I enjoy US politics and Election Night but even I had a gutful of the carry on this year. UK hating Sleepy Joe vs The Donald in full flow did start to get on my nerves after days of endless counting and accusations of voter fraud and cheating all over the place.

 

5) The Fence

The virus locked everything down most of the year in my area and that included timber yards and DIY places for a fair bit of time. It meant waiting a long time to hear from Scott who was doing our new fences. He had a nightmare with rising prices and lack of supply for wood!

 

6) Absent GP

My regular GP took early retirement just before the pandemic and the new GP is only doing phone calls. It hasn't stopped her messing about with my medication and giving me the runaround all summer. WHY mess with medication during a global pandemic???

 

7) Blogger

At a time when internet contact between bloggers is vital, Blogger decides to mess us about, drive us crazy with unwanted changes and turn blogging into a time consuming chore. What is up with that crap? At times I just want to stop blogging with all their carry on!

 

8) The Reading Slump From Hell

All the stress and panic about staying away from the virus has led to the worst reading slump I've ever had. Concentration is gone, the will to read has been sporadic, and even re-reads of Harry Potter are taking ages to get through. I hope for better next year.

 

9) ASDA Delivery Day

Yes it beats going out to the supermarket but the ordering is stressful when the site is having a go-slow, you get subs you never asked for and I end up knackered dragging bags to the kitchen and trying to find somewhere to put it in our tiny kitchen!

 

10) The Simple Things I Miss

I miss browsing charity shops, going to the shopping mall for a walk round the shops, getting takeaway food, taking excess rubbish to the dump without two hour queues, a drive down the coast, a short holiday in Blackpool, reading for fun...how I wish for normal!