gemini://ur.gs/blog/2022-2023-review/

About this time last year, I put together a post detailing some projects for 2022. Now is a fine time to go back and see how I've done with them.

I don't fancy itemising, but the big trend is that very little of what I wrote down got done, especially when it comes to software. I can fairly reliably blame parenting for that, but my two biggest personal projects - ordoor and purple-plugin-delta - are both stalled on identical issues: the big rust rewrite. I suspect managing to kick-start one will also kick-start the other, it's just a matter of making it happen.

Life stuff has gone significantly better; in particular, we're now very well settled in Yorkshire, in a house that's not falling down. We still have the Shetland house, but that should be going early this year - there's just a tiny bit of additional work that's waiting for a break in the weather.

Body projects got absolutely no traction! Likewise the visit to Cuba. I kept up the Spanish though.

I withdrew from the MSc - although building our own sustainable house is still a big medium-term goal, we've decided to tackle it in a more hands-on, less academic way. Part of that is the new projects with heat pumps and solar panels and batteries I took on last year; there will be other projects this year in a similar vein. I'm on the lookout for land too - I figure I can pick it up before we're ready to build, if something idyllic comes along.

Lots of other things were not planned, but happened anyway, last year, such as the new job, getting the allotment, and sorting various things with my sister's house. I did a pretty good job of writing about them as they happened, so a recap doesn't add much.

This year has a lot less structure in it than 2022. The code and body projects can carry over, but I need to identify a new approach for getting stuck into them.

In the current house, we plan to switch to underfloor heating. This has two benefits - we can squeeze much more efficiency out of the heat pump, and it allows me to throw away the carpets and mandate hard flooring throughout. This will be a huge hygiene win - carpets do not mix with babies, pets, or reluctant housekeeping, and we have all three. Once they're down, we can get a robot hoover again.

The allotment and garden will continue this year. We've got a tentative plan for the food we want to grow, which involves a gigantic maize stand and needs me to start some aubergine seeds this month. It won't be self-sufficiency - we don't have the space - but if we can get a third of our vegetables from this plot, we'll be doing well.

I'm thinking about making the garden more baby-friendly with additional decking, but that's still tentative.

A stretch goal is converting the garage into a utility room and snug. Doing all the planning, design, and build ourselves will make for a good learning experience, but it's a big project and starting it might well slip to 2024.

The masters just isn't happening, but I have my eye on a couple of CAT "short" courses (each is a week long, on-site down in Wales) - one is straw-bale building, the other is sustainable woodland management, and building a straw bale house in a forest is absolutely in my wheelhouse. I should get to go to both courses, and we can twin them with holidays in Wales. It's not Cuba, but it is something of a Mecca of sustainable development here in the UK.

Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Contact the author by email: gemini@ur.gs

2022 - 2023 Review

2022

2023