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content/blog/2023-01-08-2022-2023-review.gmi

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+---
+title: "2022 - 2023 Review"
+---
+
+## 2022
+
+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.
+
+=> /blog/projects-for-2022/ Projects for 2022
+
+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.
+
+Overall, I'd give myself a solid 7/10.
+
+## 2023
+
+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.
+
+On we go.