The last year has been horrible. Not just for me (us) obviously, but for many people.

It is now 2 years and 2 months since I last saw Ploy and the dogs. We had planned for me to visit over Christmas and New Year, but money was tight, and we were waiting for a decent sum of money to be paid by a China customer. They kept delaying and delaying, but finally we received the money and were able to pay our bills. But too late to plan anything, and in any case they had asked for some changes to the design. Thailand has just reintroduced their quarantine requirement.

Ploy and I have decided to wait a little longer. This money has allowed us to pay all our bills and still have something left in the bank. We had a large corporation tax bill to pay which took a big chunk out of our resources (which means we must have been making money, although where that money went is anyone’s guess). Ploy’s business is going great guns and she has just taken on another member of staff, but she knows from when her cook was ill for a few days, customers are a fickle lot, and it took her while to build up the trade again. So we aim for Ploy’s birthday in March.

From my own point of view, almost this entire year has been spent on two China customers. One we finally lost patience with and told them where they could put their order, but of course it didn’t end there. We lost a huge amount of money on that but at least it is all finished now - officially as we have signed an end of contract agreement. The other one was the late paying customer – they first indicated they would order in March this year – we received the final payment in December, and they are still requesting changes.

So, a change of plans for 2022.

1. The products that we currently sell to customers, such as the China companies, will be removed from sale. Instead we will design a completely new range of products for sale (based on what we sell to the Chinese). Much lower priced, but hopefully much higher quantity so we spread our risk on non/late-payments.
2. Send money to Ploy throughout the year so we can buy some land in Thailand, and eventually have our own house built.
3. Abandon plans to do our own manufacturing and remain a design house, with manufacturing sub-contracted. This will allow me to spend more time in Thailand if I set up an office there.
4. Keep going with my math’s degree. Into my second year and enjoying it when I can spend proper time on it instead of always being behind and having to rush the exams.
5. Get those books finished. Tom Cruise and Other Animals is almost finished and The Forgotten Tenors is 60% finished. The other six books should follow. Again, it is just making time for it.
6. Tidy up my house a little more. I only rent, but I really like the house and it was bare when I moved in, over a year ago. I started painting it, but then run out of enthusiasm, mostly because of circumstances at work. I must finish it and buy an few more things to make it feel even more like home.
7. The one good thing from 2021 was I sold my Mercedes car before it bankrupted me. Instead I bought a 23 year old Honda Prelude, a later model to one I used to have which I bought new and did 330,000 miles in with barely a misfire. This Prelude looks as reliable, so I want to invest a little money at it to ensure it does keep going.
8. And this is the big thing. Managing my time better. Because of [1] and [3], once in place, I should have much more time to do other things ([4] and [5]). I’ve been unwell for some of this year, nothing major, and it is surely just missing Ploy and the stress of the business.
9. And lastly, spend a bit more time on this website. The readership has been dropping steadily over the last few years – hardly surprisingly as I haven't posted anything for ten months: it would be good to get back up to the million hits in one year I once achieved.