We were enjoying a carefree dream holiday in the stunning Cape; traveling from the Overberg mountains to the little harbour town of Struisbaai, just before the reality of Covid hit our shores.
We returned from our holiday, very relaxed but soon became quite perplexed after seeing hospitals overflowing with Covid patients in Europe on the news and hearing about the number of deaths.
Our country went into a draconian lockdown just ten days after our return from this wonderful holiday where we could travel anywhere and of course not have to wear masks!
My son had been following developments around Covid from the very beginning, studied it in depth and warned me:
Mom, I did not expect to ever experience something like this virus in my lifetime; it's going to be devastating!
I was a tad alarmed as he is a VERY bright young man but I thought he was over-reacting, although a little voice reminded me that this son of mine is very level headed and researches subjects of interest in-depth!
The reason for his interest in this virus was that his lungs were compromised many years ago by another infectious illness so this disEASE spelt danger to him.
Little did I know how right he was and the impact this pandemic would have on our world!
Our bnb had to close its doors which meant zero income from that source for just on 12 weeks so we had to rely on our corporate pension income.
It's a Kind of Magic - Hive is Born!
Then something magical happened with the birth of Hive just at that moment in history, and I could convert my Crypto blogging earnings into rands and cents, something I'd never done before.
I started powering down and received my weekly Hive income until we could open up our bnb again!
We all know that powering down takes 13 weeks, but I was able to stop at 12 weeks and mostly used my old Steem earnings as I left that platform that was taken over by unscrupulous thugs who stole the funds of some of the big accounts.
Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash
Changing our bnb marketing strategy
Even though we could operate again, the leisure guests stayed away and we mostly received business bookings, so we changed our focus to catering for that market, and it has worked, so we slowly rose up from the ashes and starting growing again!
Sadly many of the bigger players in the hospitality industry closed their doors forever and all tourism operators are still struggling.
We are super thankful that our little business survived although it's been a load of hard work.
Photo by Nagara Oyodo on Unsplash
Covid Vax - should we, or shouldn't we?
In the beginning we were listening to the many twisted facts about the dangers of the Covid vaccination, but came to the conclusion that it is due to vaccinations that many infectious diseases have been eradicated over the years. We've always gone for annual flu vaccinations and stayed healthy so took the advice of our son and my nephew who is in medicine, had our vax and are thankful that our whole household now is safer; even our staff could not wait to have theirs!
I'd rather not take the chance as we all will get Covid one way or another, there's no escaping it; although the severity will be less for those who have had their vaccinations!
Photo by Lea Böhm on Unsplash
Our New Normal
We've made our home our little haven, but are tired of the same scenery day after day, so it's great to get out and take a drive down the coast and get some fresh sea air, sit and listen to the ocean, let the wind blow away that feeling of being closeted up at home; or just a drive inland to see the countryside.
We do avoid small enclosed spaces as we can still get Covid, but thanks to the vax we will have a much faster viral clearance.
When hubby and I went to one of our large shopping malls recently, it felt like we were going out on a date!
We no longer take things for granted and enjoy exploring new outdoor places and are discovering some really awesome spots, but do miss seeing some of our friends!
For us it's been a case of Adapt or Die, and I think you've gathered by now what our choice was!
This has been my unofficial contribution to the Silver Bloggers #bow - Blog of the Week and the theme is
Has the pandemic changed your future plans?
You have until Monday 20 September to tell us how you were affected, plus stand a chance of winning a good amount of loot😉
Banner created by @zord189
Original Content by @lizelle
Thank you for stopping by
Copyright @lizelle – All Rights Reserved
Do you know this Badge?
It says "Thank you for partnering with the Papillon Foundation by participating in the
Weekly Hive Charity Giveaway."
Do you want this Badge?
If you like this badge and if you want to help too, you can learn more about @combination and the badge in their blog post:
Some Exciting News! Badge release!
CLICK IMAGE IF YOU WISH TO JOIN SILVER BLOGGERS:
Artwork by @artywink
Banner created by @derangedvisions
JOIN Hive using my referral LINK