Well, guess that’s that. A year ago I was still engaged to be married and today I’m alone, living in my own house in a small village. It just didn’t work anymore. I know it’s for the best, but… Yeah, still getting back on my feet.

I’m living in a much older house now. Built in the sixties. Still needs a whole lot of work. Everything that can be painted, needs to be painted. Already did the walls in the livingroom, kitchen, hallway downstairs, both toilets, bedroom and a wall in the attic. Everything wood needs to be done eventually… which means, every single door and doorframe in the house too. Honestly, I didn’t notice how bad the paintwork was when I viewed the house. And to think there’s only… 10 doors in the house. Ugh.

But, geek as I am, first things I did was, apart from internet, getting my Domoticz stuff running. Turns out, if you have an older house… you can’t really use all the stuff you used before. All my Z-Wave switches that were mounted behind the wall switches, can’t be used anymore. Simply no room. So apart from a few wallplugs and a switch outdoors… no more Z-Wave. But I obviously want some automation, so hello Zigbee. Rather different, has it’s quirks, but the Ikea Trafri stuff works reasonable well. Expensive, but not nearly as expensive als Hue.

Oh, wait. Let’s not forget my Z-Wave smoke detectors! Pieces of junk. Already had 2 “fires in the attic”, ofcourse both in the middle of the night. Had to replace the batteries twice in the past 3 months. So those 2 have got to go. Didn’t even get a notification when the damned thing went off and that’s the whole purpose of getting Z-Wave ones!

So, lots left to be done around the house. Lots of furniture to be bought too. But that’s by no means the only thing that changed in my life. I obviously got out of a relationship… and I’ve fallen in love again. With… someone I’ve known for 13 years, but haven’t met yet. Yeah, you read that right. She’s British, I’ve met her online and she’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the honour of knowing. God, I hope I get to meet her soon… if only life wasn’t being a complete and total bitch over there.