Read my other blogs about Corona:

• Five ways that the Corona virus is affecting my daily life – March update
• Four ways the lockdown is affecting my daily life – April update

By now we have reached May and Belgium has lowered some of the restrictions in place making it more “livable” to live with the Corona Virus.

• Shops have re-opened, even though I have not done any actual shopping yet
• All outdoor sports are now allowed and this up to groups of 20 people
• You can now have a “bubble” that means you can invite up to 4 people at home. Those 4 people are then part of your bubble but then those 4 people also need to have the exact same bubble.
• Its been about two weeks since the bubble measure went into effect, so everyone is worried to see the effect of this, but so far it has been positive and the numbers keep dropping
• Mouth-masks are now obligated on public transport, and apparently also useful, after months of government communications to not wear them because they have barely any effect, suddenly they are obligated
• The numbers are far better then one month ago
• Most schools are still closed, but they have re-opened for certain age groups
• Restaurants, bars are still closed. I do not see dancing’s opening any time soon this year, perhaps not at all
• Picnics or sitting down during walks are still not allowed
• Working from home is still highly recomended
• Realtors can sell houses again! So this is very positive for house hunters like myself.
• The last update there was 5309 people in the hospital and 1182 in intensive care. As you can see on bellow update now there is only 1448 in the hospital and 277 on intensive care, so a huge drop!

#1 In my personal life

While the beginning of the lockdown I focused more on how to not get infected I now focus more on how to cope with my new situation.

• I try to do more different sports now, since more is allowed then just walking, cycling and running. I went for tennis, and looking into sailing (I am a sailor and this is now allowed again)
• I still mountainbike a lot, around 2 trips per week usually around 30-50km per week
• I can now visit family by car, I haven’t gone inside anyones house yet, but I have been enjoying drinks and lunch in the garden
• I have not invited anyone at home, my apartment is just to small
• I go more often to the supermarket (about twice a week) but I always wear a mouthmask
• I buy about 1-2 VR games per week, that also keeps me busy
• I have some issues at my back and I am unable to see a physiotherapists since its considered non – essential

#2 At work

I have been working from home for over 2 months now. I have gotten quite used to it.

• I actually met my colleagues this week for a nice mountainbike tour of 50km on the countryside. We will do this once a month
• I got used to working from home, I feel neutral about it, but I do miss the after-work events
• My company is slowly preparing to go back to the office. They expect that in June critical workers can start again in the offices, and perhaps in July we can go back to the customer, maybe not full time but at least part time. I am really looking forward to that.
• I have officially canceled my apartment in Amsterdam and last weekend I went downthere to clean it up. I had a limited visa for 3 days, but I managed to move everything in 1 day. To be honest I did threw a lot of things in the trash I would not have thrown away otherwise, but its a long drive there and we still need to limit our exposure.

#3 Personal travel and holidays

I am not planning any travelling right now, I will probably take holidays the last 2-3 weeks of August. I doubt I will be going abroad, it is not exactly safe at this time. I might book something in Belgium.

#4 In my investments

The stock market has gone up a little. Not enough yet to fix the losses I made, but let’s hope it will continue to rise. Although its likely we might need to wait a few years to see that.

I have lowered my investments for this month. Its related both to the wage drop due to not being Allowed to do business trips, and the fact I am getting more serious about a House, so I do want to have a bit of extra in the money market. Once I bought a house I will be renting off the apartment I live in now, and this will cause a big spike in investments in my portfolio.

In the first place I have not seen a drop in price of houses. It was to be expected that some people would be desperate after not seeing anything on the market for 2 months. But I do feel that we can still get a drop if the situation continues.

I went to see one house already but thought it was way to expensive for the location and state of the house.

I have been selling off my peer to peer loans as you can see in my monthly portfolio update. I expect I will put most of this money in my housing fund.

Follow me if you are interested to see how much further my portfolio will crash before I hit rock bottom!