Hello all
I recently received a message form Pal asking me about my absence from the forum during this year and if everything was all right. It's the second such message I've received, after one from Allan L. back in April, which I replied to privately. However, I have decided that rather than reply to Pal in private again, I would publish this post so that everyone could read. It is a reshuffled version of what I wrote to Allan.
First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude for the concern of those who have reached out to me, it's heart-warming to feel the appreciation of our little community. Also, reassure you that I am doing fine and so are my family and loved ones. I hope the same is true for the rest of the Autopuzzles community.
The reason for my absence has been really due to a lack of free time. Starting in September 2019, I have been studying an online master's course to further my education and salary/employment prospects, and it has been demanding a lot of my time, apart from what I need for my day job (I'm still working from home part-time), and of course, looking after my child, who has been in the house 24/7 due to childcare facilities being closed; and making it all even more complicated, my wife as also been studying another Master's course simultaneously with me (becoming parents has really made us want to shift things up a notch!), which has meant that often I had to try to cover all bases when she was approaching an exam crunch, and viceversa. I finished my course in late July, but my wife still hasn't, so other than a couple of weeks of holidays we took in August (in a beach house with no internet connection

), since then I have been mostly tasked with looking after the little one so that she could concentrate on her work.
Autopuzzles is like a dangerous rabbit hole to me where I can easily get lost for hours on end, so in these circumstances I have had to stay away from it (as well as social media and other distractions) so I could keep my focus on these obligations.
Alas, it is precisely now that I start to see light at the end of the tunnel. Our nursery school has, at long last, reopened this week, and just a couple of days ago my wife finished a big presentation that was crucial to her course, so I am now finally able to unload some family responsibilities and have some time for myself. I still have to take care of some other stuff (repairs in the house that had been neglected, updating and sending out CVs, catching up on some TV shows NOT starring cartoon furry critters...), but my return to Autopuzzles is now imminent!

. Looking forward to rejoining the fun!
Cheers!