If 2019 was the year of Brexit deadlock followed by 2020 and 2021 being blighted by Covid, we could have been forgiven for thinking 2022 would be a 12 months in which we could catch our breath - perhaps even enjoy a year of blessed mundanity.

No such luck.

Instead, we got a war in mainland Europe which, not only threatened nuclear strikes, but which contributed, in no small part, to a spiralling cost-of-living crisis which pushed many of us to the brink; we mourned the death of our longest reigning monarch and Downing Street appeared to instal a revolving door at Number 10.

A quiet 12 months it has most definitely been not.

But it hasn't all been doom and gloom. Remember Eurovision? If it wasn't for a resounding sympathy vote for Ukraine we'd have won. Probably. And remember that long hot summer?

When January dawned, we are still all very much feeling the impact of pandemic. The emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 at the end of 2021 had forced many of us to put big get-togethers on hold (again) amid concerns of yet another wave of the virus.

Fortunately, it appeared Omicron was a less aggressive form of the illness and it wasn't long before the restrictions we had become used to were being lifted. Face masks were no long mandatory by the end of January, we no longer had to self-isolate and life started edging back to 'normal'.

Free Covid testing was scrapped at the start of April - which, inevitably, made tracking the numbers testing positive far more challenging. But the booster roll-out continues which remains a rare success story for a government which appeared to spend the year lurching from crisis to crisis.

What cannot be denied is that the number of Covid deaths has dramatically reduced during the year.

Have we seen the last of it? Probably not - but it may just join flu as a seasonal illness we should all be alert to.

Certainly pub landlords across Kent and Medway are keeping their fingers crossed. They are currently experiencing their first festive period in three years without a health crisis restricting their trading.

Mind you, celebrations will be somewhat muted as the cost-of-living crisis bites in a way which is leaving many with the stark choice of eating or heating.

Pubs had struggled in the years leading up to the pandemic and then faced prolonged closures during the lockdowns. It pushed many over the edge and out of business.

While many failed to recover, they were then hit with an on-going supply-chain problem and, then, inflation.

In January, inflation in the UK stood at 5.5% - by November it had hit a 41-year high of 11.1%. In short, what cost you £100 a year ago, was now setting you back £111. And, more worryingly, there's no sign of that slowing for the next few months.

Yet as the inflation rate increased our wages fail to keep pace. The result? We're all that much poorer this year than we were in what seems now like a golden era - namely 2021.

The traditional way to slow inflation has been to hike up interest rates. It was 0.25% this time last year. A string of increases later and as we entered December it was 2.25%. That may not sound a lot, but if you had a mortgage tracking the base rate, you will be looking at adding hundreds of pounds a month onto your repayments. Ouch.

And, of course, perhaps the biggest financial concern of all has been the soaring price of energy. Despite government intervention to cap the worst of the increases, many people had to suffer the cold than risk the cost involved with putting the heating on. It hit firms hard too, who were forced to up their prices as a consequence.

Around the county, 'warm banks' joined food banks in providing support to those struggling to make ends meet.

That dedicated community areas are being opened up simply to provide warmth to people during the cold winter months speaks volumes for the state we currently find ourselves in.

Energy prices were, of course, not helped by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. With Russia one of the largest providers of gas in Europe, it put the squeeze on supplies across the continent which, despite the UK not relying so heavily on Russian imports, still took a hammering.

Kent also welcomed a number of Ukrainian refugees - providing shelter for those subjected to war in their homeland.

Which neatly brings us on to one of the year's biggest on-going controversies. While Ukrainian flags flew in many of our towns and villages as a show of support and refugees from that conflict were warmly welcomed, the same most definitely could not be said of those entering the country by other means.

There was a relentless wave of people undergoing the perilous crossing of the Channel during the year - the vast bulk of which were desperate people fleeing conflicts which gain far less publicity than that in Ukraine.

In fact, there were record numbers. By September, 2021's figures of just under 30,000 were surpassed with three months of the year still to go.

Efforts by the government to deter those paying people smugglers by flying them out to Rwanda shortly after they arrived on our shores were thwarted by the European Court of Human Rights.

It provided a host of major problems; most pressing where to actually house them?

Unable to work or claim benefits while waiting on the processing of their asylum seeker applications, the Home Office - which came under increasing fire for its handling of the situation - opted to start block-booking hotels both in and outside the county's borders.

The costs involved were not insignificant either - with Whitehall picking up the tab of an eye-watering £6.8million a day.

The situation once again made it to the front of the news bulletins during a dramatic week at the end of October which started with a petrol bomb attack on an asylum seeker processing office in Dover.

Andrew Leak from High Wycombe drove 100 miles from his home and hurled a number of petrol bombs at the centre. Remarkably it was caught on camera. He then drove to a nearby petrol station where he was found dead.

Police, who categorised it a 'terror incident' described Leak as having "severe mental health difficulties" and found a host of extreme views on his social media feeds. No one was hurt in his attack.

Just days later, it emerged a site close to Manston Airport used for the temporary processing of arrivals was experiencing extreme pressures. Where no more than 1,600 claimants should have been held for no longer than 24 hours, it became apparent there were closer to 4,000 people - some of whom were finding themselves stuck there for weeks at a time. The situation was exacerbated by sickness - in particular diphtheria.

It was revealed in December that one man held at the site may have died of the illness, while some 50 cases were being investigated.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman took a real hammering for her handling of the situation - and even visited Manston. Shortly afterwards, the backlog was cleared and the site cleared of all asylum seekers.

It solved the immediate problem of negative headlines - but this is a story which will, almost without doubt, roll into and through 2023. Most likely we'll still be discussing it in 2024.

The scale of those crossing the Channel wasn't helped by a summer which was long, hot and, ultimately, a record-breaker.

Kent experienced three months of almost relentless sunshine and temperatures in the UK toppled 40C for the first time in history.

While good for sun-lovers and a much-needed shot in the arm for the county's tourism industry, the county's fields and gardens were turned from green to sun-scorched pale. Hosepipe bans were introduced. Concerns over global warming couldn't be ignored amid a flurry of fires sparked by the extreme heat.

When the Met Office crunched the numbers, it declared the summer the joint warmest for the UK in history and the driest since 1976.

It was all in rather stark contrast to the start of the year which saw a succession of storms batter the county - uprooting trees and causing the inevitable impact on trains and roads and power outages. Storm Eunice in February was sufficiently intense it led the Met Office to issue its first ever red wind warning - which is reserved for dangerous weather conditions which could lead to a risk to life.

Needless to say, after the sweltering temperatures of the summer, the autumn brought rain and lots of it. So much, in fact, those hosepipe bans were lifted earlier than expected.

Our review of the year continues tomorrow...