well, I have switched to another (free) theme for now. It seems this quickly becoming obsolete is in general the issue with wordpress sites. I have html sites operational since 2006 – unchanged. They still work, so no, it is not essentially necessary to keep paying for a site. The lure of easy design using wordpress is of course based on the many very well designed themes that cost a bunch when using them and I do understand that the maintaining does take time and should be paid for. I am in the process of considering returning to simple html which will be quite sufficient for the task at hand (a travel site with pictures and some YT links).
I leave the one-star as a warning for those who may otherwise fall into the same trap not considering the constant need for updates and payment.
