diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 56060de36..c523cb808 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ etl/images/*
 etl/*.geojson
 etl/**/*.csv
 etl/**/*.txt
+!etl/**/requirements.txt
 etl/**/*.xls
 etl/**/*.xlsx
 etl/**/*.zip
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index 181e3aec6..ba5f5f225 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
 
   # Every Vagrant development environment requires a box. You can search for
   # boxes at https://vagrantcloud.com/search.
-  config.vm.box = "bento/ubuntu-18.04"
+  config.vm.box = "ubuntu/focal64"
 
   # Create a forwarded port mapping which allows access to a specific port
   # within the machine from a port on the host machine and only allow access
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
   # Using VirtualBox:
   config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vm|
     # # Display the VirtualBox GUI when booting the machine
-    # vb.gui = true
+    # vm.gui = true
 
     # # Customize the amount of memory on the VM:
-    # vb.memory = "1024"
+    vm.memory = "2048" # default, 1024 was not enough
 
     # Enable creating symlinks in shared folder
     # On a Windows host, vagrant will need to run with permissions to 'Create Symlinks', either
diff --git a/etl/requirements.txt b/etl/requirements.txt
index d1e037461..797c78e95 100644
--- a/etl/requirements.txt
+++ b/etl/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Python packages for etl
 fiona==1.7.13
 osmnx==0.8.1
-psycopg2==2.7.5
+psycopg2==2.8.4 # test is it working, used to be 2.7.5 (no obviously borken things)
 shapely==1.6.4
 retrying==1.3.3
 requests==2.23.0
diff --git a/maintenance/requirements.txt b/maintenance/requirements.txt
index ffa77af7b..7a98cb02a 100644
--- a/maintenance/requirements.txt
+++ b/maintenance/requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-psycopg2==2.8.3
-requests==2.24.0
\ No newline at end of file
+psycopg2==2.8.4
+requests==2.24.0
diff --git a/provision/vm_provision.sh b/provision/vm_provision.sh
index 88f08d70a..55427f128 100644
--- a/provision/vm_provision.sh
+++ b/provision/vm_provision.sh
@@ -28,12 +28,14 @@ apt-get update
 # - python with pip and venv:  python3 python3-pip python3-dev
 # - postgres and postgis: postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev postgis postgresql-12-postgis-3
 # - spatial shared libs:  gdal-bin libspatialindex-dev libgeos-dev libproj-dev
-apt-get install -y \
+apt-get install -y --quiet \
     build-essential git vim-nox wget curl \
     python3 python3-pip python3-dev python3-venv \
     postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev postgis postgresql-12-postgis-3 \
     gdal-bin libspatialindex-dev libgeos-dev libproj-dev
 
+apt-get install -y --quiet libgdal-dev # TODO: it is not mentioned elsewhere but without it fiona fails to install. Investigate.
+
 
 #
 # Install node.js (node and npm)
@@ -73,9 +75,9 @@ service postgresql start
 # Ensure en_US locale exists
 locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
 # Database config to listen on network connection
-sed -i "s/#\?listen_address.*/listen_addresses '*'/" /etc/postgresql/10/main/postgresql.conf
+sed -i "s/#\?listen_address.*/listen_addresses '*'/" /etc/postgresql/12/main/postgresql.conf
 # Allow password connections from any IP (so includes host)
-echo "host    all             all             all                     md5" >> /etc/postgresql/10/main/pg_hba.conf
+echo "host    all             all             all                     md5" >> /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf
 # Restart postgres to pick up config changes
 service postgresql restart
 
@@ -106,6 +108,7 @@ source colouringlondon/bin/activate
 
 # Install smif
 pip install --upgrade pip
+sudo apt install -y  --quiet python3-testresources # to silence an error on install below
 pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel
 pip install -r /vagrant/etl/requirements.txt
 
@@ -117,11 +120,26 @@ chown -R vagrant:vagrant /home/vagrant/colouringlondon
 # Install node modules
 #
 
-# Install latest release of npm
-npm install -g npm@next
+# Install release v6 of npm
+npm install -g npm@6 # TODO: upgrade to later npm to match intended "latest"
+
+# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69094604/npm-fails-during-npm-install-with-npm-err-maximum-call-stack-size-exceeded
+# npm install on files from host at least sometimes goes down with
+#
+# 957 verbose stack RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
+# 957 verbose stack     at RegExp.test (<anonymous>)
+# 957 verbose stack     at isDepOptional (/usr/local/lib/node/node-v12.18.1/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/install/deps.js:432:45)
+# 957 verbose stack     at failedDependency (/usr/local/lib/node/node-v12.18.1/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/install/deps.js:441:9)
+# (..)
+#
+# which is avoided when remote files are first copied within VM
+cp /vagrant/app /home/vagrant/ -r
+
+# TODO an ugly hack, would be nice to avoid it
+chown -R vagrant:vagrant /home/vagrant/app
 
 # Local fixed install of node modules
-cd /vagrant/app && npm install
+cd /home/vagrant/app && npm install
 
 
 #