One day at a time

 Further restrictions were eased for the weekend and masks are only required to be worn in certain situations (e.g. public transport and shopping centres). So I won't need to wear one if I go to work, which I had planned to do this week but was unwell again, so worked from home instead. Work is getting me down again (feeling lonely again), not big but there are one or two issues linked to other departments and getting agreement on how to treat some items. I am going to take next Friday off work and extend a already long weekend, with a public holiday on Monday. Plan to go shopping this weekend and try to fix my faulty extractor fans, hopefully its just a matter of replacing them. I got some good news, the credit card I applied for has been approved, although I have not received anything from the bank (e.g. email) to say I have been accepted, I discovered that I could finally log on to their online banking service. I found a use for the funds I had stuck in Skrill, although I probab...

 Thankfully the snap lockdown was only needed for 5 days and as of Thursday we were free again (although with some restrictions). Hopefully I will be able to return to the office again next Tuesday, although the wearing of masks is still required indoors except when eating and drinking. I had my semi-annual performance discussion with my manager and he was very positive about me and I will be put on higher duties while one of my colleagues is absent from the team. I have a couple of important meetings coming up early next week, whilst trying to make sure that the businesses have all updated their budget data. A few have already said they will miss the deadline. I had a nice time with my aunt at lunch at the weekend and although the food she choose wasn't to her liking, my meal was very nice. I took my cat to the vet on Friday, he had stopped using one of his litter boxes and wasn't using the other one that much. The vet could not find anything to explain the behaviour and the c...

 Just when you think its looking like we're heading back to something like normality, COVID has a trick up its sleeve (or should that be in its DNA). After a number of cases of the UK variant linked to hotel quarantine have surfaced in Melbourne, the whole State has been put in Stage 4 (the highest) lockdown for five days from from the beginning of the weekend. So my plans to go out and have lunch with my aunt went out the window, thankfully she understood why I had to cancel meeting up over the weekend. The news did really hit me on Friday afternoon and especially since I had just started going back in the office one day a week, which won't be happening next week. The trip into the Central Business District was fine, apart from the need to change trains since the introduction of new timetables which means none of the Frankston line trains now go to Parliament station. The train was reasonably quiet until it got to Richmond station, when my carriage got a little crowded. The of...

 After one case of locally transmitted COVID-19, the requirement to wear masks inside has been reinstated (e.g. including offices and places of work). It had been confusing when masks had to be worn, so this makes it simple again - everywhere inside. Got the cat back, he began to misbehave at my friend's place, so I went to pick him up and bring him home. He hasn't done anything out of the ordinary since I brought him back but it has only been a few days. Looks like I will need to go into the city on Tuesday if I want to take part in the radio program. It was difficult to do when I was remote, I wasn't sure when I was able to speak so we will only do the program from the studio (unless the rules change again about being in groups). Might see if I can work from the office on Tuesday, since I need to go into the city to work on the radio program.

Spent the beginning of this week away in country Victoria in Ballarat and it was very pleasant although it was also hot. I took my cat to stay with a friend for a couple of weeks to see how they both deal with it. I am missing the cat so will be very happy to have him back soon. Went to see my elderly aunt over the weekend and we went out for lunch. It was a big meal for her but she managed to get through it eventually.  The radio show I volunteer on is going back into the studio from next week. I'm not keen on going into the CBD just for it and will see how it goes doing it remotely.  Work has been frustrating which is a common problem recently.