One day at a time

 

 

 My life is frustrating at the moment.  Work is frustrating with some many tasks and not enough time to do the tasks I want to do rather then those that others need to get done. Social life is frustrating as I find little to interest or motivate me, and even though there are things I could or even should be doing, they are of little interest to me. I want to change but I can't be motivated to do anything about it, so even though I find work and life generally frustrating, it's not enough to prompt me to make the effort to change anything. I think when you've been used to a certain level of pain for a along time, you don't really notice it any longer. Maybe something will happen that will push me to make a change, I don't think I am in a good place at the moment. I should be living well, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about it all being taken away. This isn't a ply for help, I just thought it would help for me to write it down and I can come back to t...

Since my last blog entry, I’ve been through a strange Christmas, took a trip to World Pride in Sydney and travelled over the ditch to the land of the long white cloud. This was the first Christmas with none of my parent’s generation still alive, so my usual trip to see my elderly aunt or call home to talk to my father did not happen. I did have a family Christmas and spent the day with my cousin and some of her family, but I avoided the traditional get-together held on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) as it was going to be a very occasion with two extended families coming together. I spent that day with my best friend instead. In February, Sydney held events to mark World Pride and I went up there to meet up with one of my friends, who was there with some of his friends. There were some particularly highlights, namely the performances at the opening concert by Shelden Riley, Casey Donovan, Jessica Mauboy and the Minogue sisters. I also enjoyed watching the Mardi Gras parade, even t...

 It's been a while since I last posted and in that time the last of my parents generation in my family has passed away. I don't feel like I have mourned their passing yet and it did take me a while to mourn the passing of my parents so I expect this time it will be the same. I'm more involved in looking after the affairs of their estate and together with my cousin we will need to deal with their estate. I think there are other changes come soon too, as I have started to think about moving out of my apartment and putting it on the market, but that depends on how much the real estate people think that I will be able to get for it. I have also been playing with the idea of changing my car, but the cars that I am interested in have long waiting lists, up to 12 months in some cases. Usually I would be looking forward to going away for my birthday, but I have nothing planned and on this occasion there is no public holiday around my birthday (instead it is the weekend before). The...

Been back a couple of weeks now and the trip is just a memory. Returned too work and although the plan was to go in three days a week, so far I've only managed one due to complications with the effects of my food intolerances. Been to see my elderly aunt, who's in residential care and the last visit she was more distressed than usual, from what appears to be all to familiar symptoms to my food intolerances.  Went to check on her home and it was all okay. It was a lot of driving in one day, and is probably why I feel tied the following day. One of my friends has Covid-19 at the moment and he's not feeling very well at all, but he only has to isolate for seven days. It's one of the last restrictions in place together with face masks on public transport. 

Had a bad night so stayed in and around the house. Did some shopping and had lunch with Graham and Peter.

I have been in London for the long weekend to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's 70 years service. Started off watching the Trooping of the Colours and then went to the Mall to see the members of the royal family come out on to the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch the fly passed by military service aircraft.  The next day I wasn't feeling so great so missed out on enjoying the fine weather as the rest of the weekend is forecast to be wet. There is s concert being held at the Palace this evening, which we will no doubt watch on TV and there is a parade happening on Sunday, but unsure if we will go and see it given the weather forecast.

Went to see the Trooping of the Colours followed by a military fly over.

On Wednesday I made my way to Nottingham by train to see family up there.

Had a couple of nights in London before travelling north to Nottingham. Caught up some friends and got a couple of better night sleep.

Went to see some of royal palaces in Copenhagen.  Wandered around outside the buildings, but like the ones in the UK I assume that the one flying the standard was the one being currently used by the Danish royal family. I just missed the changing on the guard but saw them leaving.

Checked out and had a successful final few hours in Manchester - picked up a jakka and got my hair cut. Now on the train heading to London and then will head over to Gatwick, where I will spend the evening before flying to Copenhagen tomorrow.

I managed to stay awake the whole day today, although I did wake up at 3am. Walked around the Gay Village area and then up to Manchester cathedral. I also went around the men's departments of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, which were both disappointing. The designers featured all presented the same things, which were all based on sports wear, no really imagination or creativity. Also both stores had far more staff then customers. I was more impressed by the variety and creativity at Next than most of the designer labels. Did some shopping and ate at Nandos, which was a struggle as I had to order online and their website is poorly designed. I was struck walking around the city that parts felt very similar to Nottingham and particular the shared textiles history, but other parts felt more like London.

After what felt like forever, I arrived safely in Manchester. The queue for passport control was enormous at Manchester but it moved reasonably quickly and didn't got through the auto gates so was greeted by a cheerful human being. Didn't have to wait to long for my luggage to appear and I decided to eat at the airport, which in the end was a blessing as once I checked in at my motel, I slept until after 10pm. Going around central Manchester today.

 It was nice to have a four day weekend.  Still had things to do, including visiting elderly relatives (one visit require the wearing of PPE, due to a COVID case in her wing of the care home), as well as writing notices for the Owners Corporation to go up warning people in my apartment block about security concerns (the notices were taken down each time after a couple of days).  There was the usual shopping trip and I did buy a new travel shaver, whilst my friend purchased 4 pillows (I'm not sure why he needed to buy four in one go). The final day of the long weekend has been more laid back, although I have had a bout of gastro problems once again, which took out the early part of the afternoon. Surprisingly there has been someone working on the new apartments all weekend, although I didn't see the crane move, so they must have been working on something inside the apartment building.

 Its been a while since my last post to this blog and whilst some things have changed, there is a lot that remains the same. I’m still working from home for the majority of the week, although we are encouraged to go back to the office, this time there is no minimum number of days that you are expected to be in the office. At the moment, our work space is being shared by another team, so we are only supposed to be in the office two days a week and that suits me, although I am yet to make it in on both days. As well as my usual problem, my elderly relative has moved in to permanent residential care and for the last couple of weeks I have been going up during the week as well as one the weekends. Work is being very good and flexible about the arrangements at the moment. Work is busy at the moment, as we prepare for the next state budget, the information I look after has been in the system for some time, but we are waiting for the other areas to complete their adjustments. I am sure th...