One day at a time

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.

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.

I have been in the UK for the last few weeks. I was granted an exemption to leave Australia and I am here to farewell my father, who has sadly passed away. Life in the UK appears to be very much like it was pre-COVID apart from social distancing messages around and some people wearing masks. I hope that my return to Australia will go as smoothly as my departure, but I do need to get a negative COVID result before I will be allowed to fly back.

Once again I celebrated my birthday in lockdown, at least with have a road map (again) out of this one, depending on how the vaccination rates go. I had planned to be in Sydney this weekend and although I can not travel, I have still taken the annual leave that I booked for the trip. I did manage to see my social bubble mate on my birthday. My father is still in hospital but there is very little that I can do from here, with the international borders still closed here in Australia. He is in very good spirits even though it's not looking that good in terms of a full recovery.

 This week has not been a good one for me.  So it started off with a minor road accident, when someone drove into the back on my car. We exchanged details and I was able to put my claim in online and organise for my car to be assessed and fixed. I took it in on Tuesday and after a few failed attempts with Uber, I picked it up on Friday (repaired!). Then I also fell over and rolled my ankle and the same day I discovered my mac mini had died. I ordered a replacement which wasn't cheap. Plus I have had a frustrating time trying to get someone to fix my aunt's phone. But on the COVID side, it's still not clear what is happening with the vaccinations, as they are restricting who gets the AZ jab because of the blood clotting issue. At least my family in the UK have been released from lock down and can meet up (even if it is only outside). 

Took 28 hours to get back to Melbourne. Although the seats on China Airlines were comfortable, I didn't sleep much. Crashed for a few hours on Monday afternoon and early to bed.

Spent the day in Graham's apartment, managed to get everything into the suitcase. Sitting on this one actually works. Graham put on a very good lunch, which Richard came to and one of Graham's friends. After they had left, Graham walked me over to Elephant and Castle train station, so start the trip to Gatwick. Apart from having to run to catch the train to Gatwick, it went smoothly and check in was easy.

Met up with my old pal Dave in Ealing and at an enormous email of chicken and half a lettace. Went into central London to find some soverniers for the office and chose coasters again, this time with view of London on them. I have bought twelve as I am not sure how many people will be in the group when I return, with two possible new additions. I walked from Marble Arch to Leicester Square, so I had lots of steps today.

Took the train to Hampton Court and had a full day wandering around the historic palace and its grounds. It helped that it was a very nice day too.

Final meal out and went with my dad and his friend Gwen to the Magna Charta. It was very quiet but the food was good.

Sunday afternoon, I took my dad to see the twin boys of my oldest nephew and was entertained by them, as well as well feed by Darren's partner and soon to become wife.

Took my dad to get a new microwave oven to replace his existing one. We also did a spot of food shopping too. My sister Janice and her husband came round beforehand to say so long before I head back to Melbourne.