One day at a time

There hasn't been much different about this week. That's the biggest issue for me is that it's all the same, the only thing that is different on weekends is that my alarm doesn't go off and I can stay in bed. My best friend says I need a decent break from work and I would agree but at the moment, there is no where I can go. I am seriously over work and there is no end as we move from one project to another without a pause. Hopefully there will be good news on Sunday about further relaxation of the regulations in metro Melbourne and I am keeping one tradition going, I am not working on my birthday. It's not going to be  very exciting birthday, but at least I will be able to please myself what I do on that day. I organised an interview for the radio program I work on as a volunteer for this week and that went well, even though we didn't get through all the questions we had prepared, but there is over of 40 minutes of audio to use. Need to edit that by next weekend...

Less isolation this week, the regulations have been relaxed for metro Melbourne (although not as much as the regulations in regional Victoria). Now us singles can have social bubbles with another single and we are permitted outside for two hours. I know not big changes but first steps to a new sort of normal. Work has been getting me down so I had Friday off, not that there was much I could do but I did take the car out to go shopping and I plan to see my aunt over the weekend. My birthday is only a week away and there is no sign of the lock down finishing before then, so maybe I was overly hopeful that I would be able to go away for my birthday, but I still plan to have the day off. It's not going to be a long weekend this year, as the AFL public holiday has been moved to October, to coincide with the AFL final in Brisbane! My best friend has packed in his job, he had not been happy with the way the business was changing and what they wanted him to do. It was stressful at first, b...

This weekend was supposed to be the final one in Stage 4, but it has been extended for two more weeks. However there are a few lightening of restrictions expected shortly, including longer time to exercise and the creation of social bubbles, which hopefully means I can see my aunt more often. The number of infections continue to drop, although the death rate has not fallen as much (but then it was never as high as the infection rate). Still no sign of the state or country opening up, even with calls from the country's prime minister to premiers has not had any impact.I think the premiers of Western Australia and Queensland should take note of how to display empathy for those families that are suffering and showing some sympathy for the pain they are causing, it is not a sign of weakness but of compassion (Just think what would Jacinta do?) Work is lost a lot of meaning at the moment, we are still pushing forward with the State's financial statements and also kicked off the coll...

 Finally made the trip to visit my aunt and carry out her tasks she had waiting for me, although some of them I wasn't able to complete because the bank wasn't open. However, she welcomed the visit and the opportunity to video chat with my cousins. The drive there and back went smoothly, although I noticed the price of petrol has high again, so I won't be filling up again for a while. Work has been frustrating again, after being force to change the way that I wanted to distribute information, the results are far more complicated than they needed to be and I reverted to the original form for the next meeting. My father has given in to the demands of his "girlfriend" and she was coming round to visit him, I suggested he not create a bubble with her, since she is also elderly and unlikely to help him deal with anything that comes up, but he is certainly old enough to make his own decisions, whether I agree with them or not. Waiting for my two latest purchases to arri...

Good news is that the number of infections continue to drop,they are only in the hundreds (!) however the death rate has not shown the same decrease and the majority of those passing away are the elderly from care homes. I had plans this week to visit my elderly aunt to help her with some tasks she wants to do, but I was unwell for three days straight. Initially I thought it was due to my food intolerances but I've never had the symptons last for three days. Unfortunately after a few clear days and I am once again suffering, although this bout is mild compare the previous ones. Work is getting me down, I suddenly realised I wasn't as progressed with my project as I thought and I need to prepare something to send out on Monday. I'm not sure that I will be able to please everyone with what I send out, but its the first time that we have tried this approach. My dad has called me twice this week so he is definitely getting the hang of video calling on Whatsapp. He is looking ol...

Melbourne continues to be subject to Stage 4 restrictions, basically everyone is supposed to stay home and only travel no more than 5 km for essential reasons (shopping, care-giving and exercise). On the brighter side, my new phone has arrived finally (it was only a week late). I'm happy with it, especially the battery life. After three days, I managed to drain it and its now recharging (which I assume will take some time). I ordered a third party screen protector for it, but I think its already got one fitted, so I have put the one I bought away. I am still waiting on the charging stand to arrive (it is late too). Unfortunately no sign of the reusable masks that I ordered. I have contacted the sellers and they had some personal issues which delayed the send out of their orders, but that was a week ago now. In addition there has been a note put in the apartment's lift that someones delivery has gone missing from the foyer, so unfortunately sounds like one or more tenants are he...

 The pace of work has picked up although I am not convinced about the urgency or importance of the work given the situation in Victoria, but others are getting very excited by missed deadlines and delays. The department has finally rolled out Teams which has a better video conferencing interface than Skype (although they are both owned by the same company). So far only one of my recent purchases has turned up. The Tic Smartwatch from Amazon arrived on Friday, the only drawback with having another Android smartwatch is that I can not sync it to my iPhone, without removing the other Android watch, which naturally I do not want to do. So I have sync'd it to my Android phone for the time being. I have had to resort to using my phone as an hotspot this week has my internet has been very unreliable, even after rebooting the modem. I think I will need to transfer to Telstra service, which my phone is connected to, as my home mobile broadband provider. I will test it out with a prepaid ser...