One day at a time

 The lockdown in Victoria has come to an end, although I am still working from home and visitors are not yet allowed. Masks are mandatory both inside and outside of the home. Work is beginning to pick up and there is a difficulty that many of the early submitters are falling foul of in the new system, even though advice has been provided to them to help overcome the issue. I went to visit my aunt today and she thought I was bringing food but I only mentioned cake in the conversation this morning. Thankfully she enjoyed the cake I had brought. Trying to get her to use a mobile phone but she was having difficulty just getting it to start up. I'm writing this on my “new” iPad and am waiting for a cover to arrive. It's a refurbished unit and can no longer be updated but most of what I want works on it at the moment.

Lockdown continues in Victoria, I did escape it for a little while whist in Adelaide but have now returned. Due to cases of COVID-19 in South Australia, Victoria authorities changed the rules about returning from there and I had to quarantine until I got a negative result from a COVID test. So I spent the early hours of Wednesday queuing to get a test and then waited 24 hours for the result. When I wasn't allowed to leave my apartment, I wanted to more than usual. I got a negative result so was free again (within the limits of the current lockdown). I hope that COVID is under control when my next trip comes up later this year to Sydney and the Christchuch, but at the moment, it is possible that Sydney will still be in lock down (or under some restrictions) then and NZ has temporarily halted the quarantine free travel bubble with Australia,so who knows where we will be by then. My dad has finally given up driving,which at 97 was about time. He seems to be coping okay with it and wil...

Managed to get away from Melbourne for a long weekend in Adelaide, even though we had get a COVID test on arrival (it came back negative). But I have been having issues with my phone not accepting authorising sms which caused issues when I arrived. The weather has been terrible, cold and wet but it has been delightful to be able to go somewhere  different. Melbourne has now gone into lockdown, but Adelaide is still relatively open. A friend is staying in my apartment while I am away to look after my cat although the cat isn't being that friendly.

Whilst other sections of Australia cope with their own lockdowns, Melbourne and Victoria continue to relax the restrictions. So much so that we are now expected to return to the office to work. I have put off my return until I return from my vacation to Adelaide in South Australia. Things are looking positive for the trip with zero cases here in Victoria and no community transmission in Adelaide either. My friend and I are trying to work out what we will do while there and I have booked a hire car for Saturday and Sunday so we can explore more widely. I have been ordering more stuff on line and most of it has already arrived, including a new bag for the trip to Adelaide. I will also be returning an item that I received because it is far too big for me. This will be a different experience as I have not returned anything before via Australia Post. I need to get my haircut and I can, the barbers are open and have been for some time, but I am reluctant to get it done and I don't know w...

The restrictions in Victoria continue to be relaxed, although face mask indoors is still mandatory. Parts of Sydney have gone into lock down (although they are refusing to call it that) for the next seven days, their numbers of cases has been much higher than Melbourne had before it went into lock down (or circuit breaker). Still working from home, although the requirement to work from home has been lifted, however since masks are required to be worn in the office, I am not going to be rushing back. I had a better day on Friday, I made a bit of an effort to dress up and worked on the slides for the forum I am organising for the middle of July. Not going to be catching up with friends this Sunday as one of them is away in regional Victoria for the weekend. I still hope that I will be able to get away to Adelaide later in July, at least the SA borders are now open (even if I'd have to get a COVID test on the first day there). Trying out a new internet provider, it took a while to fin...

There have been a handful of new cases over the week, but the restrictions continue to be relaxed in Melbourne and more broadly across Victoria. Masks are only required indoors and people can have visitors in their home. Work continues to be very quiet, I do have the survey to give me something to do. This was a short working week, as I did not work until Wednesday with a combination of public holiday and annual leave, I was supposed to be in Hobart but that wasn't going to happen given the closure of virtually all state borders to residents of Greater Melbourne. Worry about my father who seems to have lost weight and has little energy to do anything these days. His sister is doing we, but also doesn't have much energy these days.

The latest (fourth) lock down was relaxed from midnight Thursday and we are now allowed to leave our homes for any reason, but are limited in how far we can travel (up to a maximum of 25km). Still working from home, although offices are allowed to reopen, but if people can work from home that is still encouraged. The relaxation coincided with a long weekend, which I should have been enjoying in Hobart in Tasmania, but since they have closed the borders to Victorians, that was cancelled last week. I am still taking the leave from work and will not be returning until Wednesday. One of the relaxations was that restaurants are allowed to reopen, so I was able to have brunch with friends over the weekend and I also washed the car (although I think that was allowed during the lockdown). I also took a train on Friday to do some shopping, as expected there were very few people on the train in both directions and I only travelled a couple of stops. My arm has finally stopped hurting where I had...