A Quick Update for You

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We’re officially on Covid Lockdown here, until (at least) 5^th October. It's been about 5-6 weeks now. Nothing really changes for me, as I usually stay at home anyways. Groceries etc get home-delivered as normal, too. (What an outrageously exciting life I lead, huh? [laffs] ). All’s well with me and nothing of import to report, thankfully.

My brother and his wife are stuck in Falconbridge (lower Blue Mountains) and can’t go home to Lithgow (c. 60 km / 37 miles away) - all thanks to lockdown. D'OH!

I got a new Front Door – but it took the builders 2 attempts... these older places have bizarre frames and bases etc! It's a solid wooden door now, rather than just a sheet of plywood glued to a frame! That’ll help keep the morning summer heat from getting inside.

First World problems... my I’net/Home Phone Router stopped working unexpectedly about a month ago. I called my ISP, and they rang me straight back [after there was an expected 20-minute waiting time], and it took 1 hour of good fault-finding to find the error was with my Router (it seemed?). I enjoyed a lovely chat with a young girl from a call centre in The Philippines, while we were waiting for line diagnostic tests to run etc. Thank Gawd they called me... I couldn’t have afforded a 1-hour phone call on my mobile. My ISP sent me a new router/modem, for just the postage costs.

The new router/modem arrived on the Wednesday – I was blown away at their quick delivery – just 48 hours (considering I am in a regional town)! Alas – it still didn’t connect me to the net. So I called my ISP again (and they called me straight back again – phew!).

An NBN tech paid me a visit on the Thursday after my ISP logged a probable phone line-in problem. We both had to wear masks and keep social distance etc... all very strange, but wholly understandable. It turned out to be a problem with the ancient phone socket in my wall after all... took him a long while to figure out what the heck was going on... but thankfully - it's all fixed now! Phew.

Here at home, I am just out of range of the limited downtown free wifi signal, to at least cover me over until I’m connected again... I can’t go to the local library or downtown etc etc and use their wifi, as everything is under Covid Lockdown... D’oh.

Being without access to the i’net has been a strange experience... I’ve been just so used to it being there (like electricity or water, I guess!), that I felt kinda more isolated than normal. Which is rubbish, of course, as I’ve had some good long phone calls from friends in the meantime, plus SMS/texts etc etc.

One of the bummers being offline for a bit, was the fact I totally missed that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away... bugger! (It's a bit baffling to me why they are still currently touring without him... hmmm... Charlie was the Engine Room of the Stones!!!)

I’ve spent the downtime organizing folders-full of old photos and images... just one of those ‘rainy day’ jobs. Oh, and continuing to sort thru my music files from my radio Hard Drive(s)... I’ve honestly SO much music to choose from... yay!

I even considered pulling out a guitar and having a noodle again, after c.2 years since I’d picked one up... let alone my fingertips are no longer ‘calloused’ to play, I know I would only really frustrate myself in just trying to play again, as my MS fingers/hands just would not co-operate and enable me to play what/how I wanted to play...Catch-22.

I received my first Covid AstraZeneca vaccine jab six weeks ago... I’m kinda astonished that it’s taken so long for it to happen, considering how all the Govt. spin has been... well, it was the exact opposite! They totally stuffed me around with appointment dates, then cancelling, then rebooking, then cancelling...

The funniest thing was - I quickly and easily got an appointment thru my Chemist/Pharmacist; yet 10 minutes before I was due to arrive for my appointment, the whole Shopping Centre was shut down for an emergency Evacuation, with alarms going off and everything... just my luck [laffs]. However, things returned to normal quickly, and I got it and got it done, and I had no worries nor problems nor side effects etc at all. Phew.

I get my second jab at the end of this week.

We had some great rain here during August... now all our local dams/reservoirs are full at last, after years of drought. My little trees in the Park across the road started blooming on the first day of Spring (as did trees everywhere around here - an amazing splay of assorted vibrant colour!)... I guess they hadn't counted on another two cold snaps that were to come soon after... but, that's life in Bathurst [laffs]: Four Seasons In One Day.

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Peas be with ewe 
Mal

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