Morning walk.

Photo was not taken this morning.

Warren went to deliver the car for a service and then on to tennis.

Lucy decided it was time for me to get up at 7.15am

I showered, had breakfast then called her inside to go walking. We left about 8am.

I always tell her where we are going, around here we have a few different walks and I have assigned them names.

Today, it was the birdies walk so Lucy turns left at the end of the street but she kept wanting to walk down and into the drain. We don't walk there. After 20 metres when she was back on the path, she planted her feet. She wasnt going anywhere. I was going to have to drag her.  She got the choice, go on or go home, I know its weird conversing with a dog so I pointed in the directions. A stand off for a few seconds and she turned to go back home. Fine, I thought she might want to continue up the road but no, she turned up our street. This mornings walk was no more than fifteen minutes. Usually we go for forty.  

 

My Good Deed

 After I sorted out my "Fare evasion", I then walked to the shopping centre. It's about a km walk along a concrete path, thankfully it was cool as there is no trees for shade. As it had rained the night before, there was water in the drain which runs alongside the path.

Halfway and there were shopping trolleys lying in the drain, eight or nine of them, still shiny. I know that they are quite expensive for stores to buy and they had just been left. It was probably kid's riding in them and then threw them over the side when they got bored. For a fleeting moment, I considered collecting them, very fleeting.

Then I had a light bulb moment, at least three had Coles written on them and I had to go past Coles in the centre.

I went to the cigarette counter and informed them of the trolleys. The girl thanked me and said she would get the trolleys boys to collect them. Don't know if it did get acted upon but I felt that I had carried out a civic duty.  

Fare Evasion

 The other day after masks were no longer required, I went for a haircut. I thought it was 1pm on Friday, then realised it was 1am. Warren was going to tennis so we arranged to meet at the shopping centre for coffee, I would catch the bus down. 

I hadn't caught the bus for several months so decided to get my bus pass out ready. Damn, not in my phone, not in my wallet, time was ticking. There was a spare adult card on the notice board, goodness only knew how old it was or if it had any money on it. Great, I did have a few dollars in coin so I was set. Wandered down to the bus stop to await the bus.

Bus pass had expired so I asked the driver how much to go to the shopping centre. He didnt laugh but almost as he told me that buses hadnt operated on money for several years. He told that he would put it down as fare evasion and I should go to the station to sort it out. Buggar, that meant I had to go another stop further.

Explained the situation to the assistant and bought a new card. Then I asked her what I needed to do about the "Fare evasion" and she asked who told me that then without giving me a chance to answer said "Oh, the bus driver!" Then told me I didn't need to worry about it. 

Getting home later, I went through my handbags, it was in the fourth and last one, I only have four! 

Bits and pieces

I discovered in my stash that I had a couple of big balls of wool in a thicker ply plus bits of balls that I had bought from op shops. Often they put several balls together including some that they probably think won't sell. Most is 12 ply and some 14 ply. I still have almost a full ball of the pale pink, that will make up into small slippers, it has a nice soft feel and crochet up well. The blanket is quite heavy so should be nice and warm.

 

Masks

 Good news after our weekend lock down, it wasn't extended as a lot of people thought, myself included. However, we are required to wear masks if we are inside buildings, not our own of course but offices, shopping centres etc.

Our tax appointment went ahead, we put our masks on just outside their door, we were early and the two office workers were not wearing masks but put them on when they saw us. One thing with wearing masks and glasses, the glasses fog up after awhile. As neither of us needed to read anything, it was easier to remove the glasses.

Tax done in twenty minutes, was told it was a boring return. We have a small amount of shares which don't make any difference to our return but we need to advise ATO of them each time. Working on a way to get rid of them, then tax returns hopefully will be a thing of the past.

I shopped early this morning as Warren had an appointment, I should go early each time, not Too many there and everyone walked in with their masks on. At this stage masks are required until next Friday. 

Lock down

 Suddenly on Friday morning  our state govt announced a lock down from three days starting from 6pm. 

Only allowed to go out for essential services and exercise  then needed to wear a mask once out of the front door.

We had had one case of a cleaner at a quarantine hotel testing positive and another case of a woman coming back from overseas, she had tested positive, been in quarantine in Melbourne for ten days, cleared, flew to Brisbane where she tested positive. Both these people have the nasty strain that is hitting the UK at the moment.

I was due to do grocery shopping on Saturday but went Friday lunchtime instead. It seemed many other people thought the same. After I got my trolley, there were only two left, didn't appear to be that many in the actual shops but the queues for the check outs were 20 deep at each aisle. Empty boxes lined the shelves as they were struggling to keep some staples on the shelves. I got everything that I wanted except pumpkin and I grabbed some sweet potato instead.

Warren has taken Lucy out for a walk, I have gone outside to our bins a couple of times. Got some tasks done that have been sitting around for awhile and watched cricket and crochet.

We have an apt to do our tax on Wednesday, we may or may not make that, time will tell. Going to have a nana nap now, with tv and crocheting my eyes are sore.

The Merger

 This was a movie that was recommended to us to watch. Sometimes we find movies books or what have you that other people have watched are not really our cup of tea.

This one however was different.

It tells the story of a small country town and their football team, but it more than that, it touches on family relationships, racial prejudices and community.

I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes.

Aussies are known for their bizarre nick names and there were some rippers in here. Some had an explanation and others not. One was Porterhouse, when his name was mentioned, everyone would come back with "well done", he was the chef at the pub.

School shoes was another nick name no idea why. An Aussie movie but we could only recognize two of the actors.

Happy new Year

 The change of year is not going to make Covid suddenly disappear but hopefully we are getting closer to Covid being less of a threat with the vaccine becoming a lot closer.

We had a quiet night at home and went to bed early as per usual. Before we went to bed, we unpacked the pantry, strange time to do it I know but we discovered a mouse, we assume, was trying to get in there. I had been out in the kitchen and noticed some flakes on the floor, I showed Warren and we decided that a mouse was chewing at the edge of the pantry door, the flakes were paint flakes. Didn't find a mouse but there was a box of noodles on the floor, a couple of packages had holes in them and lots of loose noodles.

We didn't find anything but that and thankfully no mouse droppings so he is not living in there. Our pantry door is usually left open but Warren had closed it when he put the dishwasher on.

Apparently Lucy came into our room around midnight, Warren said he woke and saw

her with her ears up and eyes like saucers. She could hear the fireworks, they didn't last 

very long.

Park run was on this morning and Warren run a PB for the year!

Snake skins

 Yesterday we went to Dayboro for a few caches and morning tea. There is a great bakery out there and seating on the two sides of the balconey.

It's a nice country drive to get there and we continued on through the town to a small park, where there was a possibilty to collect four caches. The first one was tucked away in the base of a big tree, we had had to walk 150 metres from the carpark and Warren let Lucy of her lead as it was in a quiet area and noone else around. She loves being able to run free but she always keeps us in sight. 

Next cache was a puzzle that I had solved months ago and we had to walk under a  bridge, the road was above us by about ten metres. Getting close to pylons, I saw a snake skin that had been shed. It was only a small one maybe a foot long and about the size of my thumb. Thankfully the area was quite clear so we could definitely see where we were putting our feet.

Coffee time after all and we sat in the park with Lucy.  We grabbed another two caches on the way out of town, there are about ten or eleven puzzles that I have solved to pick up. The geo art makes a heart so once we get them all it will revert to a pretty smilie heart.

Fingerless gloves

 The day started early for me, Warren went to tennis and I had asked him to wake me when he went. I love my sleep ins but if it's hot then its really too hot to walk Lucy at 9am.

It was cool when we set out then I did what I wanted/needed to do in the house. A nice coffee and an espiode of Virgin River, a series I have been watching. Damn it appears I have watched all of season two. Hum, it would have to be Jack Irish  which is almost an hour long. Watched one, then another Warren came home and got interested and so we watched another while we had lunch.

Between my morning of Netflix and tonight, I finished a pair of gloves. I think I will do more of these, they are easy but the pattern only just fits me. I do have rather large hands but I will add another couple of chains so they fit better.