We got back home on a Saturday morning after an overnight flight on a full aeroplane. We were a bit tired, so we stayed in Melbourne for the next night before driving back home to Castlemaine on Sunday.

The next day, it was warm enough to wear shorts again! I was happy! But as it turned out, that was the last day for the next two weeks it was warm enough.

The next weekend – the first after our return – Alice, Sidharth, and baby Rose (18 months old, now) came up to visit us. Soon after arriving, we took Rose out for a walk for two hours while her parents had a sleep; and the next day, we all walked the 4km down to Campbell's Creek for breakfast at the fine cafe there. It was a good visit but made us feel relieved to not have a baby to look after all the time.

The next week, I discovered that Sidharth had left me with a cold; one which led to my losing my voice, something that has not happened for years. The timing of it was not great, because the next weekend Gordon and Christine arrived, having driven the motorhome back from Western Australia; they were with us for 24 hours, and for most of that time I could only whisper. On the Sunday night we drove them down to the airport so they could fly back to Canberra and go to work the next morning.

They'd brought the motorhome back in very good condition, but it needed the leak in its roof looked at, and a service. So on Tuesday I drove it up to Bendigo, where the source of the leak was identified and repaired! (We were very happy). And then it was down to Melbourne for its service on Wednesday.

About this time, Alison found that she had caught the cold, as well. (I had thought it was "Man Flu", because only Sidharth and I had caught it – Alice remained well – but obviously, it wasn't.). This timing was also not good, because this weekend there was a circus training event happening in Castlemaine, with lots of people from Footscray Women's Circus coming; eight of them stayed in our house. (One in a tent on the front lawn, two in the motorhome, one on the floor in the laundry..etc.).

It was surprising, to me, to see that they all wore pyjamas to bed; Alison and I haven't done so, for well over 30 years. Then, on Sunday, we had 14 people for lunch. Alison's voice didn't disappear quite as much as mine had, but it was far from perfect.

Then – finally – we had a weekend at home with nothing planned! And we both had our voices back! It has been very relaxing.

Another interesting point; before we left, we bought Alison's mum Elsy a weekend subscription to “The Age” newspaper. This came with a digital subscription as well, and we thought that we wouldn't need to buy the paper on Saturdays any more; but... not so! While we could look at the paper on the computer, we never did; it's not the same as having it laid out on the table. So now we buy it again on Saturdays, in paper form.

Also: I had volunteered to do Jury Service. I thought it may be interesting to see, first hand, how inefficient the legal system is. I did get to experience some of the inefficiency, but never got to do jury service; I was summonsed for Monday, but got an email late on Friday to say "come on Tuesday, instead." Then on Monday night I received another email saying not to come at all. So my planning and organisation for it was all a waste of time and effort.

Also: last weekend I met up with some old motorcycle friends for a game of croquet - a game not usually associated with motorcycling, but it was fun and we're going to repeat the experience. Perhaps even get better at the game.

We arrived back from Borneo with no other trips away planned. It lasted for 3 weeks; we've just booked a walking trip to the Flinders Ranges for next April. But nothing overseas; nothing is very attractive there, at the moment.