We have now been retired for a whole week. It is a bit weird but we are getting used to it. The most remarkable thing about it is that we have had very little spare time; there is still so much to do. I assess the "busyness" of my life by the amount of time I play my violin (or, really, one of my violins); and in the past week I think I've only picked up a violin twice. Terrible!

While the need to come down to Melbourne for work has gone, we did come down last week. Just as Melbourne took out the record for the longest Covid lockdown in the world, overtaking Buenos Aires. Alison still has her 93 year old mother in Melbourne, for whom she is the primary carer; so a connection is still there. And we have children and grandchildren, with whom we can go for a walk but not meet in their houses.

It is springtime, and there has been a good amount of rain this spring, so the growth in the grass and the gardens has been prolific. Unfortunately some insects have been prolific as well, and an infestation of some sort of insect has killed one of our young peach trees. Some things come, some go.

We had thought, when our trip to Cairns was cancelled because of State border closures, that when we retired we'd go up to Darwin to visit Alison's sister there; but we can't do even that because the borders are still shut. The next trip planned is a 6-day walking trip to Flinders Island at the end of November, but this is very uncertain as well. Tasmania will need to allow us in, and whether they will, or will not, by then is a moot point.

Our house is likely to have a bit more time spent getting it into better order. Already I have made a new letter box (to replace the one I "whipped up" when we bought the house 10+ years ago, which was made of untreated pine and had obvious signs of rotting for the past few years) and we built a woodshed in a disused corner of the garden.And both of these were made entirely of materials (timber, roofing, pavers, etc.) which we have had lying around for years. We didn't have to buy anything at all!

And, despite all the covid lockdown and border closures, we are still looking at going and doing the walking holiday in Scotland (which was booked for 2020 and, of course, never happened) in 2022, instead. Though of course the "certainty" of a trip happening at all now is all gone.