January 23rd, 2021Just sayin’…
They were very happy, as you can imagine, but how it came about is very strange. And not so much funny ha ha but funny peculiar. It involves a dog park, a clandestine call from Carol’s sister and a mad dash to an airport.
We spoke to them last week, after the vaccination, which I am pleased to report only really caused a sore arm the next morning.
When we chatted they were enjoying a care package we sent about a month ago. It contained important things like Vegemite, Twisties, Tim Tams, kangaroo jerky (for the pups) and two mugs with The Local branding all over them. Jeff said he was loving the jerky but then added that Scout, who travelled from Australia with them and is now quite a senior, was really loving the jerky and seemed to have an extra spring in his step. Memories of afternoons watching the roos abound at Wheatsheaf perhaps?
Jeff and Carol and Scout left here about two years ago to be with family and we parted with cries of “See you soon!”. But, of course, we have not seen them except for Facetime and Zoom.
And it looks like another year or two will slip by before we either head to America or they come home for a visit.
Like many people, we now think we should have gone in 2019, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. And there is always something else going on. I guess if we take anything from 2020 it is to not let things slide – although I hope there is not another pandemic for at least another 100 years, and even not then.
With that in mind, we have booked a few trips for this year (domestic) and next (international) and last week ventured to Melbourne for a couple of days. As you can read from Kyle’s Rant opposite, the highlight was a wander up the Yarra in a little powered dinghy which was fabulous.
We also made it to Williamstown which I have to say was dead. I talked to a volunteer in the information centre and she said she expected the Central Highlands was the same. I said, no, it was pumping and she said “Oh, the regions”. So I guess Melburnians are travelling further afield and places like Hobsons Bay are missing out. A shopkeeper told me that during the hard lockdown there were about 50 shops with For Lease signs on them.
It is easy, as vaccines roll out and life returns to a sort of normal, to forget that many lives have been impacted and will continue to be so. I just know that we are lucky to live in Australia and lucky to live in the Central Highlands. Just sayin’…
