waitingman: (Orang-Utan)
Okay - it's New Year's Day, don't be gloomy - you promised!

So we did end up going over to a friend's place last night, as Long-Suffering Partner & I apparently rank in their top 5 friends list, having survived the cull from 10 guests down to 5 for the night. Go us!!

We got home somewhere around 2am after seeing the Sydney fireworks both from quite a distance & on the ABC coverage. It was strange to hear only sporadic shouts of 'Happy New Year" ring out over the neigbourhood - usually there's a huge cheer just as the clock ticks over & the fireworks kick off, but last night was strangely subdued

An understandably slow start to the day & now just filling in time with little things that need doing & minor chores before some sort of attempt at a dinner made up mostly of 2020 leftovers...

As for a recap of this strange year just gone, I don't think I can feel too down on myself for not having achieved the one thing I really wanted to do - which was to find a new job. I have 2 irons in the fire, but am not holding out too much hope, as I've seen the fire doused late in the game too many times... I do need to lose some Covid kilos, as my weight has crept up through the year. I know I'm not doing enough exercise & should stop using mental fatigue as an excuse - tired mind is not tired body

My other main 'resolution' from the year also remained unfulfilled - to play more music, specifically my music with people - but that was definitely Covid19's fault, as it made getting together with people whose schedules had always been busy, next to impossible once travel restrictions, lockdowns & not a little over-caution took their toll on everyone's free time. Including mine. Plans are afoot to bring my music room into the 21st Century, so that file sharing of music pieces & tracks can be done & see if we can write & create over the ether. Having 2 consecutive days off on a regular calendar basis would definitely help there too - see resolution 1 above...

Our noble travel plans for 2020 & 2021 are, of course, in tatters. We started the year with a trip to Japan in our sights, then had to downscale to maybe Tasmania... then maybe the Great Ocean road... okay how about a roadtrip around New South Wales? At least we got to do that back in September... getting close to 3 state borders in the process, but not daring, or even wanting really, to cross them. We have a forlorn hope of a trip to Alaska late this year, but it's looking pretty unlikely... & at the moment all the Australian State Borders are closed to those of us in New South Wales, so maybe we'll have to do another inner-State roadtrip... there are still plenty of places we didn't get to?!
waitingman: (Scream)
The last day of the year...

I know we are all looking forward to putting this particular set of numbers behind us & there's a lot of magical thinking about how 2021 is somehow going to be back to the good old days of being able to enjoy wine & roses without a face mask & with some friends...

I don't (magically) think so. This is not the end... maybe just the end of the Overture, now the real Symphony starts. And it's not going to be an uplifting Mozart one either - probably something more akin to Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

In the last few weeks, Covid19 has taken David Prowse, Harold Budd, Luke Letlow - a recently elected US Congressman who never even got to sit in his new House & now Dawn Wells... should have stayed on the island Mary-Anne!! And, of course, 3000 more every day just in the United States, let alone the daily tolls in the UK & Europe. This is not slowing down & wrapping things up in time for January - more like ramping things up to hit January running at Bolt-like speed

Here in Sydney, the Plague is popping up all over the place. Remember a few entries ago, when I mentioned how Long-Suffering Partner & I were thinking it hadn't got bad enough in Australia & Sydney in particular, so there was an air of complacency & "can't happen here..."? Well it has. There has only been one more death added to the National tally, which is now 909 since the start of the shitshow, but I think the first thing we'll see in 2021 is that number increasing to 4 digits. Especially now that the more aggressive & contagious 'South African' strain is on the loose in a couple of States...

Next entry will be less doomy, I promise
waitingman: (Orang-Utan)
Another driving dream last night... consistency is a strong point

With my part of town in some sort of ill-defined lockdown at the moment, everything is on paws...

Pause by Justin B. on 500px.com
I mean - pause...

We have an invitation to a New Year soiree with some local friends, but there is some confusion as to whether it can go ahead, or not. From what I read this morning, it can't, but our hosts seem to think it can. The State Premier says she will review the NYE restrictions closer to the date... so some time in the next 3 days? I suppose it will depend on us all being good little citizens & keep getting tested, keep isolating, sanitising & masking, as the majority of us certainly have been
waitingman: (Australia)
I'm still holding off on my own, personal, year-in-review, as I won't believe it's over until the clock hits 12.01am just under 2 weeks from now. But the Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Hartcher has chanced his arm & opts for praising, with faint damns...

5 Australian Lessons From 2020 )
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