I must have been lulled into a state of semi-consciousness lately: my unforgiving companion of nearly twenty years, this blog, has not sent her siren call for me, or if it has, I haven't heard her!
Lots has happened in the world and Australia since the last entry about eight weeks ago and the general pall that was blanketing our activities and mood has lifted somewhat thank goodness. Australia is posting new milestones in vaccination rates as the days and weeks roll by: astounding numbers and percentages are announced quite breathlessly on TV and social media every day and it's indeed a wondrous thing, considering the scramble for vaccines just a couple of months ago. The second tranche of freedoms has been activated this week, and further lifting of restrictions will be undertaken soon with almost all prior freedoms in place by December, notwithstanding the perennial mask wearing and checking in.
We've been suitably occupied with our previous daily activities and the coastal path has been well worn. We start the day earlier in Spring to avoid the harsher sun, so all exercise is squared away before breakfast these days apart from my near daily ritual of walking back up to Dixon Park to swim out the back and bodysurf some waves until I'm exhausted as well as euphoric: it's been fairly blissful in the mornings most days!
The afternoons have been generally occupied by a different and less carefree master, however. Cass, in particular, has been totally occupied in the occasionally exciting, yet more often frustrating, world of appliance and hardware finding, comparing, evaluating, choosing and buying...what a whirlwind it has been! I've chipped in some "valuable advice" (!) along the way, but she has done the lion's share of the vast amount of work. As I stated, there are fun points along the way, but mostly it's hard slog through endless websites.
Readers no doubt have gleaned from the aforementioned that we are indeed going ahead with major renovations to our apartment. We'd decided to live through the seasons, see how things worked and what we wanted to change. Apart from the kitchen and two bathrooms, we're also getting new blinds, doors, some flooring and complete re-painting...hopefully all done by early to mid next year (says us in a wildly optimistic voice!)
The wheels are in motion. Kitchen contractors will be here within two weeks to rip out the present kitchen and begin installing the new one. I say begin, because the stone installations will be staggered over the next month and more. Come the following month we're hoping to get some action on the main bathroom after engaging a separate builder to oversee the bathroom work. He'll stagger the work on each, so we've got a functioning bathroom throughout, but the second one is not slated to be completed until sometime next year.
So, fun times! We're luxuriating in our freedom as time ticks by, because very soon we'll be camping out in our own home. We're going to set up a camp kitchen in our bedroom and keep a fridge in the hallway till we can use the new kitchen. We'll also be eating out a lot!
The new freedoms have meant we're finally able to visit our parents in their homes so we've done that a couple of times already. We've continued to enjoy the postcard vistas from our unit, seek out natural beauty each day and take advantage of our great spot in the world. I know I threatened to list some reading on here on the next instalment, but I'll just need to wait again. We've been reading voraciously, more than ever before, so you can imagine the list: I'll list something on here next time and prepare for an avalanche of before and after pics from the big renos!