Covid Blog 60

This will be my last blog in the Covid series 

I am hoping that with the further relaxation of the lockdown rules that this marks the end of the severity of the Covid period in our lives. 

For my part it has been a productive period in some respects but very frustrating in other ways

From a riding perspective I have managed to ride on 41 days over the 61 day period of the blog and have covered 2113 kms which is roughly equivalent to the ride I did a few years ago fro Lands End to John O’Groats...

I am feeling somewhat fitter than at the start of this despite not being able to go to the gym. I have not weighed myself but feel I might have lost a bit... I will weigh myself on the scales at the gym when it opens.... hopefully soon!

On the other fronts the achievements have been 

1. Have painted about half of the ground floor windows and gutters. The rest of the ground floor will be done as the weather picks up and the first floor will be done by a painting contractor as I cannot risk climbing ladders
2. I have organised the lease of number 2 at Rye 
3. I have kept the gardening up at all properties and have planted the winter vegetables at Rye and have helped with the Kenmare st veggie garden
4. Have managed to stay in contact with the family over the period even though there were restrictions in place
5. We have seemed to manage the Covid situation at Alkira with good leadership from the CEO and the Chair of the Risk committee... well done!

The whole experience has been interesting and the world has been turned in a different direction in many respects. Social distancing and hygiene are now part of the way we do things. The threat of further virus pandemics will be part of the risk readiness profile for Australia and I hope the rest of the world. We will be thinking very hard about the reliance on imported manufacturing in the future for essential items such as health products and hopefully this might be the springboard for the resurgence in local manufacturing.

From a political viewpoint we have seen the state and federal governments working well together putting aside political differences for the good of the country... the politics of division do not work anymore... hopefully this more than a lot of other things is the new norm.. the politics of division are seen in the US with tragic results... over 100,000 people have lost their lives!!!

Thanks to all of those who have shared my journey over the past 61 days and hope you enjoyed one mans experiences over this period 

Catch you on the next blog which will be a bike riding adventure.... I hope !!!!

Now some photos....

Yesterday’s ride to get my 1000 kms for the month... pleased with the results!

Today’s ride with the Wheeliebinners organised by Rob Baker 

.... a selfie 

Covid Blog 59

Today I woke at about 6.30 am and watched the sun rising from the kitchen... truly delightful with a wonderful start to the day

After breakfast it was off on the “pensioners loop” for the second day in a row The sun was good and warming even though there was a bit of frost around 

I made really good time on the ride as there was no wind and  I got into a good rhythm particularly on the way home to Rye and Blairgowrie for the standard coffee on the beach!

Arriving back at the house I had a Zoom conference call with a few folks from Alkira regarding managing risks associated with Covid... we are doing well wth all of this as the whole country seems to emerge into some sort of post Covid life!!!

After the call I had a sandwich lunch and did the tidy up in the house and it was off back to Melbourne... good trip home

After the unpack I went to the bike shop to get a new back tyre which seems to have a lot of cuts courtesy of about 12000 kms of riding and was the cause of the recent puncture 

The boys at the bike shop managed to sort this out and I received a free bike clean .... great to receive it!!!

I have been thinking over recent days when I should stop the Covid blog and have settled on doing this tomorrow when I will have done 60 days of blogging or about 2 months 

Seems that life is starting to return to some sort of normal life

Now for a photo of today’s ride 

Covid Blog 58

After a good night of sleep I was awake at about 7.30am

After breakfast I was on the bike for a ride to Safety Beach and Martha Cove 

The weather was quite warm despite the time of the year 

I made very good time on what is called the “Pensioners Loop”... I was pleased to be an average of over 25 km per hour 

Arriving back in Blairgowrie I had a coffee and a chat with one of the locals about the joys of living down at the beach in retirement.

Arriving home I did a bit of emailing then had some lunch

After lunch I decided it was time to tidy up the garden which was done in reasonably good weather 

After a shower I had a lovely walk to the beach to look at the sunset and make a few calls to the family 

Sam, my son in law has his birthday today so a call as the sun was setting...

Dinner tonight was a bbq if steak and sausages ...

A good day all around 

It seems that we are now getting back to some sort of normal as the traffic is rather heavy even here at Rye 

The Covid statistics seem to be pleasing with rugby league returning to the field tonight with us crowd

The news service now seems to be less dominated by Covid reports 

Now for the photos 

Coffee on the beach after the ride

A walk on the beach as the sun was setting 

... and the sunset!!!!

Today’s ride 

Covid Blog 57

Today I had business meetings for most of the day and then made my way down to Rye

Very uneventful day

Weather was ok but cold

No photos today 

Covid Blog 56

I am writing this blog on the following day...afraid I missed doing it yesterday as I was a a board meeting which finished at about 10.00 pm

Yesterday started with a real “pee souped” with fog and frost... we are now getting in to winter!!

At about 10.00am the fog cleared to a lovely sunny day with no wind... delightful for the ride which started at about 1.00pm

I met Ray and Abdy and we did a delightful 3 hour ride in to South Melbourne, the City then around the Capital City and Anniversary trail ... the day cooled off a bit at about 4.00 pm but luckily I had a jacket to keep the cold out 

Arriving home it was great to see Cooper and Robyn after the kindergarten pick up as I had an early dinner ahead of the Alkira Board meeting 

Over the past 4 months we have been holding the meetings via Zoom which although gets the job done is less than satisfactory as I prefer to see all board members in person rather than on a screen... call me old fashioned!

As I said earlier the meeting was a late one as we had a guest speaker from the disability sector giving us an overview on the current issues facing the sector with Covid and the NDIS ... all very good for us all

Now for the photos....

Nice photo of the city from the Yarra River where we had coffee 

The boys after coffee 

Today’s ride 

Covid Blog 55

Today was a real family day with visiting by most of the immediate family at various times

First it was Cooper and Mikayla who were delivered to us for the day by my daughter in law Jenita at about 7.30 am

After breakfast for us all it was off to the bakery in Hamilton Street to get some goodies for the visitors expected for thy e day which included some lovely finger buns with sprinkles... yum!!!!

Later in the morning Jodie and her children arrived for morning tea and a chat.... later Nick and the girls arrived to drop off the Ute and have a running repair on Alice’s bike...

I must point out that we were careful to ensure we observed the coronavirus protocols during the visits 

After lunch Cooper and Mikayla helped with raking up the leaves in the backyard... they enjoyed playing more than raking but we got the job done. After this I went to collect some firewood and with help from the grandchildren we unloaded the wood to the woodpile... another job done

Then I took the grandchildren around the block on scooters with a visit to the local primary school to have the kids go up and down a small hill to their great enjoyment 

After this it home for early kids dinner with Christopher and then wave goodbye after a great day

There was no riding today as it was busier with regular visits 

There are no photos as well!!!

Covid Blog 54

I am writing this blog on the day after rather than in the evening of the 24th May.... seems I was tired and fell asleep and had the “ can’t be bothereds”

Anyway yesterday stayed out a bit cloudy but cool but luckily there was no frost

We had a group of 9 riders for the ride of the day bring led by Abdy... after doing a bit of bike trail riding we changed to the boulevard for a bit of hard work through to Richmond then on to the Yarra trail to the city and then to Port Melbourne... the wind along the Esplanade was quite strong and we managed through to North road where we stopped for coffee.... not planned by Abdy but great all the same... at coffee looked around for Ellio but he was nowhere to be seen... we tracked him down at the Black Rock Clock a few kms further down Beach Road!!! Seems he missed the call to stop at Beach Rd...

After coffee and a chat we made our way back along Orrong road home... all in all a good ride for us all

After lunch it was an easy afternoon watching tv as the weather was drizzling and quite cold... we watched a Netflix series called The Stranger which was interesting 

During the afternoon we received advice that the Victorian government was planning on relaxing further conditions to allow amongst other things the opening of the ski season... we are getting closer to the end of this I hope!

We had Christopher and Jenita and their children over for dinner to end the day

There were no photos for the day other than the screen shot of the ride