A bit rusty

Isn’t it weird how all we talked about in NSW for months and months was the 11am news conference and how many COVID cases there were and what suburbs they were in … and then suddenly we didn’t care anymore.

All around me people are getting on with life and delightedly hugging each other and you have to dig around on news websites to find the daily COVID tally.

The youngest went back to school yesterday and loved it, except for having to wear a mask in class.

I’m still trying to get my head around losing vast chunks of my days to ferrying her around again. I had to drive 30 minutes to pick her up from school yesterday, then drive another 40 minutes so she could get to work on time at Baker’s Delight.

Today I’ll be picking her up from the bus stop to get her to skipping training on time. She’s even more excited about being able to skip again.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to the grindstone of early morning drop offs to the bus stop. I will miss starting my day with a leisurely walk to the coffee shop.

When I dropped the youngest to work on Saturday, the streets were heaving with cars, while the restaurants and bars were overflowing with patrons.

Is it a sign of old age that I preferred it when the streets were quiet?

Although, I am looking forward to driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to get my hair cut this morning. Woo hoo!

I also got dressed up for the first time in FOREVER on Sunday night for a 50th birthday party. And I made a total nong of myself while attempting to dust off my raconteur skills, which are a bit rusty. I’m still processing the mortification.

The person turning 50 was my lovely friend Orsola, who I met when we were living in New York. Our kids went to the same preschool and someone introduced us when Orsola accepted a job at Macquarie Uni in Sydney. It was a bit readjustment for the family, as they moved from an apartment in Harlem, overlooking Central Park, to a leafy house on Sydney’s upper north shore.

But they’re seafaring folk, so buying a character-filled wooden sailing boat helped them adjust.

Orsola is a vivacious Italian astronomer and I’ve stayed in touch with her and her husband Nic over the past 15 years. I’m so thrilled that DD has become a good friend of theirs too.

We had the most fabulous dinner together on their boat when it was moored at Manly in January last year and we look forward to hopefully doing it again over summer.

Nic has a head for figures and he’s been graphing the COVID cases – he reckons we’re facing a spike soon. But I have everything tightly crossed that the lockdowns are behind us.

OK, I’d better haul myself out of bed and head off to enjoy my last leisurely morning coffee.

Song of the day: Rod Stewart “Sailing”