Knocked for a six

A long time ago before Omicron arrived, when we thought Australia would finally be reunited as a nation, DD and I took a risk.

We were keen to see Red Hot Summer again and rather than book tickets for Sydney, we decided to catch the outdoor music event in Perth in early April.

We went to Red Hot Summer in Port Macquarie just before COVID-19 hit in 2020 and LOVED it. Boom Crash Opera, James Reyne, The Angels, Hunters & Collectors … ah, those carefree days … bulk fun.

Then, when tickets to Crowded House went on sale and they turned out to be playing Perth the same weekend as Red Hot Summer, we added them to the mix as my birthday present.

We were SO excited … until Mark McGowan reneged on opening the border in February. Then he announced he was opening WA at the beginning of March and all seemed right with the world.

But things started looking shaky. First he put lots of restrictions on live music, then the hotel we’d booked cancelled our reservation because it was staying shut until May.

But there were no cancellation messages from Red Hot Summer or Crowded House so we figured it was full steam ahead.

Mr McGowan insists on people being triple boosted and I was running out of time to get mine. I’d been a bit hesitant about rushing into it because I’d felt so bad for so long after catching COVID.

So I booked my jab for last Friday and hoped it wouldn’t impact on the festival of the 54th birthday.

Spoiler: not only did it impact on the festival of the 54th birthday but, literally 30 minutes before I got my booster, DD received an email saying Red Hot Summer was cancelled.

He’d been at a conference so didn’t see the email until after I’d been pricked. I probably would have shrugged my shoulders and been pricked anyway, but DAMMIT, I would have preferred to wait until my celebrations were over before running the gauntlet of feeling crook as Rookwood.

While we still have tickets to see Crowded House in Perth, I have trust issues with Mr McGowan, so we’ve pulled the pin and put them on Gumtree.

As for how my booster impacted the festival of the 54th birthday … it has been a bit of a palaver. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling dreadful. All my COVID symptoms were back except for the sore throat and cough. I was exhausted, sore, nauseous and spent most of the day in the bathroom … and not to powder my nose.

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling so blah that I did a RAT test. Negative.

But I’ve managed to weave fun around the blergh.

Remember my 9 to 5 themed blog post last week? Little did I know when I wrote it that I would actually be going to 9 to 5 The Musical on Friday night. My boss took me to see it and bought me a birthday cocktail at a little bar called Golden Age in the old screening room of the heritage-listed Paramount Pictures Building in Surry Hills.

So nice!

And then on Sunday I drove to Newcastle to have lunch with my sister and my parents at a place called Pippis that looks out on Lake Macquarie. I was feeling revived by Nurofen and hoovered down a rib-eye with bernaise sauce. Nom nom.

Then suddenly the symptoms hit me again, making the drive back to Sydney pretty arduous. I adore my Sunday nights with DD so I had a self pity weep as I lay curled on my bedroom floor and texted to say I was too sick to spend the evening with him.

Very, very sad face.

I’m hoping today is a better day.

Song of the day: Yazz “The only way is up”