Covid Blog 23

Today at Kenmare street....

I was awake at 6.30 am and had a look at the early morning news to see the latest on the Covid virus and it seems we have had another good day with very few new cases to report 

After breakfast I resolved to do a longer ride today

After seeing my grandson off to kindergarten at about 8.30 am I made my way on to the bike to enjoy a lovely morning of riding in to the city via the Koonung and Capital City trials and then on to Elsternwick for a coffee and muffin.... boy I needed some sustainable after about 40 kms of riding. The pear muffins were great!

On the way home I decided to take a longer ride using the Boulevard through Richmond, Kew and Ivanhoe which was good

I arrived home in time for lunch which was prepared by my daughter in law Jenita. The lunch was pumpkin soup.... yummy!

After lunch it was on to pick up my hearing aids which needed a tune-up ... my hearing is terrible courtesy of too many rock concerts when I was a lot younger 

On the way home after the visit to the hearing specialist, I checked the agenda and board material with the folk at Alkira for the meeting next Tuesday 

Unfortunately I missed sorting out the final coat of paint on the bay window... it can wait until tomorrow!!!

Before dinner tonight I joined an exclusive club of folk doing 25 pushups for charity to help those suffering from mental anxiety and depression...visit my Facebook page to see me doing my 25 pushups...&

Today was a good day weather wise particularly for riding my bike

Hope you enjoy the photos 

A lovely shot of Melbourne from Fairfield on the ride

Today’s ride...

Covid Blog 22

Today it was great to awake with the birds at 6.30 am and watch the sun rise at Rye...

I turned on the news and the heater as the morning was rather cool as was the news... all discussion on the news was the reaction to the 7.30 Report interview with Malcolm Turnbull... 

Breakfast was muesli and toast and a cup of Earl Grey tea then time to pack for home. Prior to departure it was good to head to the beach with a cup of coffee to soak up the early morning...

Leaving Rye to head home there seemed to be a lot more traffic on the roads.... I suspect that there are a lot of people thinking that with the number of cases of Covid being down that it is time to get in to a more normal life. I hope this is not the case and we stay the course on this to avoid the situation of a second wave of the pandemic like that in Singapore.

The trip home was about an hour and a half and the time was spent thinking about the rest of the day...

Yes it was time to get stuck in to the exterior painting again....yuck!!!

In the time before lunch Chris and I managed to get a coat of paint on the first of the front bay windows. It looks good.

After lunch with a little help from Mykala, we were able to finish the preparation work on the second window and paint the top cover of the first window... Mykala then headed off to bed to allow Chris and I to put the second coat of paint on the window and get the first coat on the second window.... all very complicated really but the result looked great as the phots show.

After tidying up it was time to rake up the leaves and tidy up the front yard. Being Autumn the leaves are dropping all over the place.

After the tidy up the day of work was complete.

A good and productive day all around 

Now for the photos....

The beach this morning with coffee!!!

Bay window one complete yeah!!!

Bay window 2 almost complete 

The teddy bear is watching!!!!

Covid Blog 21

Gosh this is the 3rd week of this blog... hard to believe when you are having fun “at home”taking steps to deal with the virus... based on reporting today it seems that the famous curve is doing the right thing !

It seems that some of the gains over recent times are encouraging people to think we should relax the restrictions on contacting others and social distancing... I hope that sanity prevails and we keep this going until there is some sense that the virus contagion has been stopped.

There seems to be some folk who think we can go back to normal and not stay the course 

Anyway it was on with the day with a start at 6.00am with a wake up and get ready to travel to Rye to meet with the cleaning guys and get another step on the way to rental of number 2 Helena 

The trip down to Rye was very good with very little traffic on the road , which was great and I suspect will continue for some weeks ahead.

The cleaners arrived and did a terrific job in getting the house ready for advertising for lease 

After a bite for lunch I went to the local white goods store to purchase an upright stove as the current kitchen has no oven and a fairly poor set of cooking plates.

After the purchase it was time to head back to Rye to mow the lawns in number 4 .... it was good to get outside in the nice afternoon sun and do some chores 

After a bit of work in the garden, I changed and went on a walk to the beach and shops .... it was good to visit the beach and see how nature works almost in another world of the virus.... funny really that we seem so involved in our own world of the virus that we forget the simple things in life like the wonderful world we live in

The walk was good and the weather was turning cool by the time I came home.

Reflecting on the day over dinner it was a good one with a few things done even though there was no riding on the agenda 

I have just watched a couple of great programs on the ABC on their 7.30 Report and 4 Corners programs... the 7.30 Report contained an interesting interview with Malcolm Turnbull our former Prime Minister who has just released a book. 4 Corners program was devoted to a story on the virus and the way Australia has dealt with this over the past few months.

All good and interesting 

Now for a few photos 

... a new stove for number 2

Swans on the beach...

... and seagulls 

These seagulls normally reside at the MCG stadium picking up scraps after the patrons leave the ground... no games no scraps!!!

Covid Blog 20

Today was an early start with me up at 6.00am to go to the local bakery (Breadstreet) to get some fresh bread for breakfast. I met David Winter who owns the bakery and it seems he is doing well with the stay at home shoppers .... 

Arriving home it was time to get ready for the ride to the hills for the morning. The starting point was at Red Rooster on the corner of Canterbury and Union roads... the ride was along the bike path alongside the Ringwood line to Heathmont station then along bike paths to Boronia station then to The Basin to start the 1:20 ride of about 7 kms. This is a great ride on the uphill as there is a steady climb for about 4 kms then a false flat for about a km to catch your breath before the final few kms to Sassafras.

It was cool at the top of the ride and I was pleased I had a couple of layers of gear on especially for the fast decent back to The Basin.

After the decent it was pretty much the same route home with a stop for coffee at Laburnum. By this time the weather was really good and the coffee in the sun was lovely.

Arriving home I had lunch and organised myself to start the repairs and painting of the first of the front bay window.. the more I got in the sanding the window the more rotted timber I found..... yuck!

With some help from Chris, I organised a trip to Bunnings to get some better tools to get the job done. I must admit that getting the right tools makes all the difference!

The afternoon was spent trying to complete the preparation work on the window timber and then applying the undercoat again to give a good surface to apply the final coats of paint 

I really hate this job as it is painstaking and requires real patience which I do not have.

In many respects it reminds me of difficult times on the bike where you need to hunker down and get on with doing the job and enjoy the completion of the task!

The job was finished at about 5.30pm and it was time for a beer!

I will try to put the final coats on the window later in the week

The day was satisfying with a good ride and a frustrating afternoon doing the prep work on the window. It was interesting to hear the people walking and riding bikes etc along our street whilst I was stuck up the ladder trying to be a handyman... seems that Covid isolation at home has made people appreciate the simple things of life rather than going to restaurants, cafes and the like. I wonder whether this new normal will continue when the lockdown is over.

Now for the photos....

Today’s ride up to the hills.....

Tools for the job...

Chisels, sander and multi tool for cutting timber in difficult situations ....

Another shot of the tools I purchased from Bunnings 

Thank god I have shares in the company!

Covid Blog 19

Today I awoke at 7.00am and the weather was cool and overcast but not raining fortunately!

After breakfast I hoped on the bike and headed towards the city in the hope of finding my normal hairdresser open for business.... today I thought that it would be better to use the roads rather than the bike paths as the traffic was light... it proved to be a great decision as I was in the city in no time and fortunately the barber was open....yeh I could get a haircut after 2 months of growth and I was looking rather ragged!

I sat in the chair in my full riding gear which was a real change to the normal attire of suit and tie or smart casual... the guys were pleased to get some business as the city was devoid of people 

After getting cleaned up I made my way to Southbank for coffee.... once again very few people!

After coffee I made my way home with the last few kms being along the bike path... choc a bloc with families out riding, walking the dogs or generally enjoying the Saturday of reasonably good weather 

Arriving home I had lunch and decided to get on with some preparation work on the external painting job... gosh how I hate this job!

I managed to do most of the preparation work on the front windows using either builders bog or filler to cover up the areas where the weather had caused the wood to rot.

The job was painstakingly slow and a lot of patience was required but fortunately I was up for this

It took about 4 hours but it seemed to go quite quickly thank goodness 

After the repair job was complete I will now need to sand it back and do the undercoat paint ahead of the final paint 

The day was a good one and I cannot help but think about those poor individuals caught up with the pandemic in the USA and UK where the case numbers seem to be out of control and yet the President of the USA seems to be keen to ignore this and want his country to be “open for business “ to suit his own political ends... what a terrible situation 

The days are now getting shorter with the darkness descending by about 5.30 pm... yuck the short days are not good!

Now for the photos....

Today’s ride ... to get a haircut!!

Front bay window fixed

Another view of the window 

Covid Blog 18

Today was a rest day from riding as I thought the wind would be up in the morning and I needed to pack for the trip back to Melbourne 

I awoke at about 7.00am and turned the tv on to brighter news about the number of Covid cases in Australia.... seems the measures that have been imposed by both state and federal government is really working and the infection rates are moving in the right direction. The big issue now is whether we ought to relax the current lockdown arrangements which are making life difficult from what we have become accustomed to for a long time.

The current thinking is that we should leave the lockdown arrangements in place to avoid a second rise in the infection rate. I am inclined to believe that the more conservative route is better to avoid a deeper problem.

After the review of the news and breakfast it was off to Blairgowrie for a coffee and look at the beach... lovely to be able to see the beach in the morning...

After returning home to Rye it was pack-up and clean-up time ahead of the trip home to Melbourne 

The plan was to pack the Ute with wood for the fire and get the gear in to the car... after the wood was loaded I was met with a flat tyre on the bike which involved a change of tube... wouldn’t you know it but the spare in the pouch was defective and luckily I had another spare to get the job done.... lucky I did not have a flat on the road or I would have been stuck!

The riding gods were shining on me for once... thanks!!!

I had a short break from packing duties to take a Zoom meeting with the Alkira folk. The whole world seems to be on Zoom for meetings now including many of the schools around Australia. Not sure whether our great national broadband network will handle all of this but it seems okay for now!

After a successful meeting and some “instant leftover “lunch I packed everything in the Ute for home and cleaned the house....

All very domesticated Peter!!!!

On the way home I picked up the bike for Nick which was being serviced by the Giant folk in Rosebud...they had a chuckle about the heritage of the bike which although having Giant decals is a fake!!

A new set of tyres, fixing of the gears and a general service makes a whole lot of difference to the riding on the fake bike

Driving home to Melbourne the roads were reasonably busy which was a surprise but I made good time to Nick and Catherine’s home in Camberwell.

Dropping off the bike was good as I could see Nicks family and see that Alice can now ride her bike without training wheels... a great effort for her!

After dropping the bike off it was home to Kenmare street to unpack the gear and stack the firewood 

Dinner was the normal Friday bbq with meat purchased from  the butcher in Rosebud 

It is good to be home and see the family after 4 days in isolation at Rye 

Although the wind did not get up the weather is starting to turn cooler as the winter weather patterns begin to arrive

Now for a couple of photos 

Early morning at the beach...

Bugger... a flat tyre needed changing!!!

Covid Blog 17

Today was another interesting day with rain overnight here at Rye but the weather improved with sunny periods and temperatures in the 20’s for most of the day

I started with the idea of returning home to Melbourne during the day but events changed the plan which meant I stayed another night at Rye 

After breakfast it was time to do some washing of the bed sheets and a few other “whites” so I could get them out on the clothes line with fine weather....

Rather than hang around waiting for the washing to dry I went out for a ride..... yeh just for a change!!!

The ride went well with a tailwind on the way to Mt Martha and s headwind on the way home. I arrived back at Blairgowrie for a coffee and noted that the Council had closed off all the seating overnight on any of the public spaces near the Blairgowrie shops... this seems to be an effort to stop anyone taking their takeaway coffees to sit in a socially distancing way and enjoy the view to the beach... seems this is best way to avoid any problem regarding transmission of the virus 

After returning home it was time to have lunch. 

On the bike ride I was thinking about the bike I cleaned yesterday for Nick and was concerned about the safety aspects of it and it seemed best to have the bike checked and serviced. This meant I would need to talk to the local bike shop and perhaps stay overnight to allow the service to take place. Sure enough the bike shop would need additional time to sort out the issues that needed to be fixed...

After returning from the bike shop I mowed the grass on the rental property now that the skip had been removed and sorted out some spare keys for the rental agent 

I must say I am really impressed with the Ratway and Wood Home Hardware store on Rye. The guys there are so helpful in helping and advising on many things... well done guys.

Sorting out the rental arrangements required a bit of work with the agent, cleaners and the photos for the rental advertising.... but it is all now coming together well.

After finishing the chores I was able to enjoy a beer and prepare dinner....and listen to the daily news which was good news regarding the virus in that there is a really good slowdown in the infection rates but The Australian leaders are strong in maintaining the distancing measures rather than relaxing them... this is what we need now...strong leadership to stay the course.

After dinner I was able to say hello to a few of the neighbours who were down from Melbourne for a few days 

All good... another good and successful day

Now for the photos 

.... a sign of the times on the park bench!!

... all closed off for the time being 

Today’s ride

Covid Blog 16

Today was a warmish day with temps of about 20 degrees but overcast 

I woke at about 7.00am with the idea of going on a longer ride to Arthur’s Seat and Red Hill with a few climbs...

The ride was quite satisfying with a great feeling having reached the summit of Arthur’s Seat it was erie to see the chairlift not operating and no tourists... a vast difference from my visits here over Christmas with the grandchildren!!!

The ride down through Red Hill to Dromana was ver exhilarating with speeds over over 40 kph being achieved on many occasions 

The ride from Dromana to Blairgowrie was equally as good with a nice tail wind!!!

After reaching Blairgowrie it was good to get a coffee and head home for lunch

After lunch I sorted out the skip to make sure that I would not be charged extra for overloading ...

All done I decided to try to fix up the bike for Nick ahead of taking it to him tomorrow.... the chain needed a good clean and oil.... all good after about an hour

After completing the task I took a rest and met the guys over the road who arrived earlier for a few days 

Today was a good day

I made a call to my daughter early in the afternoon to see how home schooling went... be fair to say the private school on line education worked well whilst the public education system was badly organised... seems the problem is that the schools are disorganised as to the method of delivering on line learning and the expectation of the parents in supporting home learning is not clear... I hope this gets sorted out soon otherwise students will suffer from being disadvantaged in critical learning in the important years of their life.

Now for the photos 

View from the top of Arthur’s Seat to Port Philip Bay

The chairlift not working and the car park deserted!

Nick’s bike all clean and ready to go!

Today’s ride..

Most enjoyable!!

Covid Blog 15

Today was a day of work at Rye....

Up at 6.30 am to be ready for a delivery of the skip to take all the furniture from the hostel next door as we ready the property for rental 

The bin arrived after breakfast and after a coffee at the Blairgowrie coffee shop Chris and the kids arrived to help remove the furniture from number 2

The job was remarkably smooth with the ability to use the chain saw to selectively break items in to smaller pieces to fit in the bin.

Both Cooper and Mikala were very helpful and took smaller items to the skip

We finished the job by about midday and celebrated with a coffee and hot chocolate at Blairgowrie 

After the break Chris and the kids headed back to Melbourne and I had lunch

After lunch I cleaned up the remainder of the house and picked the remaining vegetables from the veggie patch...

I then dug the garden over to ready it for the next lot of winter vegetables

Finally I finished the day’s work by 4.30 pm and showered and went to Wollies to get a few items for the next few days

Dinner tonight was pasta with Mexican sauce... a good carbo loading meal ahead of a bike ride tomorrow.... maybe but depends on the weather 

Today was quite warm despite being cloudy 

If it is like this tomorrow should be great 

Now for the photos....

Bin filled with the help of the grandchildren!

Veggie garden now dug over

Dinner on the boil....

Covid Blog 14

Today was probably the best Melbourne has to offer with regards to weather... a lovely Autumn day. For years I have been saying that Autumn is the best season of the year 

Today was a bit of a sleep in with me waking at about 7.00 am and catching up on the news from around the world. The news is still sad with a lot of Covid deaths in many countries... seems that the US is having the worst of it with the UK and several European countries not far behind. Seems also that the social distancing is working when combined with lockdown at home. In Australia we have seemed to have “flattened the curve “ with the number of new Covid cases slowing down.

With this comes the impatient noise about relaxing the current restrictions... I feel this would be very premature as the only way of a long term solution is with a vaccine which is a long way off.

The other thing that seems to have been discovered is that the lower socioeconomic economic persons have a greater propensity to contract the virus... the example of this is that the black community in the USA make up greater numbers of those with the virus 

Luckily the politicians in Australia are listening to the scientific community who are advocating maintaining the strict isolation rules for the time being... let’s hope this continues 

After breakfast it was time for a short ride before starting to work on the exterior painting of the house.... yuk I hate this!

One of the many frustrations of this task is getting all the right gear to get the job done. Also having the right tools!!!

Over the past 2 days I have had 6 trips to Bunnings to get stuff... so frustrating as I want to get on with it!!!

Anyway the work began with plugging gaps and sanding the “builders bog” ....

All of this is slow progress but I have been told by many that   good preparation I does take time and is worth it to get a good result 

Well with that job done I could finally cover the repaired surfaces with undercoat ...

All looked good when done... this preparation now means I can get on with a top coat of paint sometime soon 

With the weather warming up I was able to tidy up the front and back yards and clean the pool.

When done I packed the Ute with gear ahead of going to Rye to sort out the furniture in the house which is to be leased in the weeks ahead...most of it is pretty terrible and will be going in the skip to the tip!

Before heading off I participated in a Zoom call with Chris from NZ and Steve from the UK to chat about how we are doing in this new normal. Both Chris and Steve were my riding mates on the Lands End to John O’groats ride a few years ago.

Good to catchup with the guys who are coping well in each country 

We agreed we should do another call in a month 

After the call it was time to head to Rye... the traffic was very sparse on the roads and I made good time.

Seems that the message has been well and truly been received to stay at home... I have never seen so little traffic on the roads!!!

I will be in bed early tonight as I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow... I am fortunate to have help from Chris , my son, to get the job done 

For me today was another good day with a mixture of fun on the bike and hard work in painting the house at Kenmare st

Now for a few photos ....

Front bay window repair done!

.and the other window!!!

Another view... yes looking good!

The ride today 

Covid Blog 13

Yes another day of the Covid lockdown in Australia...

The day started early with. 6.30 am wake-up to help with getting breakfast on Easter Sunday... 

It was raining so I decided to delay the normal 7.30 am ride start to 8.30 which enabled me to go to Breadstreet to get hot cross buns and bread. David Winter was in the shop and explained that this Easter his turnover was up as a result of everyone being at home rather than on holiday. A great result really and one of the curious unintended consequences of the virus on businesses.

Arriving home I found the Easter Bunny had arrived with Easter Eggs distributed strategically around the home... luckily the bunny avoided hiding the eggs outside!

All very good for the egg hunt later in the day...

After breakfast it was off on the ride through the city, along Beach Road, and to Sandringham for coffee... wouldn’t you know it there were a couple of mates at the coffee shop so we were able to share a story or so!

After coffee it was home at about 1.00 pm for lunch...

After lunch it was time for Chris and I to get on with some running repairs to the barge boards that were rotted out

Thank god chris had the right tools to get the jobs done... I really struggle with this home handyman stuff!

Anyway it was great to get the bulk of the work done with me being the labour and Chris being the brains and the guy on the ladder.

After completing the work Chris had to do a few chores at his house and I was happy doing the tidy up.

After completing most of the work I checked in with Jodie, Sam and their children and Nick and Catherine and their children and it seems the Easter Bunny was very busy last night 

After achieving a lot today I was happy to have a beer and glass of wine and reflect o the strange Easter we are having but realise that family can endure the peculiarities that are presented with the virus

Although the weather started with rain the day cleared to be a good one ... cloudy but dry!

Now for the photos 

Task one computer... new barge board new back door!

The back corner eves repaired...

.....and new barge board...

The bike needed a clean as well!!!

Today’s ride... interesting route through some different parts of Melbourne 

Covid Blog 12

Happy Easter everyone!!!!

Today was a late start ....we had rain this morning and showers on off for the whole day. This was the really first wintery day of the year unfortunately... yuk the cold weather looks like being the way forward for the next few months 

After starting late at 8.00 am with breakfast it was time to see the guys at Zimt for a coffee to get the system running for the day...

I thought I might see what was going on regarding flu injections at the local pharmacy... well it seems there is a lack of doses being released by the government to satisfy demand so I had to retreat to Zimt for the coffee. I later tried at another pharmacy and was unable to get satisfaction!!!

Story of my life really....

Arriving home I resolved to get on with some preparation work for painting the outshot the house... painting is one job I really hate as the preparation work drives me nuts!!

Anyway after a few visits to Bunnings I was ready to go... with a little or maybe a lot of help from my son Christopher...

It was time to sort out the rot in the front windows... all the dry/wet rot needed to be cleared and bogged up with “builders bog” . The job went ok in between rain showers...

At lunch I received an email from my mate Chris in NZ regarding setting up a Zoom call with myself , Chris and Steve from our ride in the UK a few years ago. We set up the call for Monday evening Melbourne time. I am looking forward to the catch up with the guys to see how they are coping with the situation in both NZ and in the UK!!!

The afternoon was spent sorting out more of the dry rot in various parts of the house... amazing how the timber rots...

In the early afternoon I received a message from my friend Ashley Wright that his father Lauchie passed away yesterday... very sad as Lauchie was a true friend and will be sadly missed. He gave a couple of budding accountants at William Buck a go in the early years which was the start of the real growth in the firm... RIP Lauchie and condolences to all the Wright family in this sad time.

Shortly after lunch I received a call from my daughter Jodie regarding collecting an Xbox game from JBHifi at Doncaster.. the shops were very quiet at Doncaster as the message about staying home seems to have taken hold for most.

Another trip to Bunnings to get some barge boards to make it the 4th trip is a good set up for tomorrow when I will be replacing a number of rotted boards

The day ended with a trip to the supermarket to get a few items for dinner 

Today was not a day for riding with high winds and rain it seems the day was spent mostly sorting out stuff at the shops... yuk what a waste of time!!!

Now for the photos 

The gear ready to go for bogging dry rot!!!

An example of the dry rot!!!

And another shot ...

Windows all bogged up

A queue outside Bunnings 

Covid Blog day 11

Today is Good Friday and it started at Rye at about 7.00am with an update on the news that we had a slow down in the number of new cases here in Australia 

The news in the USA and UK were very bad with the hospitals being overrun with new cases and deaths.... all a real dose of reality in the holiday where we celebrate Easter 

The human race seems in this lock down stage until a vaccine is found. As each day goes by there is a feeling at least for me that the new reality in the post Covid world is going to be nowhere near what we had before this scourge descended on us all...

After breakfast I started packing up for home by loading some wood for the fire at home in the back of the Ute.

The weather was good so I went for a 2 hour ride to clear the cobwebs 

Arriving home I had some lunch.... a ham and cheese roll to remind me of the riding trips through France of days gone by!

After lunch I picked some of the veggies from the garden which seems to have produced well with tomato’s and cucumber 

After cleaning the house I left for Melbourne after clearing the fact that I could travel home with the local police.... seems there is a lot of police patrols looking in to the travels of citizens... the police woman informed me that I can travel between houses for business purposes in inspecting them...

All good so I made my way home in pretty good time as there was very little traffic on the roads... all good as everyone seems to have followed the warnings to stay at home 

I arrived home and stacked the firewood and unpacked my gear

Being home in Melbourne was great to see the family after 3 days of isolation at Rye... I achieved a lot really at Rye in sorting out the leasing strategy for number 2

Now for the photos....

Look at the goodies from the vegetable garden...

Today’s ride

Covid Blog 10

Another day in paradise!!!

The weather was perfect today with very little wind, complete sun with no clouds, a cool start to the day and warm sun with temps up to 20 degrees.

The day started again at about 6.30 am with a look at the tv to see how the world of the virus was going and it seems we in Australia are doing reasonably well with about 6000 cases and about 50 deaths.... all sad really but what is going on in the US is staggering with over 1000 people dying a day!

I hope we never get to that!!!

After breakfast it was time for a takeaway coffee at the Blairgowrie cafe and a visit to the beach to see the perfect morning from a delightful and different perspective 

After the beach visit I made a few arrangements to sort out the rental arrangements for the house next door which included organising a skip to be delivered next week to get rid of the surplus furniture in the house... this will be a job where I need an extra pair of hands and Chris has agreed to help thankfully 

After this it was time to mow the lawns at number 4.....

The mowing was relatively easy and it was good to see the backyard after I finished the job!

After this it was lunch and a bike ride. Today I thought I would take a slightly different route up Whites road to the back of Dromana which meant a bit of climbing but it was a good change from the largely flat rides I have been doing recently at Rye 

The trip was relatively fast with very little wind and traffic although towards the end of the ride there was a decernable increase in traffic coming down to visit holiday homes for Easter 

The lock down rules allow persons who own homes to visit them fortunately... so I am clear to visit our home at Rye

After the ride I decided to take a walk to the beach to see the sunset... it was lovely and I hope you enjoy the photos...

After returning home it was time to shower at ready myself for the Houseparty chat with the family in various locations in Melbourne. Good to catch up with everyone...

FYI.... I was alerted by a Board member at Alkira to a child science project which has been prepared by the Dyson Foundation ( of vacuum cleaning fame). It sets out various projects which can be done by children as a learning experience.... looks great for the grandchildren 

Tonight I am resolved to watch television programs which do not focus on the current Covid circumstances... a nice change!!!!

Now for a few photos....

Early morning at the beach!!!

The backyard after the clean up

Interesting sign....note the spelling!!!

A sign of the times.... I was on my way home

And yes it does!!!

A quiet end to the day on the beach.... bad picture as it has my shadow 

Today’s ride

Sun is setting 

.... and another one!

Covid Blog 9

Today was a typical Autumn day with a cool start followed by a sunny day with top temperatures around 17 degrees 

The morning was the normal wake at about 6.30 am with a look at CNN and early morning news to see whether there has been any evidence of a slower infection rate on the virus... there was sort of mixed news with Australia seemingly doing a bit better than other countries such as the US and Europe.

The only way there seems to be a likelihood of returning to a more normal life seems to be related to finding a antidote to the virus.. this seems to be a few months away at the earliest and we need to ready ourselves to this timeline.

Anyway it was off after breakfast to Zimt for the takeaway coffee so necessary to ready myself for the day

The guys at Zimt were again vey positive and I am thankful that I can get my “daily fix” from them...

After the fix I went home and packed a few things to travel to Rye to sort out renting the house next door... the agent seems to think I can rent number 2 in the current market as it is ... good news as I am not looking forward to painting the house on my own!

I traveled down to Rye I good time and went to the local shops to get “staples” for my stay down here!

After returning to the house I decided to do a shortish ride of about 40 kms to Safety Beach before making a Zoom call with my Australian Club mates.

The call was for an hour with 20 guys who normally meet at the Oz Club each month. This virtual meeting via zoom was good as we were able to see each other at our homes and talk about our experiences in this new situation with Covid 

It wa great to catch up with Pete Slattery who we have not seen for some time

We agreed that we should do this again to stay in touch

The day was a good one and another ticked off in this new way of living 

Now for the photos 

Nice photo of the beach at Safety Beach...half way point of the ride 

Today’s ride...

Covid Blog 8

Today was a day off for bike riding and a day to do a few chores around home with Chris helping me

The day started with the normal catch up on the Covid virus on early morning television where the news was not good for the Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson... he has been admitted to hospital and is in ICU . 

I hope he recovers quickly from the Covid virus....

After breakfast I managed to get some time to go to Zimt for a takeaway coffee... the guys there are doing a great job serving coffee and their normal cafe fare which is really good home cooked food.... well done to all of you!

After coffee it was down to Bunnings to pick up a fan as the fan in the back loo was not working.

Arriving home Chris and I fixed the fan and it was time to fix the new exterior lights around the back patio....

There was another visit to Bunnings to get a few more tools to make the job easier.

Before lunch we fixed 3 of the lights and felt good to have made a start 

Lunch was Zimt pies which were great 

After lunch we did the hardest part of the job fixing the lights to the brickwork... all the more difficult as the old lights were hard to remove!

Anyway after a few hours the job was complete and I was pleased...

The clean-up made me think about tidying up the tools in the garage and toss out a lot of the rubbish..... another job done!

It was then time for dinner and to test out the lights cooking a bbq.... yehhh it worked well!

After dinner I watched a the Test series about the emergence of the Australian Cricket team after the tragedy of the ball tampering in South Africa a few years ago....a good series to watch

Tomorrow it is off to Rye to sort out the houses down there

Looking forward to the trip

Now for the photos 

New lights on the back patio 

... and on the alfresco dining area 

Covid Blog 7

Gosh how time flies when you are having fun!!!

Yes it is now a week since I started this blog and it has been an interesting journey of witnessing and participating in the sudden stop of the world we once knew and adapting to the new normal of living at home!

Today was a lovely Autumn day with a cool breeze and lovely sun at various times. The temps were in the mid teens.

After catching up with the news on Sky in the morning it was time to look after the grandchildren for the morning with Robyn. Chris and Neats kids who are living with us whilst renovating their home, seem to have adapted well to being restricted to home.

The news of the morning was terrible for those in Europe and the US and I thought I should put in a call to a friend from my AECOM days, Paul Schwartz. He is located in NYC which is going through a terrible time with the pandemic. Paul and his family are ok thankfully and he appreciated the check in from his mate in Australia 

After the obligatory takeaway coffee from Zimt I bought bread and treats for lunch and proceeded on my ride along the Koonung and Anniversary trails 

There was a lot of families out enjoying the weather, walking or riding bikes and gaining some well earned exercise away from their homes

After the ride it was off to IKEA to but some new bench stools for the kitchen... as I said yesterday the IKEA shop is not easy with navigation required to find the items to be purchased... I found the stools and picked up the flat packs. The number of shoppers at IKEA were less than yesterday thankfully!

Arriving home it was time to take Cooper and Mykala on a walk around the streets near home looking for teddy bears in the front windows of houses in our neighbourhood 

There was delight for the kids seeing several houses with bears in the windows... a successful trip all around.

At home again it was time to open the flat packs and assemble the stools... if there is one ting that I hate it’s assembling furniture like this. First unpacking the articles from all the cardboard and plastic.... then trying to understand the instructions ( always seem to be in a foreign language) ... then using those silly Allen keys to tighten the bolts and screws 

Anyway this seemed to work well and in no time the stools were de boxed and assembled ready for use for dinner.... a success!!!

All in all it was a good day of success and it seems that we are all contributing to the social distancing which is a good defensive strategy for Covid 

Now for the photos 

A view of a park with closed play equipment 

A view of the Yarra River on the bike ride

An interesting community vegetable garden I saw on the ride

The flat pack box... all looks good but assembly is not my thing!!!

Yeah!!! All assembled....

Today’s ride... short and sweet!!

Covid Blog 6

Today being Sunday is the normal day for the Wheeliebinners ride from Red Rooster on the corner of Union and Canterbury roads at 7.30 am.... and today is the end of daylight saving so we get an extra hour of sleep!

But no.... with the new order we cannot ride as a group anymore and unfortunately we cannot really wear out new team riding tops and socks.

So with that in mind I decided to ride across town to my daughters home in Yarraville to have a coffee/tea. Riding near the great sports stadiums in Melbourne was very eerie as in normal times they would be buzzing with football fans waiting to see their teams perform on the sporting fields.

To add to the eerie feel the weather was gloomy with heavy cloud cover and cool temps at about 10 degrees 

I arrived at Jodie and Sams house and it was good to see them both and have a coffee and be very careful regarding social distancing 

After the visit it was off home via the Capital City bike path. Getting closer to home the weather turned from a drizzle to rain and by the time I arrived home I was wet through but felt good after doing a little over 60 kms

The afternoon was spent visiting IKEA to look at kitchen options for the Rye investment property which needs a makeover ahead of being on the rental market.

I always get lost on visiting IKEA and today was no exception.... finding the kitchen department was a real issue but worth the visit as the options seem good 

Arriving home we set the fire and settled in on the couch for a while until dinner... I must admit I had a bit of shut eye until Chris, Neat and grandies arrived home for dinner 

The day was a bit longer with the extra hour with the change of clocks and the night closed in earlier..... very strange really 

It was a good day for the Covid19 stats in Australia with the rate of increase in cases falling again for the 3rd day... questions being raised about whether we are seeing the Covid curve turning!!!

Let’s see!!!!

Now for a few photos 

Entry at the MCG deserted ... normally buzzing with football fans!!!

View of the city with the Yarra river in the foreground 

Good picture ....go dees...my football team

Marvel stadium deserted as well!!!


Today’s ride...

Slow due to wet weather 

Covis Virus Blog 5

Today was a rest day from the bike.... yeeeeh!!!

I awoke at about 6.30 am with the rain coming down at Rye what a wonderful event this is given the drought we have been through in Australia in recent times

It was time to pack up and head home to sort out the garden at Kenmare street.....

After cleaning the house I was on the road  by about 10.00 am. The traffic was light all the way home as it seems most are observing the stay at home directions from the authorities.... at all times the signs are that we should stay at home 

This is a strange world really where you need are being told what to do... someone I spoke to recently said this is something out of 1984!!!!!

Arriving home is was keen for a coffee so it was off to Zimt for a takeaway... good to catch up with the guys there who are doing well under the circumstances 

I bought some chicken and chips for the family for lunch and made my way home to settle in to an afternoon of chores at home.......

I managed to mow the lawns , rake the leaves, tidy up the yards and clean the pool in an afternoon. It was good to bet the chores done and see the Kenmare street property looking good!!! I guess I am a phenatic when it come to this...

To make life a little bit harder there was frequent rain showers that meant I needed to stop

Luckily the man cave was working and I could look at the horse racing in Sydney which was the only game in town from a sports perspective 

After the chores it was good to see the Robyn had organised the fire in the house..... the first for the year and after a shower it was good to settle down for a bbq and a drink 

Funny in reflection I really missed a ride today 

Seems in all this mess that a ride seems to settle the mind in the strange world of the virus 

Now for the photos 

Pool clean !!!

Back lawns mown and tidied up after grandies!!!!

Tennis court blown for stray leaves!!!!

Front lawn mowed.... note the car park!!!!!

.... and more cars in the drive!!!!