Same old same old (almost)

I can’t say it’s exciting at our place just now. The weather’s lovely this time of year and it’s cool enough to potter in the garden, catch up on few jobs. We’d rather be travelling of course but we wanted to wait until we’d had our second covid jab. That’s done, now. We were given AstraZenca. No side effects so far.

Just in time for the winter school holidays two covid cases (that’s right, 2) have emerged in Sydney. No, Sydney will not be locked down but predictably, the Queensland Government has announced ‘precautions’ to deter anybody coming into the state from affected areas. They will have to have a covid test that proves negative before coming to Qld. You wait. One more case and Premier Anna will slam the border shut. She has for every other major holiday. I’ll bet all the resorts up here (and the cafes and bars etc etc) have their fingers firmly crossed. When are these people (the ‘authorities’) going to accept that we will NEVER be covid-free?

For us stay-at-homes the biggest excitement is the building site over the road. Our long-time neighbours sold up and moved to Brisbane and a new family moved in. The one acre block was divided and the new partition became a building site.

House building sure ain’t what it used to be. Time was a squad of shirtless guys would appear with hammers, wheelbarrows, shovels and things – and a portable radio playing the latest hits at full blast. They would build the whole thing in a few weeks. These days it’s more like construction by Ikea. Not that it’s been quick, mind. They’ve been messing about over there (on and a lot of off) for a good nine months, providing lots of entertainment for house-bound old farts. But in the last couple of weeks industrial sized kit arrived to pour the concrete. Four or five cement trucks fed the concrete into a huge concrete-pumping truck with an enormous extending arm that went up at least ten metres. The arm delivered the concrete to where it had to go. Not a wheelbarrow in sight. But I think guys levelled it all out with shovels.

Just a couple of days later, earlier than we thought it would happen, the frame went up. Many years ago Pete was an apprentice carpenter. Back then, the boys built everything to order – roofs, wall frames, door frames, etc etc. None of those newfangled nail guns, just hammers. Carpentry these days comes straight out of the Ikea model. The wall frames were delivered already assembled. The nail guns came out and the frame was put together. A few days later the roof frame arrived, once again in manufactured parts ready for assembly. A crane put the pieces into position and the nail guns did the rest.

At the moment the house is wrapped up in blue plastic. We’re taking bets on whether it’s going to be weatherboard or brick veneer or something else. We wait with bated breath, peering through the blinds to see if the workers have turned up. In these covid days, any little thing can be fascinating. Sad, isn’t it?

You might be thinking this is a very good time to write a book, but I’ve found it difficult to come up with inspiration. I’m very easily distracted by various computer games. However, I have started a new story, once again SF with a dollop of romance. I’m liking where it’s going, which is great. I haven’t written a story in a while.

And to finish, here’s a picture of a white-faced heron.

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