We have now been in Australia for two years. Wow! Two years! Where did that time go? Well I am going to tell you… But of course you can guess as you will almost certainly have been through the same…

Believe it or not…

Today marks the two year anniversary of our first full day here. Almost all of that time has been under the bullshit covid – formerly known as coronavirus – regime. Yes the whole two years. They hadn’t started closing pubs and shops etc but they had just announced the first cases of “coronavirus” in New South Wales. I had forgotten that it had already effectively started when we arrived but fortunately I did write a post two years ago when all this was bubbling away on the news. See that post here.

Also they were talking about delaying the kids’ start of school year two year ago. I blogged about that one too, in this post – here. They didn’t delay that school start but then they closed schools for somewhere between two and three terms over the past year. That’s almost a school year! Daniel started school almost two years ago and on Thursday goes back to begin his third school year in Australia. Again they have been talking about delaying the school start. I think in Queensland (or maybe some other state – really don’t care any more and am not following the “news”) they are actually doing just that. Stupid wankers!

Meanwhile Dani is grounded for the final two days of his school holidays. Such is life eh…

One State Only

As for travelling we had hoped to visit my cousin and his family in New Zealand; that land down underer – to quote that classic comedy series The Flight of The Conchords. But we have not even been able to leave the state of New South Wales within Australia let alone travel outside for almost all of the two years. And anyway New Zealand is even more mental than Australia when it comes to covid. No sooner do they announce an easing of travel restrictions than NZ close their borders again. Totally nuts!

We have managed to see plenty of great places in NSW however and of course there really are plenty more to see. In some cases we have made return visits to our favourite spots. So it has not all been lockdown and gloom. In fact far from it. I have to look on the positive side. The first “lockdown” was more of a mock-down. Many shops stayed open and it only lasted a short while before the pubs reopened etc… Of course we should all be realising why that was now.

Then last winter they really went for it. Of course that was to force – I mean persuade – people to get vaccinated for something that was barely a threat. Anyway now they are after the kids so what the hell this our third year here will be like is anybody’s guess…. We shall see. But it seems no different back “home”…

Australia Day?

Tomorrow is Australia Day. Can I be bothered? Probably not. The whole thing just seems like a chore for Australians so why should I bother?  There is something so false about tomorrow’s “celebrations” that just pisses me off. It is so hard to put into words. I heard the authorities have cancelled the parade in Melbourne, but I think things are still going ahead here in Sydney. Maybe I will find an ‘Invasion Day’ protest and see what goes on there… Probably neither. Not exactly a party spirit for celebrating our 2nd anniversary here is it? I know.

Again, looking on the bright side (or trying to), Dani enjoys school and has made a fair few friends so we just all need to get everything in perspective and keep on carrying on….

On that note, I have a post to write about a 50 year anniversary of one of my all time favourite albums. If I don’t do that today I may spend part of tomorrow (Australia Day) writing it.