It was a beautiful day yesterday. It was warm and sunny, and the scent of spring was thick in the air. Every time I sat down and looked out the windows, I wanted to go out into the sunbathed garden again. I did that several times, once even sitting down on the front lawn, with a glass of chardonnay in hand, Tress pottering nearby and the little fellow sitting next to me. I felt like those were perfect moments that just had to be savored with every fibre of my being.

I was especially and deliberately drinking all that in, to not be distracted, momentarily at least, by the doom and gloom that continues to build up here in Melbourne. The Premier had just announced a continuation of our journey along this tunnel that doesn’t promise any end, let alone any light.

The lock down continues. Many businesses aren’t allowed to resume trading and many will go to the wall. The quagmire from the bungled hotel quarantine plans continue to plague Melburnians, particularly small businesses with retail clienteles. On a personal side, all that meant our lives continue to be confined to our home. Tress and I wouldn’t be able to go out shopping together. We can’t go further than 5km to get a takeaway meal or do anything else. We can’t see our friends and we certainly cannot think about Christmas with Kiddo and Mic. We have to continue working from home. That is probably a blessing in many ways, not least in the form of still being employed. Many Melburnians have lost, and will continue to lose, their jobs.

Soaking in the afternoon sun with a glass of chardonnay in hand weren’t the only blessings I was endowed with over the weekend.

We had a good time catching up for zoom drinks again on Friday night. Everyone (Alex&LiHar, Gerry&Jesslyn and Jason&Mel) looked and sounded upbeat. Sheryl (G&J’s younger daughter) and Jason were having their birthdays so we ticked those off as well.

Tress and I did a bit of work around the house on Saturday. I gave every plant a feed, applied a weed and feed on the lawns, gave the cars a wash (badly needed after a dust storm last week), swept up the surrounds and tidied stuff up generally. Tress gave the house a thorough vacuuming and cleaned the toilets too. When we settled down to put our feet up late in the day, it felt like we were going to sleep well that night, and we did.

Sunday was Father’s Day and I had surprises galore. Tress and Kiddo both got me some very nice tipples. I didn’t get that DB5 on the driveway but the bottles of Shiraz were pretty good alternatives. Especially the Baby Grange Kiddo got me. St Alf’s online had Mark Simon deliver the main talk, which is about God the Father of all comfort. That was another blessing that had accumulated, and that had started from Friday night over the zoom drinks. The perfect weather that arvo saw us take in walks with the little fellow and it felt like we weren’t the only ones enjoying the warmer weather. The parklands, ovals, pavements, saw many families out and about. I guess we all want to forget the travails that threaten to steal out joys.

The long tunnel ahead, here in Melbourne, will hopefully continue to serve up little respites like what I was blessed with this past weekend. As I type this at my desk, my work day has just started and I am looking out at another day with very clear blue skies. Maybe these little respites will continue to soften the blows that this virus has rained on Melbourne in recent months.