On Friday, Tress and I came back from a catch-up dinner with Nic and Jon in a Chinese joint as the crow flies, and after Nic and Jon left our home (they came back with us to chill for a bit, watching a bit of the Korean “Physical 100”), we snoozed a little bit.

Tress than woke me up just after 1am, and we left home a bit after 1.15am, to head out to Tulla. We got there just before 2am, parked and walked to the Air Asia counter, where the queues were starting to snake out. I could not believe that so many were happy to cop Air Asia’s disgraceful flight time. Taking off at 5am meant check ins at 2am, and yet many are happy to do this. I guess the alternative is just very unattractive. MAS (Malaysian Airlines) has been a bad experience for many for a long time. They also cost almost twice as much. So, unearthly hour notwithstanding, AA must have thought they could flog their customers because the competition is hopeless.

As we were the first half dozen or so customers at the bag drop off counters, it didn’t take us too long before Tress was able to complete her queuing. I said goodbye to her a short while later, and drove home, getting back close to 4am. I climbed into bed a short while later, before Tress even took off. The little guy kept sitting up, waiting to hear some noises to say Tress is at home too…

The next morning, after waking up around 9.30am, I had a quick brekky and then walked the little fellow. I had first thrown a load of clothes in for laundry, and when the little fellow and I got home, I put the laundry on the hills hoist before taking the mower to the mower shop to have the height adjuster lever looked at. The locking pin had sheared off and I was wondering if this was something that can be fixed, or I’d have to keep using my improvisation make-do/stop-gap (literally…) to keep using it. Thankfully, the young fellow at “Mower Power” said he could fix that, so I left the mower with them. I then got back, showered, and headed out to the FHC. Someone had agreed to take the Supernote A6X off me for a reasonble price. It has been a great note taker for me but the inability to work with One Note and other MS/Office tools make the switch to the iPad mini as a note taker, unavoidable for me. I had gotten the Mini 6 to replace the older one as apparently it is a much better tool for all sorts of work stuff.

At FHC, I met the buyer, completed the deal, dropped off an old winter coat at the Salvos, did some grocery shopping, had lunch and then came back home before taking the little guy out again for a walk at the oval. Tress had pinged me at 2pm, just as I was having my bite to eat, saying she had landed in KL. This was some 12 hours after I left her at Tulla, and did a whole morning’s errands. That sort of affirmed my aversion to overseas travel – all that hullabaloo surrounding transport transfers, immigration, customs, flight pains and time zones, all add up to make overseas travel an unnecessary pain – in most cases – that is to be avoided whenever possible. The consolation is the thought that Tress’ parents will get to spend a couple of weeks with her, and vice versa.

Getting the new iPad mini meant I got 3 months AppleTV free subscription, so I jumped on to catch Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”. I then also caught Martin Scorcese’s “Killer of the Flower Moon”. These long movies were interspersed with that celebrity-in-the-jungle reality show and the Hawks’ awful awful show against Gold Coast (that ended up with a 0-5 season starter).

At St Alf’s I warded off the usual queries of “where’s Theresa” with a well rehearsed response. I didn’t do our usual lunch at Donvale, going instead to the FHC for a Vietnamese Banh Mi which was very good. I then went home, played with the little fellow for a bit, and then did the week’s cook. Then it was off to the oval again – all trying to keep to the usual routine that Tress and I kept. It just makes it easier to cope.

It’d be another 12 days before this lonely sojourn ends. At least it’s still only mid autumn, so it isn’t quite that cold yet. Makes it easier to be alone, albeit only for a while…

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Kiddo and Mic, along with little Abby, are away in Fiji. They are celebrating Kiddo’s 30th. I cannot believe this milestone is here. That’s life I guess, and it’s wonderful.