Settling in to our New Normal

After arriving in Inverloch last night my solitary life has finally come to an end. It feels a little strange to now have someone to talk to and a dog to sit on my knee. We were worried at first at how we would be able to squeeze so much stuff into a small house, but somehow we seem to have managed the impossible. Maybe we should rename the house to "The Tardis". We even managed to find a place for our two bikes inside the house !

Today was just too glorious to let it go to waste. As soon as we could get sorted, we jumped on our bikes and headed out to explore some of the bike path network. Although Easter is normally one of the busiest times of the year for Inverloch, this year it is almost deserted. Apart from the people who live here all year, there has been absolutely no intake of visitors.

It was a strange feeling to be able to ride up the main street and see most of the shops closed. I don't how how some of these businesses will survive the loss of such an important trading period.

We stopped to gaze across Anderson Inlet and admire the beautiful blue ocean. Earlier in the day I had seen some images on the Internet of towns in northern India where, for the first time in decades, they were now able to see the snow capped mountains of the Himalayas. For many of the younger people it would have been the first time in their lives that the mountains were visible, as they are normally blocked by a curtain of air pollution. Now that so many cars are off the roads, it is as if the earth is starting to rebuild its damaged atmosphere. The same phenomenon is happening in cities all over the planet. It is ironic that it might take a virus to shake us into action about what has been destroying our beautiful planet. Changes that take place slowly can somehow go unnoticed. I wonder if the people even realised that their amazing mountains were gradually being hidden from them.

I spent some time practicing my new skill and I must admit that I am quite pleased at the progress I am already making. I can see why some people really get involved in this. My first few successes did give me something of a rush, and inspired me to keep practising and improving. One day I might even tell you what it is.

Our first day together ended with a delicious crock pot stew. We have plenty of food and plenty of toilet paper too, so we should be OK for the next few weeks at least. The weather bureau has promised another lovely day for tomorrow, so I think we will be back out on the bikes in the morning.

It's almost 9 pm already. Time for bed.Read more