Maggie's Back

Whenever I go overseas, Maggie prefers to spend the time at our little place in Inverloch. When I left for Cuba at the end of February, that is where she headed. At that time the plan was to stay there for about a month and then be back in Melbourne when I arrived home from Canada. Of course all those plans went out the window when the world was enveloped by the global pandemic.

My time in Cuba was truncated early and my entire Canadian adventure was scrapped due to closing of international borders. I had a frantic return journey from Cuba, finally arriving back in Melbourne on the 24th March. By that time it had become mandatory for all international travelers to undergo 14 days of isolation. I had a lonely period of quarantine in Pakenham, while Maggie stayed on in Inverloch.

It was not until early April that I was finally able to join her by the coast. I took a car full of food, supplies and clothes with me. Our two bikes were mounted on the bike carrier as I made the journey to Inverloch. Since there was still some doubt whether or not such a trip was even legal, I half expected to be stopped by an over zealous law officer on the way.

I did manage to arrive without being intercepted and we settled in for another two months of relative isolation. We were very glad to have our bikes with us, or else we might have torn each other apart. We were also grateful to have the NBN to give us reliable Internet, so that we could have regular video chats with our family and friends.

With the progressive relaxation of restrictions over the past few weeks, we have started to feel that it is was getting closer to the time to return to Melbourne. Last Tuesday I made the drive back home and started to reawken the house from its long slumber. On Saturday Maggie drove up and joined me. In many ways it felt like our disrupted lives were slowly returning to something closer to normal.

On Sunday evening we were even able to celebrate our eldest son's birthday with members of our family now able to finally share a meal together. Our latest grandson is on the brink of turning one, so we had a wonderful time having the longest play with him that we have been able to enjoy for a long time. At the end of the evening, the house was a mess, but we didn't mind at all. That is what family life is all about.Meer informatie