Catchups

“My wife has COVID for the first time, and I had it a couple of weeks ago”, a colleague told us as we sat around yesterday and consumed our work’s “Christmas Lunch”.

“Because I live alone and mostly work at home, I’ve managed to avoid it”, I told my colleagues, as we shared our experiences of the last twelve months.

However, in the last week or so I’ve been feeling tired, albeit without the “spicy cough”. Nonetheless, I think I’ll pop into the chemist tomorrow (wearing a mask) and pick up a RAT. Or maybe, it’s just because of a disturbed sleep pattern, waking up in the middle of the night and watching the World Cup? Also, I’ve been powering through the Nikki Savva book, “Bulldozed” about this year’s Australian election, which is very good.

It was a bit weird catching up with colleagues today, since some of whom I’ve only seen in real life half a dozen times this year.

“I’m so sorry, I missed your birthday”, one of them said to me. Another talked about their child starting school next year. “Oh my God, I remember when you brought them to work in a pram”, I said.

For me, it’s one of my busiest times of the year work-wise, as I help keep the ship sailing, while many others take time off.

I’m heading up to Lismore again, and will do my job from there for a couple of weeks.

The one bright spot from this year’s Lismore flood was a spending decision by my family. Despite being quite spartan, generally, they decided their “Christmas Treat” was to have air conditioning installed in the back part of the house.

“Has the air conditioning been installed”?, I asked Pat on the phone today. “Nah”, she said with disappointment in her voice. For some dumb arse reason, the installation won’t occur until February, she told me. “But we’ve got fans”, she added.

Between now and heading to Lismore, there are a few more Christmas parties to be had, including another this weekend.

Last weekend I caught up with some long-time friends, connected because we’re ABBA fans. It was a fun event, though we hardly talked at all about ABBA. I noted on the day we spent a lot of time talking about medical conditions, as you do when you get to a “certain age”. One of us retired earlier this year, another announced their “official retirement” on Saturday.

I also caught up with some former colleagues last week and will be going to an event tomorrow night put on by the ABC Alumni, a group of former ABC staff members. I figured I should get to know what’s happening with them, as I edge closer to retirement.