Lockdown Missive #10

Monday 14 September 2020

Hello all,

As if it is news to anyone, we are still here in lockdown. The miserable but necessary news from the Premier last Sunday put a dampener on the slightest flicker of Father’s Day cheer. I haven’t got much for you this missive, primarily because I simply haven’t the energy or inclination to make with the laugh-laugh and scribe an uplifting story of courage through adversity, mud through the house or pies-in-the-face (the link above explains the last one there).

The slightest mercy for us weary, broken and withered parents is that playgrounds have re-opened. I cannot possibly overstate the relief this has provided us, nor the giddiness it has injected into Finn (Archer wasn't so enthused—see below). Bring on Step Two or Level 3 or whatever the heck the next step of this godforsaken roadmap out of hell is called.

Finn is two

Thank you to everyone for your birthday gifts and wishes for Finn. It’s hard to discern his exact feelings of the day but he seemed to have fun. His cake was especially delicious. Archer managed the day pretty well also—it’s not easy being a big brother on your little brother’s special day—but we made sure he wasn’t left out. In fact, Finn demonstrated plenty of patience with his big brother as Archer would commandeer his new toys and drive them around the kitchen.

In the photos below, see Finn opening his gifts (Archer opening his big brother presents as well), Facetime with Grandpa and Josie and CAKE!

Demolition derby

In the most exciting thing to happen in Peacock St, Burwood for the entirety of 2020, number 17 (over-the-road) has been torn down. What we expected to take a few days has taken a couple of weeks, with the house being taken down seemingly weatherboard-by-weatherboard in a painfully slow fashion by one older guy. Yes, he’s had a hydraulic excavator (AKA a dig-dig), but it was used sparingly as the house came down.

The owner has been displeased with this and it’s been rather humorous watching the new owner go off at the operator. That said, most house demo jobs have two or more people doing the work, this job has been a single guy. I guess you get what you pay for.

Sadly, the digger left this morning and we paid our respects to it (and its long-suffering operator) as it chugged down the road at 7am.