Lockdown Missive #2: Missive Harder
Saturday 4 April 2020
Hello all,
I've ported these missives over to my website so that I can fully control how pictures and stuff appear. You might find it easy to comprehend that I put a very high price on how my stuff looks, no matter whether it's a family email or paid professional work — to me it's all the same! Even, then I wanted to do this up as blog piece, but sadly I couldn't make it 'private', so instead I've moved it over to the main site.
I'm glad you enjoyed (or at least claimed to enjoy!) reading Missive #1. I'll be honest, I don't have a heap of pictures of glorious nature to share with you this week. No towering granite tors, no snaps from cellar door playgrounds, no goats...but hopefully still to keep you interested.
Escape to the hills!
We managed to escape to Sherbrooke Forest in the Dandenongs last weekend for a much-needed outdoor adventure. I'm all for social distancing and "stay at home" directions to limit the spread of COVID-19, but it's as necessary for our mental health as it is for our physical health to get out and about in a safe and responsible manner.
We grabbed a drive-through coffee near The Burvale (great service, but the coffee was a bit meh) and went past our *new* house (more on that later), going past the 1000 Steps on our way up the hill. It was quite something to see it almost entirely devoid of activity. Though it's a good thing mainly because nuffies seem to go there only to pose in their activewear and clog up Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd in service of "exercise" (GET OFF MY LAWN).
#workfromhomelyf
Work is...difficult...at best. Fortunately, I think both our employers are very understanding and we realise that we're not alone in this particular sinking boat called "work from home with kids". Still, we manage to get things done. On Monday, I shot the YouTube video linked to your right >>> called 'Tips for Effective Video Communication'...HOW TOPICAL. My goal is to make these videos weekly for work and cover topics of interest to our educator customers.
We also manage to have a standing "virtual Friday drinks" video session at the end of the working week (while the meeting is 'virtual', I can assure you the drinks are very real). It is surprisingly quite fun (screenshot below).
I've also spent the last few days penning a piece — mainly for my own personal gratification — to publish on LinkedIn about the struggles of working from home with kids underfoot.
It's not meant to be taken too seriously, but it is just a simple plea for understanding for the pretty bad situation a lot of WFH employees find themselves in now. Yes, we're thankful to have a job, but the support people and structures we use to get through the days and weeks are no longer there, so in order to get the job done, employers need to keep that in mind and be flexible. As I said above, both Hawker Brownlow and Suncorp have been very good so far, so this isn't directed at them, but I have been hearing some stories from acquaintances elsewhere that things aren't always rosy with their managers.
Also, I'm quite sick of hearing about how Fluffies the cat makes working "so hard" and that when he's locked in the bedroom, "all he does is meow". Cry me a f%#cking river!!!
Read the article here.
HOUSE ETC.
Settle(ment) Down
Today (Saturday), we made the final inspection of our house at 8 3–5 Milton St, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, 3156, Australia, Oceania, the Southern Hemisphere, the World, the Solar System et al. prior to settlement on Monday.
The house was very house-like and remained in the same condition as we last saw it, which is very encouraging for dwellings everywhere.
This was the first time the kids had seen inside the house, so they were itching to...find sticks and branches on the ground and parade up and down the street with them 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Although they were slightly more excited about the fact they might have a balcony on their room, the whole thing left them feeling rather 'meh'. Oh well, I guess that's kids for you. Their parents, nonetheless, remain excited and look forward to the day they get to move in there.
It's a really nice space, tucked away at the end of a group of townhouses, with plenty of shade and trees for summer. It needs a bit of a tidy-up, but nothing too major. We had a building inspection done on it and they didn't find major problems in need of fixing.
The world of contracts goes on, despite everything else that is happening in the rest of the world.
The view from the master bedroom is okay.
Misc.
There are some more wonderful, random pictures below taken over the past few weeks and months. I hope you all have a good week next week. Keep up with your routine, whatever that might look like, and remember to use this time to socially distance yourself from people you just don't like. I know I am.
The pictures below can be enlarged. Simply click on them and a larger version will load. Magic.
