Quarantined !

I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

Yesterday they were 1,075 new cases of Covid in Tasmania.  1,076 if you count me.   

All last week I was sneezing and snuffling, then at the weekend I grew progressively more tired  --  the sort of feeling where you spend ten hours in bed but don't feel rested.  A friend convinced me I should use that Rapid Antigen Test kit I bought last month, so I got it out, read the instructions and tried it.  You know what it said, I think.

The Public Healthline told me I'd have to isolate for seven days.  If I didn't feel better by then, give it another three days.  I didn't think that would bother me, but there's a big difference between "Monday, stayed home all day" and "Monday, had to stay home all day."

Ironically, on Saturday density and capacity limits were removed from all settings and premises, including events, shops, cafes, restaurants and lifts.    Not that this will concern me for now!   

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Saturday - fourth day of isolation.  After a few days of feeling "blah", I started to feel a bit better Saturday morning, as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  I no longer felt like crawling back into bed every couple of hours.  It was fine and sunny so I actually ate lunch in the backyard after I voted by phone.  That went off without any problems, helped perhaps by the fact I'd done my homework the day before and had my preferences written down in advance.  (And the candidate I voted for got elected, so that was good.)

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The day after the election. Mr Albanese went out for coffee Sunday morning and was mobbed by the press, not surprisingly.  What I noticed was he had his dog with him.  When was the last time we had a Prime Minister who appeared in public with  his dog?  I can't remember one.  It somehow makes the new PM seem more human and relatable.

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 Last week's quiz nights ranged from good to mediocre. A lot depended on the human factor, it seems.  For Tuesday night, we were invited to join Minerva's Disciples at the next table (2+3=5).  We did pretty well and finished in second place..  It was a good night.

Wednesday night saw the return of the Barnstoneworth team after a long absence.  They were always unbeatable last year, and they ran right over the top of everyone this week.  Wherever they've been lately, they've kept in practice;  we came second-last.

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A haiku to my EFTPOS card:

 Those glowing letters 

 bring an end to your shopping

 "Insufficient Funds."

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Every time I accidentally see some of the Montreal comedy festival on television I can't believe how awful it is.  The presenter comes out every few minutes and swears at the audience.  And they laugh, even when he tells them how ignorant and stupid Canadians are.  I guess I'm not in the target audience.  My ideas about humor and comedy were laid down in the 1950s and 1960s.  

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These shorter days are messing with my head.  Sunday afternoon after being out for lunch I thought I'd lie down and read for a while.  I nodded off and when I woke up it was dark outside.  My watch said it was 5:30 but it took me some time to work out if it was Sunday evening or Monday morning. In the end I realized I had only been asleep for an hour, not twelve hours.  So I made something for dinner, watched some TV while I ate and went off to bed.  

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Sadly, last week we said goodbye to Apollo, the last of the geese.  The gaggle from Julie's house have long since been rehoused at a farm up past New Norfolk, but Apollo had grown up here so I gave him a home until he got so old he'd obviously come to the end of his life.  I shall miss him.  It took a few days to get used to not hearing him whuffling in the distance when I go out to feed the chickens in the morning.  Goodby goosie  😔