Springing into (lockdown-free) spring

Nadia and I made the most of the gorgeous, post-lockdown Sunday we had today.

First we had brunch at the Altona North Jolly Miller Café. (I’d been missing Eggs Benedict so much! Not enough to make any at home though.)

Photo taken from the top of a table in a café. On the table is a menu that’s out of focus because it’s so close to the camera. Behind the menu are a water bottle, two glasses, a salt shaker, and a pepper grinder. In the background are other tables and chairs, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a bright blue sky.

And then we went for a relaxing, hour-long walk through the lovely Paisley-Challis wetlands nearby.

Selfie of a man and a woman wearing hats, sunglasses, and light jackets. They are standing in a flat wetland area, with lots of green grass, several bushes, and pools of water. In the background, behind all this greenery, is the sea.

There were several walkers, runners, and cyclists on the track, but the rest of the place was so peaceful.

A wide-angle photograph of a green, brushy wetlands area, with the blue sea in the background. On the extreme left of the image you can see a thin walking trail with a single person on it.

A lovely way to spring into post-lockdown spring in Melbourne.

Battered, but not too bruised

We had heavy rain and seriously wild winds across Melbourne overnight and well into this morning.

Screenshot of a smartphone weather app showing a large band of heavy rain moving towards Melbourne from the west.

Luckily just three weeks ago our local council and the power companies that supply our side of the city had come through and cut down all the tree branches that were close to powerlines in our neighbourhood. They’d asked us to do the same with the trees in our front yard too.

Photo of a letter titled ‘Vegetation clearance responsibilities’ with diagrams showing how residents need to trim trees around power lines in front of their houses.

Not that this stopped whole trees and massive tree branches from falling across roads in and around Melbourne’s west, of course.

Screenshot of a smartphone app showing a continuing list of ‘Tree Down’ incidents across several suburbs in Melbourne’s west (including the suburbs of Brooklyn, Ascot Vale, and Maidstone).

Which inevitably led to a bunch of power outages.

Screenshot of an ‘Electricity Outages’ webpage from electricity supplier Jemena. The map on the screenshot shows several pockets of power outages across Jemena’s area of supply, which is mainly to the inner west and inner north of Melbourne. There are no outages at the bottom of the map – between Altona North and Williamstown – which is where the suburb of Newport is situated.

But we lucked out in our neighbourhood: we did have a couple of brownouts during the worst of the wind, but we never actually lost power.

This was the biggest branch that fell on our street.

Photo of a large branch that has fallen off a massive tree on the side of a residential street. The branch that has fallen off is as long as the house behind it is wide.

Fortunately most of the branches that did fall were thinner and leafier, like this one. (Medium sized dog for scale.)

Photo of a relatively thin tree branch that has fallen and is lying on the nature strip next to a residential street. A red dog on a leash is standing next to the branch on the grass.

So chalk one up for proactive maintenance from the Hobson’s Bay City Council, Jemena, and Zinfra!

Drive-in movie during thunderstorm

There’s a first time for everything. Like today, when Nadia and I watched a movie at the Village Cinemas drive-in during a thunderstorm! Which is a lot less disruptive than you think it might be, by the way. As long as you’re not too fussed with watching a movie with the windshield wipers on :)

Also, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a fun movie.

Photo of a large, outdoor cinema screen taken from inside a car at a drive-in cinema. Being projected onto the screen is the Marvel Studios opening titles sequence.

Spring picnics FTW!

I’m not a fan of summer picnics, but spring picnics are most excellent – especially post-lockdown ones! And Newport Lakes Reserve is a great place for a picnic.

Selfie of a man and a woman in a large park on an overcast day. The man is sitting in a low picnic chair. The woman is sitting on the ground and is leaning back on to the man. Both have been caught mid-laugh.

(Don’t worry, Nadia and I only took our masks off while eating lunch, which was immediately before we took this selfie.)

And, since it was such a lovely day, here’s another selfie :)

Selfie of a man sitting in the share of a tree in a large park. The man is balk, bespectacled, and has a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing a black t-shirt that’s the original cover of the book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams.

Living in Melbourne's west

Living in Melbourne’s west you get a 10:1 ratio for Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne Demons supporters who have decorated their houses for the AFL men’s grand final match.

Collage of four photos, each showing streamers, balloons, scarves, and residential gates painted in the red-white-blue of the Western Bulldogs or the red-blue of the Melbourne Demons AFL men’s teams.

And then you get balloons after the Demons won :)

Photo of the front of a house. Painted on the gate is a large red and blue heart. Painted next to the heart in large red text is ‘Go Dees’ and, on the other side, a red trident. There are red and blue streamers tied to the sides of the gate. Tied above the garage door in the background is a Melbourne Demons scarf.

Nein, nein

Nein, nein, nein. It’s not bin right tonight.

Photo of three garbage bins with the number nine written in large white text on each of them. The bins are lying tucked away in a line by the far wall next to a garage door at the end of a residential driveway.

COVID-19 contact tracing at work

So I was at a Tier 2 COVID-19 exposure site in Altona North last week.

(Night time texts from DHHS? Not fun. Would not recommend.)

Screenshot of a text message received at 9:49pm that reads: “This is a message from the Victorian Department of Health. You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a Tier 2 contact of a person with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) after recently attending Woolworths Supermarket Millers Junction, Altona North. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: Get tested for coronavirus immediately and quarantine until you get a negative result. For more information on testing sites please visit” and then there is a URL.

I immediately checked the Victorian Government’s coronavirus public exposure sites page for confirmation of exposure and, sure enough, the Woolworths at Millers Junction in Altona North was listed as a Tier 2 site.

The exposure period was on 13 August from 6:30 to 8:15pm.

Screenshot of a website entry for Woolworths Altona North. The exposure period for this site is 13/08/2021 6:30pm to 8:15pm. The health advice listed is “Tier 2 - get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result”.

I then checked my Google Maps timeline to confirm that I’d been there at the same time. And, indeed, I had been there from 7:47 to 8:46pm on that day to do our weekly grocery shop.

I’d checked-in via the Services Victoria app, which is how they’d traced me. (Thank you contact tracers!)

Screenshot of a Google Maps timeline for Fri, 13 Aug 2021 that shows two entries. The first is for driving. The second is for Woolworths on Millers Road in Altona North in Victoria, Australia from 7:47 to 8:46pm.

I got that text last night, so early this morning Nadia and I went for a drive-through COVID-19 test in Newport.

Lots of other people were there to get tested too so the the whole process took us two hours! But we got through it in the end.

Photo of a large white tent set up in a parking lot with several cars queued up to drive through the tent. The car this photo is taken from is waiting behind an orange traffic cone well behind the queue that's in front of the tent.

Now normally COVID-19 tests take 24-ish hours to process. But given I’d been mandated by the Department of Health to take this test, it looks like they expedited mine.

So just before 1am tonight I was told that my test had come back negative. Yay!

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

So, phew!

Of course I do our weekly shop, well, weekly. And in Newport (which is the suburb where I live) there’s a sizeable COVID-19 cluster. Which means there’s a good chance this’ll happen to me again.

Fortunately, I’m careful, I’m fully vaccinated, and I wear a good quality face mask so the likelihood of me actually getting infected and then falling very ill is tiny. But, still, it’s not fun to be reminded (and then be able to document) your close calls.

All spoons, no food

Maggie isn’t particularly interested in our local Spoonsville.

Photo of a tree on the intersection of several residential streets. The tree has solar powered string lights wrapped around it. It also has a large, hand painted circular sign on it that reads: “Welcome to our Kidsville. Please feel free to add to our community.” On the grass in front of the sign are several brightly coloured spoons with faces drawn on them that have been stuck into a sand and gravel pit surrounded by a mini wooden fence. This patch also has other bits of child-drawn art and crafts in it, like flowers and other objects on sticks.

Please be awesome

Sure, why not? Who am I to deny requests from a random sign in an alley in Kensington?

Photo of a sign pasted on the wall of an alley off a main road. The sign has black, all-caps text on a plain white background. That text reads: PLEASE BE AWESOME.

Speaking of that part of the city, the Flemington post office is in such a gorgeous building!

Collage of two photos of the same historic building from the 1880s.

Post-jab selfie

Are you *actually* vaccinated if you don’t take a post-jab selfie? :)

#JabDone

Close-up selfie of a bald man with glasses who is wearing a light blue surgical mask on his face. The man is sitting in what appears to be a large hall. On his black puffer jacket is a round sticker that reads #JabDone.

(To be fair there’s not much else to do while you sit around in the waiting area for 15-20 minutes post-jab in case you have an immediate adverse reaction to the vaccine.)

In case it’s not clear yet, Nadia and I got got our first doses of the Comirnaty vaccine (the one made by Pfizer) at the Melbourne Showgrounds vaccination hub early this morning.

An 8am vaccination booking has its pros and cons. Yes it’s cold and dark – particularly on a rainy day like today – but the queues are super short and the whole process is pretty quick. We parked our car at 7:49am, got processed by 8:18am, and made our way into the post-jab waiting area by 8:31am.

Photo of a large hall with several rows of chairs set out in a cordoned-off area. A pull-up banner in the foreground reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub’.

So to those of you over 40 in Melbourne who haven’t been vaccinated yet: come on down to the Showgrounds and get jabbed! (I’m sure the rest of you will get your turn very soon.)

Photo of the outside of a large hall. A large sign on the wall reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub’ and ‘Walk-ins are welcome’.

Lemon tree

Lemon tree; very pretty.

Photo of a fruit laden lemon tree in a residential garden.

(For those of you who don’t get that song reference.)

Speaking of trees, it’s a windy week in Melbourne and our neighbour’s tree – the one most responsible for me buying an electric leaf blower - is threatening to dump another load into our back garden. *sigh*

Photo of a tall tree (taller than the double storey house it stands next to) that’s about two-thirds full of leaves, most of which have turned yellow, orange, and read and are threatening to fall.

Sunny winter morning plans

Someone in my neighbourhood has the best plans for this gorgeous sunny morning. Whoever they are, I hope they have a lovely day.

Photo of a brightly coloured lawn chair and a raised dog bed lying in the front garden of a house. It’s a bright, sunny morning and the chair is set facing the sun.

Back to wearing face masks indoors

Working from the office today – with indoor mask restrictions back in place across Melbourne – is going about as expected. #tumbleweeds

Selfie of a man wearing business attire and a face mask. The man is standing in an open plan office with all the desks behind him unoccupied.

(To be fair there are about ten people working on this floor, they’re just mostly on the other side of the building.)

On the plus side I got to wear my all-blue work ensemble, including a blue face mask, so that was nice. That’s, like, the opposite of the regular pandemic blues :)

Mirror selfie of a man standing in a lift. The man is wearing business attire: black leather shows, a navy blue suit, a blue check shirt, a blue sweater, and a blue face mask. He is carrying a brown leather bag.

The walk to the train station early this morning was lovely too.

Selfie of a man in front of a public garden and netball court, both of which are empty. The man is wearing a suit, dress shirt, sweater, scarf, and hat.

And there’s still plenty of fruit left even at lunchtime. (Usually at least all bananas are gone by 10am.)

Photo of two wooden boxes lying on the counter of an office kitchenette. The boxes are filled with fruit: apples, pears, and bananas.

Importantly, I got to welcome my new team member on her first day of work. So that was the obvious highlight of the day.

So win some, lose some with the whole having to wear masks indoors thing. But that’s okay: health and safety first.

Photo of a sign framed and mounted on a portable stand that’s been placed in the middle of a corridor at the entrance to an office. The sign say “Please wear a mask at all times”. Behind that is another stand installation that dispenses hand sanitizer and says “Hand sanitising station”.

Commuting life

Back on the commuting life at Southern Cross Railway Station.

Photo of a train approaching its platform at a large train station. You can only see the lights and vague outline of the train that has just entered the covered portion of the station building. Another train is parked on the tracks next to the approaching train. A man in a silver puffer vest stands in the foreground, looking at his phone, while he waits for the train.

Autumn leaves

Autumn + neighbour’s tall tree + wild, windy night = (electric) leaf blower time.

Photo of a residential back garden showing a wooden deck, a pathway next to the lawn, and green grass growing in the lawn. There are yellow, orange, and red leaves scattered all over the ground. There is also a red dog sniffing around on the path.

That was a lot of leaves! (Also, I love electric leaf blowers so much.)

Photo of a residential back yard showing a large collection of red, orange, and yellow leaves that has been blown onto a cemented area next to a fence. Placed in front of these leaves is a black and bright orange AEG brand electric leaf blower.

There’s a lot you can accomplish during your working-from-home lunch break :)

Autumn in Newport

When you're different from your neighbours it’s good to be loud and proud :)

Photo of a residential footpath and street. All the trees along the road and in the houses have green or brown leaves. However one tree, which is the focus of this photo, has bright red leaves of different shades.