I'm beginning to think it's my fault!

We were supposed to be going to Gillie's place on Sunday with the rest of the Sunday Lunchers. Alas, the no visitors at home restrictions were still in place so Gillie postponed it (again) and rescheduled for a date in September.

I decided that we might not be able to have visitors at home but we could still go out for Sunday lunch so I booked a table for Lindsey, Ian, Jim and me at the Swiss Mountain Hotel and invited Gillie to join us.

Alas. I think the virus noticed what I was doing and wandered out into the Regional Victoria to have a closer look at my plans.  It got the directions a bit wrong and headed north from Melbourne rather than west. But it was enough to signal the reintroduction of a regional lockdown.

I was on my way out to the mushroom farm at 11:00 on Saturday morning. Lindsey was working so I was on my own. I put the radio on to catch the premier's daily news briefing, to see when the lockdown would start. I was disconcerted to hear him handing over to the State's Chief Health Officer. He had obviously said what he wanted to say but earlier than his usual time. This did not presage good news! I turned to the news radio station to learn that the expected lockdown had indeed been called - but for 1pm! It was already a little after 11 😱

I certainly had time to continue out to the mushroom farm. Probably not to get to Elaine and back in time if I also needed to go to the supermarket. Perhaps I'll go from the mushroom farm to Woolies, which isn't really a diversion on the way home. One of the routes I can take goes past the Delacombe shops, plus there's one in Sebastopol. However, common sense suggested that Woolies might not be an entirely delightful experience given that a lockdown had been announced with 2 hours notice.  I stocked up as best I could at the mushroom farm and went home via the butcher, bakery and IGA in Mount Clear. The number of people in the Mount Clear shops suggested that not going to Woolies had been a wise choice!

In fact, as I have said before, the Mount Clear shops can keep you perfectly well stocked even if their vegetables can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. You obviously get more choice at the larger supermarkets and you can often buy things in larger quantities. But we are definitely not going to starve if we have to rely on our local shops for a fortnight or so. We aren't going to starve if we have to rely on them in the long term. Plus, the Buninyong shops are also within our 5km limit so we even have choices.

But no Sunday lunch out. So I prepared a Sunday lunch at home. Again. 

It certainly wouldn't have outdone what the Swiss Mountain would have offered but it did well enough. I had a butterflied leg of lamb, plus loads of fresh veg. I had a nice bottle of locally made wine and cracked out the wine glasses. I only wish that I had turned over the teeny tiny cauliflower before I took the photo, so you could admire its cuteness.

I made an experimental loaf of Lockdown Potato Bread, experimental because I used dried instant mash rather than proper mash, just to see what would happen. What happened was a tasty, fairly fluffy loaf of bread. Not quite as fluffy as it would have been if I had used real mash, but more than acceptable.

We had some lovely weather over the weekend. At one point, later on Sunday afternoon, I went for a wander on the building site to have a closer look at what they've been doing. 

That's our place just over the fence.
We are towards the top of the site

I have cancelled my trip to Marlo. I was supposed to be going in three weeks and had planned to leave Jim at Lindsey and Ian's place while I was gone. It doesn't seem likely that we will be able to have visitors at home in three weeks, even supposing that we will be able to travel around the state. I realise that care giving is allowed under the Covid restrictions, but it seems a bit cheeky to take advantage of that just so I can swan off to play with the Snowy River for the weekend. I'll reschedule it when I can do it without being cheeky.

In fact, I have decided to stop planning things in advance, even if only a day or two in advance.  I think in future I will simply see who, what and where are available on the day and organise things with no notice at all. By the time the virus has noticed what I'm doing, it might be too late for it to interrupt it.