Locked down, again, again

All I can say is that it is just as well that the Daylesford, Hepburn Springs adventure was not the weekend just gone, for on Thursday evening at 20:00 Victoria was plunged into a surprise lockdown.

In fact, Lindsey and I  were not especially surprised. I don't suppose we had expected to go from 0 Covid cases to lockdown in 36 or 48 hours or whatever it was, but under the circumstances we were expecting a lockdown announcement. We didn't know when but we were sure it was coming. The only surprise was that it started at 20:00 on Thursday evening and not at the customary 23:59.

Fortunately, Lindsey and I had already done most of what we needed to do on Thursday before the announcement was made. No need to rush out and do the shopping before the lockdown started; we were nicely stocked up.

It was Jim's and my weekend to go to Mount Martha and I had booked a table at the Dava for 3 people on Sunday. Partly to celebrate Jim's and my twelfth wedding anniversary and partly because Stella only gets to go out when someone can take her and it's not always convenient for people to take her out for lunch or morning tea or whatever. Obviously, we couldn't go to the pub for lunch under lockdown conditions, but Jim and I could still go to Mount Martha. Care giving remains one of the reasons for leaving home. I have the letter from Stella's GP, written when this all started, confirming that she needs weekend care. Nothing has changed since he wrote it.

I took the makings of a Sunday roast with me. Just because we couldn't go to the pub didn't mean that we couldn't have a proper Sunday lunch, the makings of which I had picked up on Thursday before the lockdown announcement. My crystal ball was obviously not cloudy on Thursday! We had slow roasted pork shoulder, scalloped potatoes, roast apple pieces, purple and green cauliflower, broad beans, green beans, snow peas and carrots and apple gravy. I think I might have outdone the Dava 😋

With it we had a rather nice zero alcohol sauvignon blanc. I usually find zero alcohol wines a bit sweet but this one has a bit of bite to it and isn't too sweet. We wouldn't have got that at the Dava!

Stella, enjoying her Sunday lunch

And then, just like that (and this was a surprise), the lockdown in Regional Victoria was lifted. As of midnight last night we were returned to the restrictions we were under last Thursday. Not in Melbourne, which continues to have worrying numbers of cases, but definitely in Ballarat.  So if the Daylesford adventure had been planned for today, Lindsey and I could go but Freyja and Simon could not, which would be a bit ironic because really it had been their adventure which Lindsey and I had gatecrashed!

In between lockdowns, I bought new blankets for our couches. Brandy and Whiskey approve:

They also approve of the wood burner, although it took them a little while to get over their initial suspicions:

Don't burn your nose, Whiskey

I did, however, have to move their beds back a bit as the day progressed. They were clearly getting too hot when up close 

Not too far back, though, or they push the beds back closer :D

Now that we are once again in between lockdowns, I must look into getting a fire guard. I do worry about them burning their noses or paws when I am not watching