Surprise!

I was slightly surprised yesterday morning, when I looked out the lounge room window, to see this pottering about on the construction site

It was surprisingly busy out there.  In addition to the new machine and the two regular earth movers, there were loads of white vans and lots of human activity.

After the district nurse had been and I had had a Telehealth conversation with Jim's continence nurse, I went to have a sticky through the many gaps in the fences:

They are making surprisingly steady progress, which you can't see from our front windows.  I must enjoy the view towards what's left of the reserve and the houses on the other side while I still can.

I begin to have some sympathy with my mother who says that the large majority of her "social" activities are in fact medical and paramedical appointments. In my case they are largely Jim's appointments, if not directly for him then about him. Continence nurse, district nurses, podiatry, aged care consultations, Dementia Australia, GP appointments, home maintenance, Occ Therapy, the list goes on. It's exhausting trying to keep track of it all 🤣 Thank goodness for my trusty wall calendar and my online diary, otherwise Jim and I would be in a permanent, chaotic state of muddle!

After the excitements of the morning, I accepted a lift with Lindsey out to the Delacombe shopping centre for a visit to the supermarket. I was slightly surprised, when we emerged from Woolies, to hear what sounded suspiciously like someone playing the bagpipes outside the building.  This might not have surprised me in Derbyshire or Yorkshire and wouldn't even have attracted my attention in Scotland but I have never heard them being played in Delacombe before. We wandered out into the car park and there, by the entrance door, was not a bloke in a kilt but this:

I can say with complete truth that the Cookie Monster was almost the last thing I expected to see!

I don't know how well buskers do in the Covid era.  I never carry cash unless I know I am going to be somewhere likely not to have card readers. Most farmers' market stalls do have card readers but a small number do not, and most trash and treasure market stalls only take cash. I do not expect to need cash in a large shopping complex. Fortunately, I did have a little small change in my wallet. The Cookie Monster has it now. I assume he was out of cookies and biscuits if he had been reduced to busking in a regional Victorian shopping complex. That, clearly, is against the natural order of things!

So it was a surprising day in many ways. I am not expecting today to be similarly surprising but I suppose that is the nature of surprises.  You don't expect them.

The view of our house from over the "back" fence

And some clouds at dusk, looking north east (ish)