Three months between posts, I can’t believe it’s been that long! It’s funny reading back over my last post and reflecting on how much has changed since then. After a month-long ‘holiday’ in mostly isolation at Neerim South, with only one little drive into Melbourne to pick up stuff from my garage and say a driveway-hello to a few friends and Grandma and Grandpa, Peter left Australia on the 18^th April.  I moved my flights to the 16^th May, then as it became apparent that visa centres still wouldn’t be open, to the 14^th June. Luckily lockdown was easing though, so I managed to spend a weekend with Jaimie in Howqua, and later catch up with some friends for drinks at their houses. Visa centres reopened on the 1^st June, the same day that school went back in the UK, and I managed to get a visa appointment straight away. Visa processing took 11 days however, so I had to move my flights one last time to the 23^rd June. Once I had my passport back on the 17^th June, it was a last week of packing, catching up with people and heading to the airport. I’ll attach a few photos of the highlights of the last couple of weeks.

On Tuesday night, after a nice ‘last dinner’ of fish and chips with Mum, Dad and Jess and then a brunch in Bentleigh (a novelty for Mum and Dad after 12 weeks of not eating out), we headed out to the airport.

After checking my exemption (they had to call Border Force to check I was allowed to leave the country) and fussing over my baggage, Qatar checked me in. All the shops were closed so I said goodbye to mum and dad pretty much straight away, as there was nowhere to have a drink or hang about. After going through security and customs, there was a very depressing walk through a dark and empty terminal past all the empty shops. Luckily, there was a Qatar representative directing all the Doha flight customers up to the Qatar lounge as they’d ‘opened it for passengers’. On arrival at the door to the lounge, I was told it would cost $35. This was an annoying surprise, but I justified it for somewhere to sit, as well as a drink of wine and some snacks. The flight boarded without problems and after taking off I watched a couple of episodes of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight and then went to sleep.

I made myself sleet for most of the first flight, albeit lightly, and woke up properly with about four hours to go. I took up the time by watching 13^th, a documentary on Netflix about the US prison system and the race disparities it was built upon. It was horrifying but very interesting. I followed this up with When They See Us, a tv show on Netflix about the Central Park Five, five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of an attack on a central park jogger in the 80s. It’s filmed as a drama but is based on real life events and was another horrifying look into the US justice system. I was up to the first episode of When They See Us when we landed in Doha. It was a very smooth and easy transition through Doha airport – although busier than I expected, with some shops open too. It was only an hour’s lay over so I made my way straight to the next gate, where I again boarded with no problems and continued my tv show. The second flight was ‘only’ 6.5 hours, so this passed quickly between When They See Us, a few episodes of Little Fires Everywhere and chasing down some hot water for my noodles.

We landed in London just before midday and I easily made my way through (a very large line at) customs, collected my bags and met the car picking me up. The driver took a slightly wiggly route – perhaps to avoid the congestion tax in central London, but gave me some lovely views of the Natural History Museum and South Kensington, crossing the river, and then crossing back over at Tower Bridge. I arrived home at around 2.

We’re now up to day 5 of quarantine and I have spent the last few days reading my book, Frankie magazine, working on my bullet journal, researching some summer holiday options, doing my puzzle and keeping active with YouTube yoga and workout videos. We had a few virtual games sessions with friends on Friday and Saturday, and skyped Mum and Dad this morning. I’ve also ordered some soil, seeds and new pots so I’ll spend a bit of time revamping my garden and hopefully manage to grow some herbs and things. Despite it being very frustrating missing work, I’m looking at the silver lining that the quarantine time is allowing me to settle back in, adjust my body clock and relax properly. No promises that I’ll have very exciting blog updates for a while though!