Today I am writing in a state of total frustration and impatience. In my last post about Retirement i.e. Step 4, we talked about the challenges of decluttering the house. We felt like we were making progress towards the next stage of our life.  Just as our spirits were lifted, the dreaded virus hit Sydney and we were locked down again!  Now, in our 10th week of lock down, I acknowledge that there are many people out there who are doing it tough and that our issues would seem trivial to some – BUT – we are struggling too!

Let me paint a picture of our house at the moment. We were just about to have some plumbing work done and carpet laid when lockdown was announced. I had just found someone to take our heavy pieces of furniture away and we had a project plan that was about to be executed to finish all our decluttering and house painting etc. We now have a new toilet and vanity sitting in our front hall, the contents of our wardrobes all over the lounge room, no way to remove the heavy furniture and three out of four bedrooms are either empty or littered with boxes and mattresses.

So what can we do to stay sane and positive? We can keep painting and cleaning but even doing those things have their challenges. Everything we need to continue with our project plan must be purchased online. Sadly, because everyone is doing this at the moment everything is moving at a snail’s pace. So we have to wait!

Here are a few tidbits of info about online existence for you…..

Online hardware shopping: Did you know that the best known hardware chains won’t deliver paint? They also have lousy websites and make it impossible to find what you are searching for. We did finally find someone to deliver some paint so all is well now. But it was at an extra cost.

Online plant shopping: Did you know that some of the best know plant nurseries won’t deliver plants? I ordered some plants from an ‘express’ garden service. Twelve days later I am still waiting for my plants to arrive!  Our little local nursery is now doing a delivery or collect service if you give them a call but it has taken them several weeks to get their act together!

Alternatives to the supermarkets: Did you know that the online market places and chemists can have deals that are much better than the supermarkets? Getting delivery will cost but then it does for the supermarkets too.

But enough whining!

We will just have to get on with what we can do…..

We can order a skip bin to help with the ongoing rubbish removal and the council clean up is also a possibility. We can also keep digging in the garden so that when spring arrives our garden beds will be ready to bloom.

How are we staying positive? Lots of walking, yoga and pilates, cooking nice meals and watching some fun TV.

Hopefully we can get moving soon but or course getting out of lockdown in not just dependent on us but on everyone else in this city.

For everyone’s sake – PLEASE STAY HOME!

What Next?

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Until next time,

 

Gillian (and Andrew)