It has been a long time since my last "proof of life post". The island nation of Western Australia finally opened the borders after 976 days of hard border. If you haven't read about it, what that means is that people (relatives, partners, significant others and others in other relationships) could not be together without a legal reason to come into the state and people within the state could leave but may not be allowed back in! Quarantining, lockdowns and isolations were the order of the day! It wasn't all bad as we had no deaths until we recently opened the border and Omicron crept in with it's gossamer wings and deadly intent. Sorry about the doom and gloom but it did help the population of WA survive with very few cases, deaths and no more crowding in the hospitals than usual! Any way I am back and I hopefully won't p*ss too many people for however long I will be here!

I have just experienced the weirdest ANZAC* Day ever! Instead of gathering at the R.S.L.** then marching through town to the memorial, then having a Dawn Service (followed by a gunfire breakfast***), my neighbours and my family stood in our driveways in silence as we listened to the Dawn Service on our phones. The strangest part was the Police car which drove slowly down the road to check that everyone was socially distant from each other. Normally, we would march through town, soldiers, ex soldiers, veterans, and other services (fire, police, ambulance) in a long parade to the War Memorial in town and then retire to the R.S.L. for a gunfir