Last post for 2020

Well, I thought I would have more time for this, but as luck would have it, I’m writing this on a mere 2.5 hours away from the magic midnight-new-year deadline.

So I’ll just write whatever comes to mind and I feel like sharing.

I’ll share whatever photo I’ve taken recently as the featured photo. Here’s a cricket bat stuck in the tree, for safe keeping, in Ashfield. Oh, I’ve got a few photos taken which I should really get onto the site in the garden diary but they will have to wait until next year.

Nothing will be planned or completely thought-through in today’s entry. So pretty normal then.

I’m going to milk the “see you next year” joke for as long as I can. Probably about 2 hours left in that one, I think.

2020. What a year. I can’t complain vas most have it far worse than me, but what an unexpected trip it has been. And speaking of trips, none of that shall be had this year.

I really enojoyed the super long tome from Nico’s annual update this year. Amazing read and as usual, great photos and music recommendations to boot.

Tonight, I’m feeling especially nostalgic, so I’ve put on Yello’s 1980-1985 The New Mix in One Go which is some fantastic 80s synth pop from the venerable legends that are Yello.

No big plans tonight, with COVID, the grey weather and my general fading interest in NYE as each year rolls along, I think a ‘stay at home and blog’ deal might be the ticket for this climate. Speaking of the weather, La Nina is strong this year. It’s been the coldest and wettest Summer I can remember.

Definitely a welcome change from the usual blazing and everything-is-on-fire-this-is-normal spectacle that is the Aussie Summer.

I didn’t really get to a lot of achievements this year, but managed to tick off a few things around the house, the garden and play a bit of piano. I should do more of that. I wonder if I could play every day? Like, every day. How long could I keep that up for do you reckon?

I’ve done a bit of CD collecting this year. Some used, some Vinnies numbers and some fresh pressings too. My favourites are probably my slowly expanding Ryuichi Sakamoto collection, which matches my current taste in learning songs on the piano.

My go-to on the piano are Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and Energy Flow. I’ve been flicking through the piano sheet music collection book I picked up in South Korea a few years ago and play the odd random song. The neighbours have even commented on my ability to sight-read. I find it a lot of fun to try something new and battle my way through it. They’ve also said it’s a welcome relief to the construction noise from the next door’s renovation and they feel like they are in a hotel. Which reminds me, I’d love to pick up a random hotel lobby piano playing gig. I’ll give that a shot for fun. Any takers?

The other day I took Cynthia on a bit of a bike ride. She hasn’t been out on the bike ages (maybe years?) and so I was careful not to push her. However, we managed to do over 35km which is outstanding. She was very saw afterwards! I could feel the burn, but it was a good burn.

We toured from home, to Ashfield for chicken rolls lunch in the park, then Hurlstone Park to join the Cooks River Cycleway. It’s a great little path set aside the Cooks River and we went as far west as we could until we hit South Strathfield. We then did a slight detour into Rookwood Cemetery to visit Cynthia’s grandmother, which was really nice to drop off some flowers whilst riding around on bikes.

After Rookwood we continued north through Homebush, then into the back of Olympic Park at Bicentennial Park. We then went East to Rhodes and went across the ’new’ bus only bridge to Wentworth Point. Wow, what a huge development out there. So many random shops and eateries. We then got some hot chips (good reward) before boarding the ferry back home.

I’ve done the ride a couple of times now, both with e-power assistance and with my own steam and it’s definitely a great track for even casual riders. Small hills which are very tame and plenty of things to look at along the way. Very little on the roads is handy!

Anyways, it’s holiday time (so I’ve immediately forgotten what day of the week it is - a sign of true a true holiday feeling) and apart from some minor renovations around the house and visiting family, not a whole lot is going on.

We would’ve liked to have travelled somewhere - we were thinking of Canberra - but that plan went instantly out of the window as soon as the whole Northern Beaches cluster became a thing. It amazes me how quickly state borders shut when the media reports some cases. I really feel like NSW has things under a reasonable amount of control. Do we have a country of states or is it more like 7 countries with tight border controls? Certainly feels like we’ve rolled the clock back to pre-federation to me.

I’m really looking forward to going back to the office. I like working from home, but I’m quite over being at home all the time. A mix would be really nice. Something to change things up a bit. The ability to go for a morning social coffee! Oh, how I miss this.

I think I’ve only launched 1 website in 2020. Oh wait, no, 2. But I only really worked on one. It is for a Victorian (aka Hookturnistan) dentist and it took ages! Mostly because of all of the various lockdowns going on in Victoria. But I think the result is really something nice. And the renovated online booking form is sublty better but definitely an improvement. It’s always good to progressively improve things based on customer feedback! I think I’ll keep things low for new websites in 2021. I need a bit of a break on major rebuilds, although I’m madly making little SEO tweaks to this other website and it’s actually really amusing to see what results I get in Google’s Search Console. So far, good things happened!

Time is rolling on, I should really hit the ‘go’ button soon.

I don’t want to miss the midnight fireworks because I was too busy blogging.

I will probably watch them on TV.

They could replay last year’s fireworks, I wouldn’t know, it would be a whole lot cheaper.

Cost savings, come to me, I have ideas. Gladys - call me.

I’ve been messing around with a lot of RGB(S) cables lately, trying to get all of my vintage gaming consoles hooked up nicely with a switch box on a 2001 model Sony CRT TV. It’s really a whole lot more complicated than I had imagined and every time I add one more component, there is yet something else to buy and add to actually make it work. I feel like the retro gaming + RGB cavern is a deep one. And I’ve only just made a few steps in. Someone, throw me a lamp!

This year I’ve managed to sell of a few things on eBay, which means the house is slowly starting to look less like an antique shop and more like a home. There is much more to do. I’m amazed that only things with postage sell, pretty much. Everyone loves the idea of buying something online, it being delivered, through whatever means necessary, all from the COVID safety of your own home. I guess I can understand that. I’m going to need more bubblewrap and cardboard.

This is getting to be a longer post than I had planned. Cynthia is wondering what on earth I am doing, listening to cheesy 80s music with headphones and typing madly away on a mechanic keyboard. Some would say this is the life! I’m not so sure.

OK, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough now. I wish I had more time to grab more links and embed them through this post. But. Not tonight my friends.

See you all next year.

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