Happy New Year

And welcome to 2021! It has certainly started well with an extended beach break .... I set an early alarm for Boxing Day and hurtled down the hill (no traffic, it was great!) and stayed there until my early alarm this morning to drive up and straight into work (no traffic, but driving for two hours then working is a bit exhausting). So that was nine days of uninterrupted beach time - unplugged and unstressed - and it would have been perfect except that IT RAINED EVERY DAY. 

It has been (and is still going!) the worst stretch of weather I can remember at this time of year - cloudy and cool. I think the hottest day was 22 degrees which is ridiculous. I know I shouldn't complain remembering last years hellfire but I was expecting something slightly more summery. The nicest day was the 27th which was sunny and lovely until the late afternoon - and that was the day the rest of the family drove down, so they got half an hour of sun before the clouds rolled in.

I swam every day because the mornings were usually dry, if cloudy, and I have a full length wetsuit dammit! The waves were good and of course swimming in the ocean is delightful, no matter the weather. The families were out in force of course - three year olds don't seem to feel the cold - and it was lovely to see crowds and life again after last year. 

We were a bit on edge that the region would become a sudden hotspot and we'd have to do a mad rush up the hill before they closed some inter-state borders, but it didn't happen. Victoria closed the border to NSW at one point so all the Victorian number plates disappeared in about two hours as people raced back to beat the midnight border closure ... not really a closure, but a requirement to self-isolate for two weeks, which most people would rather avoid. Greater Sydney is still looking a bit dodgy with a dozen or so new cases every day, but the lockdown seems to be working as planned. 

I will risk the beach again I think for a weekend or two later in the month, it's so worth it. I did a lot of sewing, read lots of books, ate a lot of toast-based meals and drank a lot of sparkling wine. It was lovely.