If we were having coffee I would tell you how strange it felt returning to Sydney yesterday after living and working in Newcastle for the last 2 weeks. Sometimes I forget my current home is still in Sydney as Newcastle feels so natural to me as it is my childhood home. On the train as I approached Sydney, I was suddenly aware of people. They were everywhere which is very different to slower paced Newcastle with its population of  about 400,000 compared to Sydney’s 5 million people. The irony is that Newcastle is actually the 7th largest city in Australia and New South Wales’s second largest city.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how 2 possums got caught in one of our courtyards at the hospital on Friday and couldn’t get out. This meant we had to call in the a special possum wrangler to catch them and hold them for the day until he could release them into the bush in the local area later that night. He said he couldn’t release them earlier as they are attacked by other animals. His job was quite tricky, giving him a good work out, however after a few attempts (our possums put up a good fight) he caught them without injury.

The photo above is of the possum who comes to visit us at home occasionally not the possums caught in the courtyard at work.

If we were having coffee I would tell you it was weird doing night duty again for the first time in 12 years however I surprised myself by actually enjoying it. I am sure working more than one night in a row may be too tiring in my old age but who knows we’ll see if the opportunity arises. Working casually does make it harder to plan one’s life but it is also giving me more spare time.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to watch my AFL (Australian Football League) team GWS Giants defeat the Sydney Swans (minor premiers) yesterday in their first finals match ever. The Giants are only a young team who played their inaugural game in 2012 and I was fortunate enough to be at their first game. Back then they were described as the easy beats because they lost most games but over time they have grown into a force to be reckoned with.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my husband and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary since our last coffee catch-up with a nice lunch and a visit to our Newcastle house. It was only brief as although it is empty we have not had it officially handed back from the real estate yet but dreaming and planning for our future extensions was fun.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.