If we were having coffee I would tell you I can’t believe there is only one more week of summer. This year is going by so fast. Since our last coffee catch-up life has been very busy. It’s lucky that I have begun living a life of semi-retirement as I haven’t had time to work. One thing I have made time for on most days has been an enjoyable cappacino.

If we were having coffee tell you that on Australia Day this year it was 40 years since I started training as a psychiatric nurse. Back in 1981 the stigma attached to people suffering with mental illness was huge and many were too scared to seek help. Fast forward 40 years and with each decade, discussions about mental health have improved greatly. Now there are many options for treatment. One of the things that I am grateful for in Australia over the pandemic is mental health issues have been discussed openly and been at the centre of all government policy and decisions.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about travelling to Tweed Heads for a family wedding at the end January. The wedding itself was on the headland on the New South Wales and Queensland border. (on the New South Wales side.) It was set up so if there was still a problem with the Queensland border closures all guests could get to the wedding. The only problem was that to drive to the wedding site, we had to drive into Queensland and back into New South Wales. This was initially a problem to us as 3 of our 4 members were banned from entering Queensland due to having been in Sydney in the last 14 days. We worked out that we could walk if necessary but fortunately on the day of the wedding the borders opened up to all. So the problem was averted.

From our room in the resort, you could see the border barricades and despite the hotel being in New South Wales it ran on Queensland time. This was very confusing as our clocks would move forwards and backwards an hour depending on where in the motel we were. The front of the hotel also had dividing sections telling us which parts were in NSW and parts QLD. It was very weird for 3 days being able to see Queensland and yet not cross the road into it. On the day the barricades came down it was fun to watch the news being made from our motel room and to drive into Queensland because we could.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that our daughter started her registered nursing career and has moved into regional New South Wales. This has taken up much of our time both before and after the wedding. It’s surprising how much stuff she had in either our house or storage. Slowly but surely her house is coming together and eventually I can reinvent our spare room into my space. I am so proud of her taking a risk and moving to an area she knows no-one to follow her dreams and gain experience not attainable in the cities.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about walking around Sydney seeing the preparations for the Lunar New Year Festival. Throughout the city were various figures of the Chinese calendar. The first one we saw as the tiger which is also my favourite as I was born in the year of the Tiger. He was very cute and his eyes seemed to follow you around the park.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our Sunday walk today. We went to Dixon Park beach, one of our local beaches, to see rocks and etching from 20 years ago that had been uncovered due to the amount of sand that has been washed away recently. This beach is between my two favourite beaches in the local area and I have walked it many times and never seen these rocks as they were covered by sand. Today you couldn’t walk between the beaches without climbing over the rocks. It was very strange. I was also fascinated that the sand in many parts was a mix of grey (assumedly from the rocks) and the usual yellow.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what has been happening in your world?

Thank you to Natalie The Explorer for hosting this weeks weekend coffee share.