Pistachio

I feel more morose than I did last Monday and I think it’s because I’ve had various catch-ups with friends in recent days where I’ve ended up updating about the visa and limbo situation. It’s great to chat to them but it makes me dwell on it more than the background nag that it usually is. It’s much better to remain distracted. I’ve realised when I spend too much time talking about it that there’s a subsequent post-visa-chat slump. I suppose it’s useful to have made the correlation...

A great distraction in the evening was a chat with my mate Jez who lives in Tasmania these days after moving to Australia to do his PhD on seabirds. My evening coincided with his breakfast time, and he was talking from strict quarantine in a hotel as he’s soon to depart on a ship headed for the Antarctic, where he’s got a gig recording birds. He’s always got something interesting up his sleeve.

After we hung up and Jez began his day, I chilled with a book and a bowlful of pistachios.

At lunchtime in the botanical gardens, I realised winter is when they do a lot of renovation work. Despite the diggers and temporary fences, it was great to go inside as I think I’ve only been in one other time in the last year.