A gutful of deadlines, impending border closures, Covid jabs, no new digs on the horizon unless I win gold lotto pronto, missing Rob's annual lunch. Needed a decent cigar and I had collected some of Rob's famous seconds for Kenfessions, so late Saturday arvo was allocated.

Rolled out the outdoor couch and gear, got a terrific book and some rums and picked an old fave from the bundle. Current digs are terrific - how many places can you look out the window and see whales leaping? This is one of a set of town houses on the northern side of the creek at HP (the old man and his mates built them several decades ago and most are still in the same family hands from back then) and during the week, and many weekends, hardly a soul to be seen. This weekend, the family next door (fantastic people - I used to work worth, well actually for, the patriarch back in the legal days and always one of the nicest guys you could meet) with the grandkids, who have healthy lungs! The other side, the sons of their patriarch have about 20 of their mates down for a weekend session, but they are all good kids - last seen heading off to…