Week 20 Starting again

Week 20 Starting again...

The hand-washing station - this is the only way in for everyone - so they have to wash their hands before going any further. (I had to do the same thing before entering the dentist's rooms). The dentist also had a request that people don't use thier mobile phones after entering the waiting room. In a sign of the times, everyone immediately reached for their mobiles...(except me, of course!). Maybe they didn't get the email?

Only a couple of days a week at the moment. Luckily, we have been able to continue billing and paying our personnel.

The email from our dentist (just for interest - I wonder if it is the same in Oz?)

Worldwide, there is a pandemic of infection with the coronavirus. The essence of the Dutch approach is to maximally control the virus while protecting vulnerable groups. We are limited in opening up to regular patient care. The agreement we have with you continues from our side. The policy we follow is that we only allow people into practice who we know with quite certainty that they are healthy. Therefore, if you answer "yes" to one of the following questions, we request that you contact the practice by telephone as soon as possible. Do you now have corona? Do you now have roommates / family members with corona? Have you been cured of corona less than 2 weeks ago? Do you have any of the following symptoms: cold, sneezing, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fever (over 38 C)? Do you have roommates / family members with these symptoms? Are you in home isolation? Do you live in a nursing home or institution for people with intellectual disabilities? Because hand hygiene appears to be an important source of contamination during this virus outbreak, we will ask you to disinfect your hands with hand alcohol when entering the practice. We request that you stop touching your face and things such as mobile phones. In the waiting area and when making appointments, we try to keep the 1.5 meter distance as good as possible, which is advised by the national government. Some extra tips: · Try to use the toilet at home and brush your teeth at home · Do not arrive too early, so preferably just before the appointment time. Follow the instructions of our staff. · Only come to your appointment, if strictly necessary, a maximum of 1 parent or supervisor may come along. We will receive you with a smile but do not shake your hand. For some treatments we will have you rinse with a mouth disinfectant. In the treatment room, we adhere to the Infection Prevention Directive in Oral Care Practices and we have taken additional hygiene measures. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and see you in practice! Dental Team Willems Tandartsen.

Meanwhile, I have been doing little else than trying to finish off the apartment. At least the pressure is now off, as the woman who was going to take it has decided on the larger (x3!) apartment from the end of July, when it becomes available.

The major objectives were to simply paint it and remove the pole in the middle!

The work has now grown to include insulation and plaster lining,  new laminate flooring, a small screen wall and new lighting! - and then the painting!

Grant and I did the first conversion in here about 20 years ago! So, it's about time!!

With pole...

Without pole...

We also started mowing with the tractor again - but after 14 years it is starting to play up! I need to get it looked at...

Old Photos

I found an old DVD with photos. In 2004, I had to arrange for Mum to go into an old people's home (I suppose they call them something else these days...an Aged Care Facility). I had to wait at Cheryl's place for quite a few weeks and during that time, I managed to scan a lot of Mum's old photos...

This is at the back of Wantirna Road where Mum had an above ground swimming pool for the kids. 

Ben off to Amsterdam Again...

He found a studio apartment with a pretty flash address... He's eligible for a housing subsidy at the moment - at least until he starts working fulltime again. So, it will end up being the cheapest accommodation he has had so far...It's a semi-basement.

There are rules for housing subsidies, including that it must have it's own front door, own kitchen, own toilet (connected to the sewerage system). Not sure if we're allowed to housesit when he goes travelling...

The Boating World is slowly opening up again. In Friesland, the havens are becoming more user-friendly - with the toilets (but not yet the showers) being available for use again.

Robin and Joy are fully self-contained, including the shower. For our use we're happy to potter around and never be too far from home.

This coming week (probably wednesday) we're heading into the Turfroute (again!). We'll end up about 3 kms from the farm and just enjoy "being there". 

35kms, but we have to push it to make the distance in one day  because of all the locks and bridges. The first bridge won't open until 0900hrs, so we can't leave any earlier. It's a Public Holiday on Thursday so we'll just have to sit it out if we don't get there.