Thursday

Well, we have noticed one thing during lockdown - there are some folk who are not collecting their dogs doings.  Usually the footpath along the Broadwater walk is dropping-free ... but not this morning.  Both Sooz and I noticed a couple of piles along the way ... and at that stage I was grateful that I was spending my time looking at the ground - looking for a gold and diamond ear stud that someone had dropped somewhere along the way between Loders Creek and the Ryder Park end of the Broadwater.  I didn't find it ... hadn't really thought I would ... but I'm really glad I was looking. 

I don't know what it is with Nigey this morning but she is very eager to go out.  I've told her she will have to wait until there is some sun in the front yard - it has turned a bit chillier this morning and it's too cold at the moment.  She doesn't seem to be accepting that as a reasonable excuse and she has had the teeth out ... or, more exactly, resting on my leg trying to garner my attention and action. 

Later (a bit): l'm glad we waited for the sunshine; it has warmed it up a little but none of us will be giving up on our extra layers any time soon. I spent the time waiting for the sun to go over the yard arm (read: roof) doing some study, some text messages, a phone call or two - and finding out that Brian Henderson died earlier today. Nigey spent the waiting time sleeping on the bed, beside the bed, on the ironing board and on the couch - some of her usual haunts!

The other thing I did today was to read the instruction manual for the new washing machine - as yet unnamed. Knowing how long it took for us to name (no friends) Nigella, I can't imagine how long it's going to take to name Wally ... Walley ... Wall-E. There that's settled ... hopefully Sooz likes this version. Wall-E: the little robot that busied itself cleaning up Earth. Our laundry won't be such a Herculean task - we hope.

We watched the Tokyo 2020 Olympics again last night and were absolutely gobsmacked and excited when we chanced upon one of the debut sports: Speed Climbing - where folk sprint up a 15-metre "rock" wall, racing to the top. It is so unexpectedly wonderful to watch. And no, Sooz, I don't believe we could do it - at least not as well or as fast as the female climbers did last night.

It's the second day of the Men's Decathlon and while all of it is amazing, the pole vault was stunning - and hopefully we have not missed the other pole vaulting events.

I did some more study this morning, including completing one quiz, and then another - for two subjects. Next up:  planning the workload for the major assignments for the three subjects (what was I thinking?) I am doing this intake.

The other thing on my ToDo list today was checking out some apps - a few of them actually. I'm after an app that will strip any silences/gaps out of an audio recording - and I now have two good possibilities - one of which will work with native m4a files.

Also on my "wish list” - a flashcard app to help with the learning of "Flags of the World" for Trivia. I'd found out about an app when I was looking at note-taking on tablet devices yesterday - and it looks great. As well as being able to create your own pack of cards, you can also download other packs - as prepared by other folk; so I've now loaded a Flags pack and will start playing with that tomorrow.