I sense a glimmer of hope glowing at the end of the lockdown tunnel. What are you most looking forward to when lockdown ends?

I’m keen to dine at my favourite restaurant again and visit a dear friend down the coast, while getting an overdue dose of vitamin sea. Most importantly, I’m eager to fly to Cairns to see my ageing parents again.

Last Friday night, friends invited us to their lovely home for a relaxed dinner party for four to mark the latest easing of restrictions. I had almost forgotten what it was like to dine indoors with people from outside our household. It was delightful and rejuvenating.

The previous weekend, I’d met up with three friends for a lakeside picnic and walk in keeping with restrictions for outdoor gatherings. Circumstances have certainly inspired a renewed appreciation for the art of the humble picnic and its many benefits.

Reasons to be grateful this past week include a friend’s belated birthday catch-up with a wetlands walk and lakeside beverage, all those people providing fun through the #ACTrocks and #CBRrocks groups by painting and hiding colourful creations for others to find, the HelpingACT volunteers who packed 60 welcome hampers last weekend for Afghan evacuees arriving in Canberra, Floriade blooms creating pockets of colour and joy across the city, and new season asparagus. Take care.

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