I'm back

It's been too long. But a lot of things have happened over the last couple of months and I've been distracted.

I have now retired from work, with the help of a redundancy payment from my employers. Since then people have often said, "But what will you do?" To which I reply, "Where do I start?"

I've been very busy tying up things for Mum's estate: seeing the solicitor, visiting the bank, helping I and G clean out the unit: cleaning up the unit, washing walls and painting, getting rid of "stuff" and generally making it ready to sell.

I'm also starting to clean out my own house - a task that's long overdue, I'm afraid. I'm not rushing, but hope to have full bins to put out every week, as well as sorting books and other material to take to op shops, etc.

The picture above is a watercolour and ink caricature done for my departure from The Age by the wonderful John Spooner, to whom I extend my heartfelt thanks. The original is much subtler - this was taken from a photo, as I forgot to scan it before it was framed.