I wanted to open this post with a thank you for all the ideas that friends gave me for how to fill up some spare time. I have taken those on board and am a bit excited about how this year looks to be shaping up:

• Starting a book club was the best thing ever. Not only do I have a reason to catch up with mates once a month, it has kickstarted my reading habits. I am 5 books down already this year, and so much more in the habit again. It helps that the cone of silence descends on me when I am reading something good and no amount of chaos around intrudes unless one of the kids actually pokes me!
• Giving some thought to my training and development this year, on and of the various fields of performance in my life, starting with the football field as both a player and a referee. I have a plan!
• Working up a head of steam…. also known as speed work. In a related training plan, I have mapped out what this year needs to look like to get to the September half in under 2 hours. Not easy but do-able. Putting it out there for some accountability!

And loving that I am still finding plenty of volunteering to do that makes a contribution to my community, without it swallowing up my life. And goodness knows we need to support each other. All these plans may come to not much as the global COVID-19 epidemic seems to be picking up place. I hope steps can be taken to both protect the vulnerable but also protect the economy, particularly all those small businesses doing it tough as tourism and education both take a serious hit. Glad I don’t have to make the decisions to balance all the factors, it seems to need more collective wisdom than we have on hand at the moment…