Is air found in a complete vacuum?

[todayiamadaisy]

I started doing that year-end meme that comes around every year, but I don't have interesting answers to any of the questions. So here's a sort of year-end review based on the unused comments in my notebook that I meant to turn into LJ entries but could never find a voice for.

ant

In April, I wrote down that the sounds of Good Friday are fire engines (driving the streets collecting for a charity appeal) and barking dogs (at the fire engines).

ant ant ant

In May I had a week of leave, which meant I did my grocery shopping at a different time of day. Instead of pre-work, I went a couple of hours later, and discovered that the primary school near my house has a walking bus. Children waiting at "bus stops" and walking to school in crocodile lines.

ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant

One of my last entries back in March, before I forgot how to write, was about going to my great-aunt Jinny's 100th birthday party. Cousin Sanny called while I was writing this: Jinny died in her sleep this morning, two-and-a-half months short of 101.

ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant

In July: a text message about being at a tier 2 exposure site (the independent grocery store I popped into on the way home from a rare day working in the office). Isolate and get tested. The testing site is at the university, next to the football club rooms, a line of cars snaking around the oval and down to the river. Three hours in the car on a mid-winter morning at a sport oval and my notes are all about the birds. Three crows in the eucalypts at the gates and a wattlebird hopping about on the ground below. Parrots in the big trees at the back. Halfway around the oval, the galahs arrive in a maelstrom of pink and grey. They make noise for ten minutes and disappear. A gang of magpies in the middle of the oval. At the end of the three-hour queue, a mudlark on the testing tent roof. A flock of ibis overhead on the drive home. (My test is negative.)

ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant

A sentence I was planning to end an entry with: So apart from the pandemic, the riots and the earthquake, it's all been grand.

ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant

I found a one dollar coin on the footpath this morning, a shiny gold dollar coin. So against all odds I'm taking that as a positive omen for 2022.

ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant

Also, we've had a lot of ants.