Breakfast in South Australia (apple, oats, chia and yogurt), lunch in Victoria (pepper steak pie), dinner in NSW (schnitzel and pizza).

Everything worked as expected today. The new windscreen wipers proved their worth, the $30 phone holder held my phone for 800km, my shoulders did not fall off, the Hay Plain was boring and beautiful in the golden light, Google maps took me down a dirt road for 30 minutes to try and save fifteen seconds. The road trip playlist only got two skips between 7:30 am and 6pm.

I've been thinking about 2019 a bit lately. Definitely not with rose coloured glasses...

God, I wish it was still then. I know it helps nothing to bemoan, but all on the scales it was such an amazing year. My existing injuries were settling down. I'd found a pair of shoes I could walk anywhere in. I saw my friends every week. A few of them got married.

I played basketball. I did pull ups. I hiked places with Vanessa.

You could go places and other people would be there and it never felt weird.

I led a great project with great people at work. I was constantly challenged and felt a sense of accomplishment. Also you could literally get on a plane at a moment's notice and fly anywhere on the planet and I did that many times.

It wasn't cold. (It did hit 46 degrees in January). Vegetables were cheap. I paid no attention to the economy.

I'm just putting this here to remind me that life can be better than mundane and painful. Hopefully again soon.

The "one chili" icon at Adelaide's premier Sichuan restaurant equals a lot of chilis. I didn't think the sizzling chicken with chili and pepper would be as hot as, say, the three chili icon "fried chicken and chilis" - The picture of that one was mostly chilis and a few bits of chicken. Now I understand the scale they're using. Luckily there are plenty of ice cream choices to balance out the acid and oil a few doors down.

At least I'm not cold tonight.

Recording this learning for future reference, although I'm sure I'll have a reminder of this tomorrow.

Nash has been working extremely hard lately, and last week was the busiest yet. She worked close to fifty hours, and when Nash saw on the internet that the weather for this week featured some clear and sunny days Nash knew it was the perfect time to take a day off work in lieu and visit the Adelaide Hills and the German town of Hahndorf for, reasons...

Nash was very excited not to be sitting in front of a computer all day:

After a long car ride we went for a walk around a lake:

The sun was out and it was not cold.

During Autumn in Hahndorf you can point your camera in basically any direction and take a nice autumn photo:

But Nash knows that's not the reason we came to Hahndorf.

When the sun was out and the colours of the trees contrasted against it, things looked beautiful.

Nash was not in Hahndorf for beautiful skies though.

If you walked far enough there were tunnels of leaves and trees to admire.

But that is seriously not why Nash wanted to come and visit Hahndorf.

Is drinking a half litre of beer at midday on a weekday a good reason for visiting Hahndorf? Maybe...

But this is why Nash really wanted to visit Hahndorf.

1. Red Toadstools

2. Rescuing a frog from the shower.

3. Sitting in a cabin drinking coffee and watching the rain

4. Wifey GPS Services

5. Impressive Trees

6. Drawing at card games

7. Waking Up Together

8. Breakfasts with a view

9. Re-Ordering our Wedding Pizza

10. Straddling Mud Puddles

Bonus - Planning our twentieth wedding anniversary.

Two shots of coffee

Two laptops

Two spotted doves on the lawn

Two puppies

Two beef patties

Two eyes

Two feet

Two wings

Two tickets to a show

Two rails

Two O's (times two)

It's semi-often that I get eleven consecutive days without work. That's like an Easter, an Adelaide Cup long weekend, plus Anzac Day, and plain old regular Sunday all wrapped up.

Given this is my journal I thought it might be pertinent to repeat my previous summer break traditions of preserving an essence of those long summer days for posterity, unlike the other 354 days of the year which are abandoned in the mists of time, distance, and as usual the damaging effects of alcohol on the brain.

December 25th
Christmas morning started with a beach walk with Nash on the sands of Grange. Lunch was at Dad's with many extended family members. It was a nice time.

December 26th
First thing on Boxing Day was a hike up Mount Lofty where for the first time ever I got a car park at Waterfall Gully. After we reached the summit we sat down for some choc-raspberry-oats and yoghurt. I saw black cockatoos and sulphur crested cockatoos.

After that was a trip to the homemaker centre and big box hardware, and following a salad I set about knocking off half my break's todo list with the things I brought home. Alas, these were all the easy things like attaching sticky hooks to the shelf by the front door, and attaching a new hose head.

Finally, before the sun got too low, I rode to Alex's to meet up with Wilhem and throw a lot of tennis balls.

December 27th
The ten person household limit kicked in, and I attended a small BBQ with Josh, Claire and Timmy.

In the evening I drank a beer and started reading From Russia With Love.

December 28th
After breakfast I rode my bike to St Clair for an Albanian coffee, some more reading time next to some birds, and then I bought heavily discounted custard and rode home.

That evening I ate a sticky date pudding and played Borderlands 2 with Josh and Sam.

December 29th
It was very hot, and so we stayed inside in the dark and watched Matrix Resurrections and had a smoothie.

Later in the afternoon we drove to Aldinga for dinner and another walk on the beach. Nash tried to hunt and kill a partially submerged rock, and got bopped on her bottom by an unexpected wave. Much mirth was shared.

December 30th
Another stinking hot day where we tried to get a long walk in before breakfast, again along the Torrens.

It was around this point that another item on my todo list - Upgrade bradism.com to newer version of PHP and framework - began. I expected it to take me most of the day.

At some point I got sick of holiday software development and drank a beer while making pizzas.

December 31st
Omicron hysteria was everywhere. We went on another Torrens walk, then after breakfast to Costco to buy bulk strawberries and salad.

I did more Bradism upgrading.
In the evening I made Afghan chicken kebabs and then we rode to Semaphore, swam in the ocean, drank champagne in the dark and then rode home.

January 1st
I fixed my flat tyre. The Bradism Upgrade efforts continued. Vanessa made me a mousse cake.

January 2nd
We went walking on the beach in the morning. I forget which beach.

Later in the afternoon I strapped a Bluetooth speaker to my handlebars, told Spotify to play radio based on Don't Stop Believin' and Boston's More than a Feeling. I rode to Glenelg for another ocean beer, and watching the sunset at the Unit with Gus and Timmy.

January 3rd
Invigorated, I slow cooked a pork leg for eight hours and set about trying to finish as much of the second half of my todo list. I ate pulled pork for dinner. The Bradism upgrade continued...

It was a nice break.

There I was, beer in hand, half-submerged in the ocean and watching the last light of sunset paint the sky red. Tired but satisfied.

Halfway through the return ride my back tyre got a puncture. I had to wait at a train station with a slightly crazy stabbing victim who'd just left the emergency department. I wheeled my bike onto the train and put my mask on.

If there is better symbolism to wrap up 2021 than getting a flat when you're halfway home, rising hospital case numbers, and being forced to wear a mask for the rest of the year, I don't know what it is.