Abby is off to the UK for the next 2 weeks. So it's just been me and the dogs kicking about at home. The last time she was overseas while I was at home was before the pandemic when she was posted overseas for a few weeks. Back then, it was almost impossible to stay in touch during the day (unless she picked picked up a public WiFi connection out and about), but these days it seems trivial to pick up a pre-paid SIM at Tesco with a whole bunch of data that makes calling home and sending messages incredibly convenient.

While I have had a bunch of time to myself, I have been checking out some of the games in the PS Plus free catalog. A couple that I totally slept on, but that are incredibly good are Blasphemous and Sea of Stars. The former of which is a 2D Metroidvania, tonally similar to Symphony of the Night just with more Spanish iconography.

The weather this week has been weird. The previous week was incredibly warm (getting in to the 30s), but this week averaged at around 17! Which was very confusing as the house felt like winter again, and it was very tempting to pop the heater on instead of more layers.

I have been visited this week by a pair of spotted pardalote who have made a nest outside of my living room window. They tend to just hang out in the tree during the day, but at times fly at the window (presumably because they can see the bird in the reflection and have to protect their nest). They're absolutely tiny (I'd say these ones are around 6-8cm long) but they make the cutest chirps. A currawong is hanging out around the nest — I assume to pinch the eggs? but so far it's just been picking up grubs and lizards it finds in the grass.