Our son and his family moved to Canberra a week ago.  This of course means big change in our life as well.  I was in the habit of driving to Sydney every Thursday afternoon and picking up grandson Gavin from pre-school by 3 pm and then minding him until the weekend.  On Saturdays the family would either come for the weekend, or else we would go to Sydney by train.

Canberra is five hours away, whereas Sydney is not much over an hour. So there is no more weekly childminding, no fortnightly visits from the family, no more quick dashes to Sydney due to one sick child and two working parents.  And of course less cooking, more free time.  And more time to spend with Don, because Gavin and I would always visit Grandad but usually only for fleeting visits of less than an hour, because there is not a lot for a 5-year-old to do in a nursing home, even when we went equipped with books and drawing materials.

With less happening in the week, I think I need to plan my time better.  It's all too easy to drift along from day to day and never do anything - walk the dog, visit Don, catch up with a few chores, occasionally go to the supermarket.   You may notice, with all this extra "free time", I haven't written a blog entry for weeks.  And my house seems to have degenerated into a shambles.

I'd better write out a list.