Thanks for the new thread Unescorted. Sorry things are tough for you atm.
Amber glad the vaccination has left you relatively unscathed.
Born sorry to hear about your aunt. It's tough when they reach that stage.
Love fingers crossed for the interview.
Wolf that's really annoying about the recipe.
martha very impressed at you juggling a PhD and working. No easy feat!
life stress induced insomnia isn't good!
I'm intrigued by the crab suit references 
Sorry I haven't been posting much. I don't know where the first four (four and a half, actually) months have gone. I think I was probably a bit depressed. The Covid restrictions were very tough and January/February are depressing months at the best of times. To make matters worse, everything to do with the separation/mortgage transfer has been moving at a snail's pace. Anyway, there seems to be a bit of momentum at last. I met my solicitor during the week to go through the Deed of Separation and we made some final changes to it. The bank has given me the go ahead to take over the mortgage although I had to apply twice - first time around the approval had expired before we got all the legal stuff sorted. I felt a cloud lift when I stepped out of the solicitor's office even though I'm not quite at the finish line. But I feel like it's within my grasp now.
Work is very busy but I'm still working from home every other week which makes for a great work life balance. There are rumours that when the immediate crisis is over, we will continue to work from home - maybe two days at home and three in the office. That would be amazing.
I'm seeing a physio re: my knee/ankle/foot problems. The physio reckons I probably have arthritis in my knee and ankle 
. Between GP visits, anti-inflammatories, the MRI and the physio, I've had a lot of medical expenses lately. But I can claim some of it back next year. Still waiting to see the orthopaedic consultant.
Dad is fully vaccinated now which is a huge relief! I visited him recently for the first time in several months. He was less excited about my visit than I'd have liked and spent the whole evening glued to the TV 
. We chatted a bit during the ad breaks.
I've booked a few days away in Galway in mid-June. Can't wait.
Today I caught up on some housework. Had a lazy easy dinner of chicken and stuffing wrapped in bacon, baby new potatoes and sweetcorn. I'm off to clean the en-suite shortly and then I'm going to settle down with some chocolate and watch the movie Philomena. I recorded it off the TV ages ago and then forgot about it.
Tomorrow I'm planning a drive to some scenic gardens. The weather forecast is a bit mixed. I'm not quite sure whether to pack a raincoat/jumper or sunglasses/suncream. Maybe all of them, to be on the safe side.
The HSE (our health service) has been hit by a cyber attack www.irishtimes.com/news/health/hse-examines-extent-to-which-patient-records-were-compromised-in-cyberattack-1.4566421. Cyber attacks are nasty at the best of times, but to target a health service during a pandemic is a really shitty thing to do.
Well, that's all my news. Glad to be back properly.