September 2020

Can we just start 2020 again or can it be 2021 already? As I write this, we have just com­plet­ed 4 weeks of our 6‑week lock­down here in Mel­bourne. We are wait­ing with antic­i­pa­tion whether the lock­down will be lift­ed on 13 Sep­tem­ber or whether it will be extend­ed. With the lock­down only allow­ing us to stay with­in our 5km radius and only allow­ing us here in Mel­bourne to leave home for essen­tial ser­vices, I have not tak­en the FJ ute out on the road in quite a lit­tle while. All I seem to be doing is start­ing it up and mov­ing it up and down the driveway.

Some mem­bers may know my mod­i­fied van is get­ting there (thanks to a fel­low mem­ber) but due to lock­down, it has stalled a lit­tle. In the next few months I might put some pics in the forth­com­ing newslet­ters to show of the progress.

Now the bad news (although expect­ed) on Sun­day 30 August 2020, the nation­als com­mit­tee met, where it was decid­ed to offi­cial­ly can­cel the Nation­als that were to be held in Cooma at Christ­mas time. For those who have motel book­ings, it is rec­om­mend­ed that you call the motel and can­cel your book­ing. For those who have entered please con­tact the nation­als as per your entry form to organ­ise your refund.

As I am on the nation­als com­mit­tee, I want to pub­licly state here that the coop­er­a­tion that we have had with the Snowy Monaro Region­al Coun­cil has been quite poor, even if it was an undis­turbed year, they were not all that invit­ing on us being there, which is strange con­sid­er­ing all that Cooma and the sur­rounds have gone through this year pre COVID espe­cial­ly with the sum­mer bushfires.

Any­way, watch this space re 2022 as there is a few things up in the air and when the dust set­tles, we may have a bet­ter idea of what the 2022 Nation­als will be.

Our mem­ber fees are past due for those that have not paid, please con­tact the Trea­sur­er or myself if you have con­cerns on how to pay this or hav­ing some difficulties.

There will be a zoom chat for Wednes­day 2nd of Sep­tem­ber 2020 at 8.00pm and by the time you are read­ing this report, you should have received the zoom invitation.

Any­way, I want to close this report with pos­i­tiv­i­ty. At least now it is Sep­tem­ber we are now in Spring and out of win­ter, so sure­ly here in Mel­bourne (and Vic­to­ria) things can only get better.

More impor­tant than ever, please stay safe and look after each other.

Jason.