I just wanted to say hello Pollyana, you won’t remember me but you patiently answered a lot of my inane questions re spouse visas 13 years ago and I remain grateful. I’m still in Australia and I am also in some despair about when I will ever see my family back in NI again. All I can say is one foot in front of the other, focus on the things we can do and remember that each day is a day closer to reunion x

I do remember the name
What keeps me going is the fact I work in emergency management, so we are flat out busy at the moment and will be for some years to come I reckon. So if I'm still alive when I get to retirement I'll use my super to buy my way out of here by leaving permanently, They'll have to open the borders then for the effing olympics. Other than that I am now pretty close to convincing myself that getting home isn't going to happen, I'm viewing life as if I were one of the original convicts! Its becoming fairly clear that the family don't expect to ever see me again either! Thank god for a frantic workplace

Hope you manage to make it back to NI

😃 For the term of our natural strife.

I hope to God our borders are opened before the Olympics. Just for the chance to visit my family and friends back home.

In my rose tinted specs I dream of retiring home too, but it’s harder now I have a child who never wants to leave this town let alone country.

And this is what happens. The egg timer turns and most of your life falls into the opposite hemisphere.

Anyway, hope things are not too crazy between now and some kind of normal for us all.