Crossing the border between the states

used to be a simple affair.  You just kept travelling on most roads. In some places you would be stopped by the "fruit fly" quarantine station. Your vehicle would be checked for anything that should not be there and then you would continue on.

Not so yesterday. Brother Cat had already filled out more than one form and made more than one declaration. They had to queue. Their vaccination certificates were checked. Had they had a Covid19 test up to 72 hours earlier? Where were they going? How long would they be there? What was the purpose of the visit?

The trailer obviously convinced the policeman asking all these questions. Brother Cat and his partner were waved through. They phoned me and told me where they were and approximately what time they would arrive.

And arrive they did. I am always pleased to see my brother, very pleased. We were very close as children. Marriage and children of his own has changed that of course - in a good way. I am sorry he now lives so far away but I am happy that he had a good career and that he has children and grandchildren he can be proud of.  

This time though it was particularly good to see him because there are two purposes for his visit. One is to collect the remaining piece of machinery from the shed and add some timber to the load on the trailer. The other, and much more important purpose of the visit, is to see the Senior Cat. 

Although they talk frequently on the phone and my SIL makes wonderful and very professional DVDs of their activities and those of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren the Senior Cat needs the intimacy of real face-to-face conversation. He is finding it more and more difficult to hear and to see - his eyesight has never been good and even large print books are becoming too difficult to use. He cannot hear well enough to use audio-books. I sometimes read to him but, like me, he does not enjoy people reading to him. "The voice gets in the way of the words." 

So Brother Cat unloaded the trailer. They had a quick cup of tea to revive them and then went off to pay the first visit to the Senior Cat.  I will be interested to see what they say when they arrive here this morning.

And yesterday I dealt with one of the many little things that have had to be done since the Senior Cat moved. I changed his address on the electoral roll. He will still get his ballot papers here because he is now a "general postal voter" - a privilege of great age. I know that this time I, or someone else, will have to fill out his ballot papers at his direction. It will probably be me because he knows that I will do exactly as he asks - and do it without arguing. 

There are both state and federal elections next year - I hope he can vote in both. I also hope he might see Brother Cat again. None of those are a certainty but I am thankful he is still intellectually capable of appreciating those things.