Booked the flights. I leave next week. It’s a secret, because work wants to deal with it in increments, but I figure nobody follows me here.

Or at least, if they do, let’s pretend they didn’t read this.

Anyway, I’m heading back home for the foreseeable future. Work has agreed to let me continue on for the time being, but it’s an awkward position and I’m not sure how long it’s going to last. I was initially hopeful it would work on an ongoing basis, but subsequent conversations make me question that. So we’ll see.

I fly to London on Thursday, then stay the night with Tom and Shashi, then fly to Melbourne via Perth on Friday.

Once I’m in Melbourne there’s a two week quarantine in a corona hotel where hopefully I’ll be able to work as normal and will not come down with the coronavirus. After that I’ll fly to Brisbane (tbd) and probably rent a place for myself.

I’m going to ship my bike and a box of personal belongings back separately. I might send them to Ryan, not sure yet. I requested three separate quotes but nobody has gotten back to me yet so I’ll have to chase them up.

I gave notice on my apartment, cancelled a bunch of services, will return my rental bike tomorrow, and I dunno. It feels like I have very few loose ends over here.

The main problem arrives when I deregister with the Dutch government. That means I lose my bank account, lose my Dutch tax number and lose my paycheck. So work has offered to register me at the office for up to three months, after which at this stage of negotiations I’m going to be out of a job. So that’s fun.

I will send another email tomorrow, probably, and be frank and upfront. Because I would like to keep working for them, but we need to be realistic about what that means.

Shawn is safe in Malta, but