I almost feel as though my last report on 48 hours of tedium could very well be repeated here, but perhaps not. The weather in Kyneton, not renown for its mild winters, has steadily been getting more and more freezing. Yesterday and today we experienced snow flurries on Mount Macedon, and tonight these are expected in Kyneton. At least that would be a change from the polar-like winds that the past two days have brought. And at least with snow you know you are getting value for money out of winter.

Yesterday (Sunday) after a brisk walk and a yummy brunch of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and toasted sour dough Jules and I decided to drive to the township of Clunes, about an hour and 15 minutes away. The drive was dreary, but Clunes was delightful. The town stages - arguably - the nation's largest book fair over a weekend each springtime and tens of thousands of people attend. But luckily our visit avoided that event. So, instead we wandered the main street of this historic town, which in 1851 was the scene of Australia's first gold rush. As the icy wind increased the windchill factor, we scurried from one shop to the next, looking in bookstores, antique dealers and gourmet food outlets.

We spent a cheery hour in an excellent cafe drinking coffee and devouring warm orange cakes and cream. Yum! Then it was back to the car for the trip home.....arriving at around 5.30 pm.

My stiffness was not a great worry, but I was starting to feel weary by tea time, which was delicious barbecued chicken wings that had been marinated in a thick and sticky sweet sauce.

This morning we woke later than usual - 7.45 - and after showering (the morning shower has become part of my daily therapy, as I stand under the cascading water doing various stretching exercises....let me know who else does this!!!!) we went for our normal and briskish 30 minute walk.

Got home, made coffee, and our friend and architect, Ian, dropped by to say "G'day". He is a fabulous bloke with dozens of funny stories and a string of friends many of whom are the royalty of Victorian restaurants and gardeners, and he yet again had Jules and I in fits of laughter.

After he had gone I went to the shops to buy food - grabbed two great porterhouse steaks that had been reduced from $17 down to $7 - and returned home and had lunch. The weather had, by then, become too foul to do any work outside, so I gathered in wood for the fire and settled back to watch several TV shows I had recorded overnight.

After tea of slow roasted lamb shanks with vegetables and couscous, we watched ABC TV - 7.30 Report, Australian Story, 4 Corners, Media Watch, and Q&A.

But the several times that I got up from the sofa during the evening my stiffness had returned with a vengeance. And I wonder if it is because I am not exercising enough or if I am exercising too much? By bedtime most nights the legs are stiff, the waist, torso and chest are stiff. It's almost as if there are steel bands around my chest, and that they are slowly being tightened.....and there is nothing I can do to prevent it from happening.

Oh....and I wrote a Men's Shed media release about our firewood raffle winner, and sent it and a photograph off to the local newspaper. In the US you may be wondering about Australian Men's Sheds. It is a peculiarly Australian movement, I believe. There are about 1,000 shed in towns and suburbs around Australia, and they provide places were men can gather to discuss men's issues or to undertake woodwork, metalwork, model building, or simply talk among themselves. The Sheds started, so I understand, because of a spike in male suicides and male depression back in the late 1990s. They spread like wildfire, and these days the average shed has excellent wood working equipment, some metal working gear, welding equipment, a lunch room and kitchen and meeting room. Some have an office. Most cost around $100K to establish, and most have a membership of about 20-40. They must been self sufficient financially....hence our fire wood raffle which, incidentally, raised almost $1,800!