(no subject)

[pensnest]

Despite my apparent presence, posting updates to the Fic Meme on popsoundboard, I have actually spent the last two and a half days in Bexhill on Sea. Beast's father is in the process of emigrating to Tasmania, and as he has been a squirrel all his life there has been a Great Deal Of Stuff to process.

FIL was actually in a bit of a panic, not sure he could get through the work that needed to be done to empty his house. Which may well have been true, as he had extreme difficulty differentiating between what was worth keeping, worth selling, worth giving away and worth nothing. Also, that squirrel tendency. There were, for instance, seven brand new, still in packaging *frying pans*. There were... oh, yes, Beast found a bunch of unused envelopes. We kept a couple of dozen in case FIL had letters to send in the next six weeks, and took the remainder. Then he found more envelopes. Then more. Then... he found a box containing a thousand envelopes.

Squirrel. Finds nuts, *buries them, cannot find them again, seeks fresh nuts. Repeat from *

Anyway. Ruthlessness has been applied (not as fiercely as I would have liked, but we did quite well), there is now a room *full* (I'm not kidding) of stuff bagged and boxed and piled for charity shop collectors, and there were at least eight carloads (it's a big Nissan 4x4) deposited at the dump. And FIL thinks the job may after all be doable.

So. Is there anyone reading this who knows how house purchases work in Australia? (I can never remember where you all live!) In this country, sale is agreed, then stuff happens, then there's an exchange of contracts, and final sale takes place usually four weeks after that. We're thinking we may need to go out to Tasmania to help him set up in his new home, whenever that may be...

Comments

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

Trip to Tasmania...even though there is work involved, it still sounds like fun!

I don't know how house buying works in Australia, but if you get stuck finding someone, I could probably put you in touch with someone who does.

[pensnest]

I'm not sure I want to spend *that* much time in Tasmania, sadly—I'd love to go back and visit Sydney again, but my FIL's ideal life seems to involve gardening and... preserving the produce of his toil, I spose. But probably helping him set up his new home will be fun, if he wants us to!

[trumpeterofdoom.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That sounded like a job and a half. 'fraid I can't help you with the Aussie house contracts bit, but if you're flying overt Tasmania and need to break for a bit in Singapore, I'll be available.

[pensnest]

Yay—a very good thought. I'm sure we'll be going out to visit him at some point, if not necessarily when he gets a house, so we'll have to make a point of a stopover where we can meet up.

[trumpeterofdoom.livejournal.com]

It might be a little dear, though. I think the only UK-Oz direct flights that go through us are Singapore Airlines, which are quite expensive. I think you could easily connect via either Bangkok, KL or Hong Kong for a cheaper price.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

That sounds like quite the intimidating amount of accumulated stuff to sort!