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Nov. 16th, 2010 08:36 pmIt'd probably be a good idea to post about the epic not-holiday before I forget the details.
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Nov. 6th, 2010 07:29 amWell, it seems we have Mission Accomplished! FIL's offer on a house was accepted this afternoon.
It is a lovely house—admittedly, it is *way* too much house for his needs, with four bedrooms and oodles of space, but he is so delighted at the thought of being able to live in such a lovely house, it's probably worth it for that alone. Since he spent all his working life in an ordinary semi, and all his retired life so far in a not-particularly-prepossessing bungalow, having a house that is actually really nice is probably something he sorta deserves. And it does have a nice large garden, with apricots growing on three trees, so he'll be able to start preserving fruit this year.
Maybe he'll even get laid-back enough to entertain on the deck, Australian style.
We have a couple more days here to get through a bunch of admin and smooth things along for him, but it is *very* pleasing to have things settled this far.
I am now trying to implant the idea of buying decent furniture instead of second-hand crap—though I'm only standing out for really good-quality bed and easy chair. We went round a pre-owned furniture shop this morning and saw some really lovely wooden stuff—dressers, TV units, tables. He can buy those second-hand. Just not the squishy stuff.
Today, we had a bit of time off, and walked along the Cataract Gorge, which is beautiful. It's impressively steep, probably caused by an earthquake a mere 10,000 years ago, and there are peacocks roaming around in the middle, and a chairlift ride across the river (which we declined in favour of walking). Tomorrow, we're hoping for another bright day, and going to Beauty Point, which is presumably at the seaside. Maybe I can wear my shorts, and get strawberry-coloured legs.
I hadn't realised how comparatively close to the equator we are here—I'd been thinking of Tasmania as like the South of France, but it's more like Spain. It's pretty warm, when the clouds don't cover the sky.
It is a lovely house—admittedly, it is *way* too much house for his needs, with four bedrooms and oodles of space, but he is so delighted at the thought of being able to live in such a lovely house, it's probably worth it for that alone. Since he spent all his working life in an ordinary semi, and all his retired life so far in a not-particularly-prepossessing bungalow, having a house that is actually really nice is probably something he sorta deserves. And it does have a nice large garden, with apricots growing on three trees, so he'll be able to start preserving fruit this year.
Maybe he'll even get laid-back enough to entertain on the deck, Australian style.
We have a couple more days here to get through a bunch of admin and smooth things along for him, but it is *very* pleasing to have things settled this far.
I am now trying to implant the idea of buying decent furniture instead of second-hand crap—though I'm only standing out for really good-quality bed and easy chair. We went round a pre-owned furniture shop this morning and saw some really lovely wooden stuff—dressers, TV units, tables. He can buy those second-hand. Just not the squishy stuff.
Today, we had a bit of time off, and walked along the Cataract Gorge, which is beautiful. It's impressively steep, probably caused by an earthquake a mere 10,000 years ago, and there are peacocks roaming around in the middle, and a chairlift ride across the river (which we declined in favour of walking). Tomorrow, we're hoping for another bright day, and going to Beauty Point, which is presumably at the seaside. Maybe I can wear my shorts, and get strawberry-coloured legs.
I hadn't realised how comparatively close to the equator we are here—I'd been thinking of Tasmania as like the South of France, but it's more like Spain. It's pretty warm, when the clouds don't cover the sky.
(no subject)
Nov. 6th, 2010 12:44 am*cackles* There is a mighty motorbike rally right here at the apartments we're staying in! When we left this morning we noticed a couple of portable stages set up near the entrance, and when we got back five minutes ago the place is *heaving* with motorbikes and their riders. Music has just begun... I foresee much grumbling from FIL, but after we view the next house we're off to do a bit of sightseeing this afternoon, so he won't have much to complain about unless they're here until midnight.
Hee.
Hee.
(no subject)
Nov. 1st, 2010 04:27 amIt's quite weird seeing candle-covered horse chestnut trees in November.
We've spent much of the last three days looking at houses with FIL, initially inspecting the insides—they have an excellent system here of "Open House Visiting" with fifteen or thirty minutes to show up somewhere and be smiled at by the real estate agent, so we did five houses on Saturday morning, then looked up as many properties as we thought might be suitable and went around nosily trying to suss out how big the back gardens were from the street. Today's a public holiday in Launceston, apparently because Hobart had one a while back and they are catching up.
So we spent the afternoon in the pretty City Park (with horse chestnuts), looking at an amazing array of oddly-shaped trees, and then found the Design Centre which was full of incredibly beautiful wooden objects which felt like satin. I now want a huge curved half-bow with coathangers suspended beneath it. This would add considerable chic to any bedroom.
Beast has been emitting ***MIGHTY*** sneezes since about five o'clock this morning. His nose is beginning to glow. :-(
We've spent much of the last three days looking at houses with FIL, initially inspecting the insides—they have an excellent system here of "Open House Visiting" with fifteen or thirty minutes to show up somewhere and be smiled at by the real estate agent, so we did five houses on Saturday morning, then looked up as many properties as we thought might be suitable and went around nosily trying to suss out how big the back gardens were from the street. Today's a public holiday in Launceston, apparently because Hobart had one a while back and they are catching up.
So we spent the afternoon in the pretty City Park (with horse chestnuts), looking at an amazing array of oddly-shaped trees, and then found the Design Centre which was full of incredibly beautiful wooden objects which felt like satin. I now want a huge curved half-bow with coathangers suspended beneath it. This would add considerable chic to any bedroom.
Beast has been emitting ***MIGHTY*** sneezes since about five o'clock this morning. His nose is beginning to glow. :-(
