I nearly had a solution to clearing the house. It would have been a bit drastic.

In the photo in the last post, the bed is shown leaning against the back wall. In fact, behind it is the hot water heater. I started my shower and noticed that the water was not getting very hot and was fluctuating in temperature. I let it run for a bit with no improvement, so I went outside for a look.

I realised the bed was covering the exhaust vent for the fan forced gas heater! The bed base covering was smoking. It wouldn’t have been much longer for it to catch fire, and the rafters are just above. Burning the house down would have solved a lot of problems, although there might have been a few new ones created.

I switched the heater off quickly and moved the bed.

I’m feeling a lot less stressed now. This should look less cluttered than last week, as a lot of things have gone, either sold or to the tip. Most of the rest is spoken for and should go this week. That’s a relief, as I’ve booked to go to Bali for the whole of May and I didn’t want to leave good things out in the rain, assuming we ever get any.

Even the old carpet is spoken for! It’s going to be covering the ground around a sheep feeder on a farm. Lucky sheep.

Minnie is enjoying her trips to the park when the house is open for inspection. Still no sale, I’m afraid…

It gets worse. I’ve been turfed out! This is my bed:

I’m going to be sleeping in the spare bedroom from now on.
All my wardrobes are out!

Lying on their side near the front door.
And my neat, empty lounge is now:

a junkyard.
This is where I’m sleeping tonight:

Somewhere in there…
Somehow, I have to sort and pack all this and get it cleared away by the weekend. Aaaarrrrgh. This is too hard.

Clearing the house is nearly finished:

The house echos. It’s not my home any more (sob). Horrible feeling. But it’s never been so clean, either.

People seem to be interested in buying now, but no commitments yet.

It’s all excitement here at Chaos Manor. I heard the sirens and here they are. This is next door:

See the broken crossbar on the pole? After such a long period of hot, dry, dusty weather followed by rain, it was predictable that arcing would occur.

The fireys had to move a neighbour’s aluminium boat out from under the lines in case they fall.
I thought it wouldn’t affect me as I still had power, but it’s gone off now so it’ll be off for a while, I’d say.

But note that word — RAIN!! We’ve actually had RAIN. Amazing.

Ugh! Barry doesn’t do things by halves. Compare this:

with this:

Carpet’s gone. Furniture’s gone. I have to eat off the floor!
Not quite. Compare this:

With this:

Yeah, carpet gone, bare room, table and one chair, but painted and stripped. Phew, this is tough going, but Barry is a dynamo. I can’t praise him enough! He’s working like a Trojan to get my house sold. His enthusiasm never fails.

Another garage sale this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, and home opens both days too. I think I need a holiday in Bali!

Things got a bit too much on Sunday. The garage sale was going well, but it was another warm day and I was pretty tired and anxious. It was OK, I sold a lot of things, but there’s a long way to go.

The house was open for inspection from 3-4pm so I took Minnie in  the car to the park. But I’ve been having a lot of palpitations over the last few months and this time they seemed a bit stronger and didn’t stop. There was a bit of pain in my throat and left shoulder, not much, but …

When I got home at 4pm I thought I’d better call an ambulance as I was feeling a bit sick and breathless and very weary.

So off we went to Charlie Gairdner Hospital and they found my heart was pumping chaotically at 125 – 150 bpm. Aspirin and oxygen worked their magic and about ten  minutes after I got there, my heart suddenly flipped back to its normal rate and I felt OK again.

After a blood test and X-ray and a boring four hour wait, I was transferred to Hollywood Private Hospital about 9pm and spent the next two nights there, under constant monitoring. Lots of tests, but it didn’t show again, so today at 2pm they let me go home. I have to have an exercise stress test to see if it will happen again, but it’ll mainly be adjustment of medication. It’s an uncomfortable condition, but not life threatening.

Keith ran me home and Barry was there to make coffee and welcome me, and Minnie of course. She’s very happy to see me.

Phew! Another tough day. I’m gradually disposing of things and the clutter is reducing.

My TV souvenirs went today, to the Australian Museum of Motion Pictures and Television (AMMPT). Just a camera tube, a dichroic prism, a transmitter valve, a couple of 2″ VT ACR25 carts and a couple of 1/4″ audio carts. And some books and manuals. All totally obsolete now! I’m thinking of starting a “Bring Back Analogue TV” movement. Heck, why stop there? Bring back valves. They made the pictures feel so warm, didn’t they?

My friend Andy has generously agreed to store two pairs of speakers that I can’t bring myself to part with. I may take them to Bali in the future, but they’re rather large and heavy at the moment, so they can wait.

I’m preparing for my garage sale on Sunday —

I’m putting things out to save the effort on Sunday. Maybe someone might come and take them during the night….? I hope.

Barry the salesman had a night visitor of his own a couple of nights ago. He was awoken at about 3am by a noise and found a young guy about 16-18 trying to remove a window and get in. The kid got his phone before Barry chased him down the street in the nuddy(!) but he got away. The police came with dogs, but no luck, nor were there any fingerprints. A phone probably sounds like no great loss, but for a real estate salesman, all his contacts were in the phone.

Oh my Dog! Look at this!

I’m out!

Barry has decided that the house isn’t going to sell while it’s still full of my stuff. So he’s turfed me out.

No, it’s not as bad as that, but he says we need to lighten and brighten the place, so he’s volunteered to paint it for me! How’s that for service from your friendly real estate salesman? Keith has pitched in, as he always does, bless him, and they should have three rooms and the passage done by the end of today.

Reminds me of the day I moved in – September 1, 1986

But all the furniture had to come out, so it forced me to make the hard decisions and clear all the shelves. I’ve made a trip to the Vinnie’s shop and to the Save the Children book donation depot and filled several more boxes bound for Bali. The aim is to make the place look as big as it is.

Main bedrooms, my new villa. You can see villa 3 upper bedroom peeking over the roof.

 Back again, after a long break, sorry. Not much happening, except still trying to sell the house.

We’re getting a few people through, but no offers, so we’ve decided to lower the price. I start paying interest on the outstanding balance for the villa from 10 April, so for every week or month the house doesn’t sell, it’s costing me money. I just want to get moving.

I’ve decided to have a garage sale next weekend, probably Sunday 3 April. Never done it before. Bit nervous about it for some reason. I have a vague feeling it’ll get out of control, I guess.

Meanwhile, I need to redouble my packing efforts. Barry reminded me yesterday that if a cash offer were made for the house, settlement could be in 3 weeks, rather than 6. I’d better be ready!

He also reminded me that when shipping overseas, I’ll need an inventory of everything that’s in the boxes. That means the boxes I’ve packed and sealed will need to be opened and unpacked again!! Urrrggh.

Fancy a bath in the rain? Better use an umbrella.

Ooops, sorry for the long gap. I came back to Perth on Sunday morning for various reasons, including not wasting my air ticket. We had a fast flight. Somehow, we arrived nearly 40 minutes early. I guess it must have been a favourable wind, but blowing from north to south?

Because I was one of the first off and had no bag, just my cabin bag, I was through and out in 20 minutes. It was 4am and I couldn’t face 3 hours wait for a lift, so I got a taxi home. Wow, $60 hurts after $10 fares in Bali.

Back to the heat! Will this never end? I was cooler in Bali, definitely.

Back to the depressing job of packing up. I can see an end to it, but it’s still a way off.

My new villa: beds 1&2 on left, beds 3&4 on right, pool in background

Click on the photo for full sized image.

Reverse view showing the living/dining/kitchen block and the pool.

I hope to plant a big spreading shade tree in the centre, but I’ll need to check carefully for a type which doesn’t get too big, or drop too many leaves, or have invasive roots…