I’m tired, but I’m happy. Today has been a succession of good news events. As I said below, Centrelink are being nice to me, so that was win number one. I celebrated with a brunch (yes, I did not have any lunch) at Innaloo Shopping Centre.

Then I went to see my GP up at Merriwa. Just routine, but I got my latest blood test results. Thyroid? OK. Liver function? OK. Kidneys? OK. Cholesterol? 5.0! HbAic? 6.7! This is brilliant stuff. In other words, I’m doing all the right things and seeing the results.

Then I went to the Physiotherapist next door and asked about Hydrotherapy. I found that Butler College is due to open “any day now” in Connolly Drive nearby, and it will have a pool and hydrotherapy facility. This will be within 5Km of my new home. Good!

Then I took another drive around Butler and still loved it. Everything I want is there. There’s a Subway across the road, a bottle shop (yeah, I know … ), another phyiotherapist, a  Nando’s Pizza (never!), a gym, a medical centre, and on and on. I LIKE IT! I feel good about the whole area.

Then at home, I got a call from Barry — the present owners have found their new place, so I can firm up on  a date – 4 April. Provided nothing goes wrong, of course. This is good news. It gives me some certainty.

Then at home, I put my 10 year old Dyson vacuum cleaner out on the front verge. It had lost its beater bar function. It still sucked (like a vacuum cleaner … ) but I’d pulled it apart to find out why it wasn’t “sweeping” properly. I ran out of enthusiasm, however, so boxed it up and put it out. It was gone within half an hour! Good catch for whoever took it.

Finally. Finally. I think I’ve intimated that I’ve not been too happy with my back fence neighbours for the past two and a half years, at minimum. Loud dinner parties, even on week nights. Constant kid/pool screaming. Small dog barking. LOUD music. Outdoor lights shining in my eyes. Smoke from a wood fired pizza oven. Endless problems! I complained in writing, but got nowhere.

I was expecting another bad Christmas/New Year season, but just before Xmas, they went quiet. They seemed to have gone away. Goody, I thought. Workmen moved in to do work at the back, facing me, and I expected  the parties to resume, as has happened in the past, but they didn’t.

Here we are two months later, and they are still away. Funny, I was beginning to think. Two month holidays? Surely the onslaught must recommence soon?

Yay! Today I got a real estate flyer in the mail: their house is up for auction! They’ve moved out! Hah. How ironic. Here was I, thinking that at last I’ll be free of their noise, and today I find that they’ve pre-empted me. They’ve gone. Hah! Hah, hah. No wonder it’s been so quiet. What a relief.

So in one day, several things have been resolved: Centrelink; a minor medical issue; good blood test results; a firmer date for my purchase of my new home; relief at last from my neighbour problems; and a good home for my vacuum cleaner. A good day all round. I’ll sleep well tonight.

I’ve just come home from Centrelink. Good news – they allow some leeway between selling a house and buying another one and I don’t lose my pension or pension card in the interim. That’s a relief. I have ten essential medications, and at $35 each without the PBS concession, that’s $350 a month. I shouldn’t complain, but …

I was also able to get them to remove my shareholding in CO-LT, the company I invested in 10 years ago. I’m afraid the banks lost patience with the guy, took his City Beach house (rather abruptly, I believe) in lieu of his debt, and he fled overseas. I’ve heard he’s now deceased. Regrettable, but he was obsessed to the point of mania.

Anyway, I lost my $12,000 investment. Ce la vie.

[Sorry, I removed the picture. It’s not my house yet, so I don’t have permission to be showing pictures of the inside.]

I’ve won! Last night my offer on the Butler house was accepted. Provided nothing goes wrong with the sellers’ process, I will have a new address in a month or three.

What a relief! And what an amazing chain of events. When I first decided to sell and move back in July last year, my plan was smooth sailing – the retirement village. But it wasn’t until late (just before Xmas) that Barry pointed out the extortionate terms and conditions. I hadn’t noticed them, because I didn’t have the full brochure set. Once I realised that I’d be forever cut out of doing a reverse mortgage on it, I changed my mind quick smart. I hadn’t committed in any way. (This house I’m buying is a normal freehold property – no strata involved, so I can do a reverse mortgage any time I choose. And I intend to. There are plenty of times I wonder how long I’ve got to go, and I want to enjoy what time I’ve got left. I intend to!)

But that meant I’d committed to the sale of this house but had nowhere to go. Wanna know what that feels like? I don’t recommend it. I was just about climbing the walls.

The options seemed to be to rent, or buy, but I couldn’t afford anything close in and still retain some money for the future. I hated the idea of renting, and also hated the idea of taking on another dump of a house. This was stress, with a capital S. I said to Barry that either option was just too frightening. I thought I was going to have to just surrender to the St Ives terms.

Luckily Barry, in a moment of genius, showed me pictures of a house he’d sold three years ago in an outer suburb, to show me what could be bought for not a lot of money. I loved it, just from the pictures. Then a few days later, I visited the area (it’s only 1.5Km north of my GP’s surgery) and loved that too. It’s a village. Everything in walking distance. Beautiful parks and ponds. And a pub on the corner.

So we simply approached the current owners and asked if they were thinking about a future move. With one child, and wanting more, they agreed that maybe they were thinking that way.

So here we are about a month later with a contract signed. Amazing.

[Picture removed. PJC]

The only problem is that the owners have asked for time to find another place. Naturally. I said yes, certainly, within reason. I understand. So I have to find other places to stay for possibly three months, maybe a bit longer. Luckily two good friends have offered me places, so I’m fixed up for the immediate future, in Scarborough and then Margaret River. My furniture and effects are going into a storage unit, so that solves that problem.

I don’t want to impose too long on friends, wear out my welcome, so I’ll try to move around a bit. Minnie is the problem, of course, but Margaret River will be especially suitable for her, I think. Barry came up with another genius idea last night – the present owners have a dog, a young male, very friendly. He’s going to ask the couple if they will look after Minnie for me in their house for a while. That will get Minnie acclimatised, and allow me to travel somewhere. Minnie’s no trouble – she doesn’t need walking any more, all she does is sleep. She’s in fine health – still has control of her bodily functions, still enjoys her food and some attention, so she’s easy.

Naturally, the distance to Butler is a factor, but all I can say is (a) I’m excited by the prospect of living there; (b) I would have been incredibly disappointed if I hadn’t got it; (c) it will be absolutely the best house I have ever lived in, bar none – like a five star hotel; (d) there is nothing that needs doing – it’s near new; and (e) it’s just at the end of the Freeway, about 30 mins from where I am now. It’s a damn sight closer and easier to reach than another relative. What’s the difference? It’s an easy drive.

So coupled with another stress factor being relieved, I am much less stressed than a couple of weeks ago. Huge difference! My only problem now is getting everything into boxes and to the storage unit, and living out of suitcases and my car for a couple of months. I’m not bothered for me, just worried about Minnie. I think we’ll be OK.

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Meanwhile, I’m mentally walking around the new house and planning what to do, where to put things. There are two separate living areas as well as a meals area, plus the “al fresco” timber decking area with the water feature. I’m looking forward to sitting out there with the sound of the waterfall. The whole house is ducted aircon, by the way, and has a dishwasher. Wow, at last. And of course, the two bedrooms and bathroom at the back can be closed off, so I could take a lodger in the future. One of the bedrooms could be set up as a study.

The garage is huge (two cars) so my workshop ideas can finally be realised properly.

I am excited! How amazing that it’s worked out like this. Three weeks ago, I was in utter despair, near breaking point. Now I feel such relief. I don’t need that kind of stress at this time of my life. I can fully appreciate how Dad must have felt in 1988 when he had his world crumble around him from the divorce and had to find a new place to live at short notice. No wonder he went to Rockingham as a place where he felt comfortable.

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Speaking of Dad, I’ve been sorting through my filing system and found a bundle of his letters to me when I was working in Jakarta in late 1996. There are 8 or 10 letters, and it’s nice to read his thoughts of that time. I can’t scan at the moment, but later I might try to post one or two on this blog.

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I must add, I am hugely pleased that Barry gets three sales out of me now — the sale of my house; the purchase of the new Butler one; and the move of the present owners to a new house. Cynics might say Barry is doing this for his own benefit, but I owe him my life, just about. He has stuck with me through thick and thin for two years. He deserves my highest praise. Barry Wood, Zoo Property, folks. I recommend him!

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Also, at last I’ll have a land line and a normal telephone. I am so sick of having only the mobile. It is costing me a fortune! Sometimes a $30 recharge only lasts me a week. I’m spending far more than I ever did when I was paying monthly for the old POTS phone.  [POTS? Plain Old Telephone System. Seriously, that’s a real telecomms term. Like RAID in computers – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, and JBOD – Just a Bunch of Disks.]

I’m also assuming, (although I should know not to assume by now!), that being such a new area, I’ll have high speed broadband internet available. At last, at last …

Ain’t it so? You wait for ages for a bus, then two come along at once. Either will get you where you want to be.

I’ve put in an offer on a house, “Way up north, north to Alaska”, and I’m excited about it. It has a huge number of plus factors, including that it’s so closely integrated with the shopping area. And the parks and ponds. I’ll be walking everywhere, even just down the street to buy the paper and sit with a coffee to read it. That’s what I like.

The owners have made clear that they want a bigger family and are excited by the opportunity to change to a bigger house on a full block in the same area. We just have some ‘agglin’ to do. They’ve asked for time to find another place, and to move. that’s OK, I understand.

But I needed a Plan B in case this falls through. Today I found it. It’s an over-55s villa a stone’s throw from where I am now. Same area, in other words. Plus points: quite large, nice design, very nice feel to the complex.

Minus points: right next to Marmion Ave (so a bit noisy, but only a bit more than I’ve got now); a street that had a murder only a few years ago, a street with a bad reputation in other words; only two beds, one bathroom; a very small garage for only one car, and nowhere to park my car except on the street if I want to use the garage for other stuff, so not much room for a workshop; and apart from the Chas Riley Reserve, no walking to anything. Oh, and no room for a pool, whereas up north, there will be room for a small pool.

It’s a bit cheaper than up north, and is a normal strata title with low strata fees and no hanging “deferred management fees”. I could do a reverse mortgage, very important.

So it’s a strong contender, but I still prefer oop North, with its huge double garage, room for a pool, the lawn patch, extra bedroom and bathroom and integration with the shops. Sure, it’s a long way, but I get free travel on bus and train and it’s easily reachable on the freeway. Butler station will be finished very soon, and that’s only 3Km away. Time will tell.

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Meanwhile, times like these make you realise who your real friends are.

A good mate has offered me the ideal solution to accommodation in March, when I really  need it, including with Minnie. I am so grateful. It’s a long way south, but it’ll be good for me and Minnie. I might even get back to some photography!

I was thinking of a ship cruise leaving Fremantle on 9 March for three weeks, but I have a leg vein operation sometime in that month, I think, so I can’t really go away. Maybe next cruise.

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Another amazing coincidence: I was napping yesterday afternoon and daydreaming about how to get a removal firm to do the final shift. Then there was a knock at the door.

I opened it to an Irish guy who said, “Er, I’m from Sovereign Removals. Are you Nerida?” or some such name. No, I said. “Oh, must be next door.” So I said, “Well, when  you’ve finished there, I need a removalist too. Come back and talk to me.”

So he did, and we went through what I need. I’ve done a good part of it, and he could see there isn’t much left to move, so he said, “You’ll get two guys and the truck for $125 per hour, minimum three hours, and we can do all this for you in that time. So it’ll be $375 + GST.” I’m happy with that.

He also said, “Look, we can shift it all for you in one load. No need for you to be making runs to the lockup.” So there you go. Knock knock. Who’s there? The removalists I need, that’s who.

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New advertising slogan for Queensland: “Ah, Queensland, where every house has a water view.”

First, here’s the butcher bird from yesterday,

wondering how he’s going to swallow that

lump of meat. The crows got it eventually.

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Well, I made an offer on the Butler house today. I’m very, very comfortable about it. Excited, in fact. If I get it, it will be the absolute best house I have ever lived in, in 66 years. It’s only 3 years old, so there’s nothing I need to do. I can easily envisage enjoying that house. I’m tired, absolutely fed up, in fact, with living in poor quality houses (or flats) that “need work”. Enough! I can’t do it any more and I don’t want to. This is a new house that is fully modern and I’d be proud to have visitors.

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I took another load to the storage unit today, and I’m now at the stage of picking up the bits and pieces, all the silly detritus that hardly needs boxing.

That’s 6 car loads worth. Doesn’t look much, does it? It occupies about 1/4 of the unit, I’d guess. I’ve tried to put the lighter stuff on top, but I hate to think what’s at the bottom of the pile.

Luckily my load wasn’t too heavy today, because I forgot to take the trolley with me. That meant each box had to be lugged in. Phew! This is all good for me, of course, good for the heart. Cardio exercise.

Phew! Energy fadeout at times today. The amazing recuperative powers of sleep.

I’m watching a fascinating thing at the moment. I put Minnie’s piece of meat (lamb neck slice) out at 5pm as usual, but she’s off her food and doesn’t want it. But the birds do! It was the butcher birds first, appropriately, three of them, mum, dad and baby I suspect. They tore at it and managed to get quite a meal out of it, but it’s too big for them.

But now the big black crows have found it and I think they’ve carried it away. Too late Minnie. This is the first time this has happened. Now the almond tree is filled with 28s squawking away loudly, being drowned out by the butcher birds with their incredibly loud full song. It’s nice.

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I found today that I wasted $69.95 a few weeks ago when I bought the pair of compression stockings. Grrrr!

I was put onto the local distributor, a former nurse, who operates out of a house in Warwick. She’s the wholesaler. When I showed her what I’d bought at Ocean Reef pharmacy, the only pair I was offered, she was horrified. They were far too small – no wonder I had trouble. No-one at the pharmacy took any interest in my leg measurements – they only had one pair and that’s all I was offered. The distributor is going to give them a rocket, I think, and so she should. I’ve still got scars from the cuts into my skin they inflicted.

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The move to storage continues. Geoffrey gave me a hand on Saturday and Monday and we got two loads done, so that’s five car loads of boxes so far. I’m making a dent in it, but there’s a fair bit still to pack and move. Tough going for me. I need to sleep to recuperate after each load. The deadline is 21 February. It seems far off, but it’ll creep up on me.

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I need to vacate even from my temporary accommodation in mid March for 10 days. I don’t mind too much, but Minnie is the problem.

Amazingly, a possible solution has shown itself at just the right time. There’s a ship cruise leaving from Fremantle on 9 March, going to Bangkok, Ho Ch Minh City and KL, then Singapore. I aim to be on it. An email enquiry – “we’ll get back to you within one business day!” – has gone unanswered, so tomorrow I’ll have to phone.

The unknown factor is my leg. It looked really good this morning – no breaks in the skin at all. But I need to know if it can be fixed before 9 March, or if it’s safe to travel. An email to the surgeon’s office has also gone unanswered.

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I saw through a prospective house on Saturday and I love it! I can easily visualise myself in that house. It’s ideal. We just need to persuade the present owners to sell at a reasonable price.

But as Plan B, I’m also looking at another retirement village. The prices are much lower than St Ives Kallaroo, so it would leave more funds to live on. But it still cuts me out of a reverse mortgage. which is bad news. When my funds run out, all I have left is the Age pension. You can live on it, but it’s not much fun. And there are still “terms and conditions”. I don’t like it very much.

Anything else in my price range is definitely second class to my first choice. I would be accepting “down-market”. I wouldn’t be happy.

Geoff (Fred) W. came around and gave me a hand to pack boxes yesterday (Saturday). I remarked that this year, 2013, is the 50th year we’ve been friends. He came to the Hut in 1963. We made our trip to Britain in 1974, and the rest is history. Time flies.

We made another trip to the storage unit, the fourth so far. I’ve covered the left back corner and part of the left wall to head height, but there’s plenty of space left. I think I’ll fit all my stuff into 27 cu.m.

I was thinking of dumping my fridge and washing machine (both c20 years old), but no, I’ll decide later.

Likewise my car. Barry and I have been talking about how to update (what better subject for a former car salesman?) But the more I thought about it, the more I realised, “why?” It does all I want with smoothness, quietness and power. Bit thirsty on fuel, for sure, and the paint is very dull, but otherwise at 120,000Km, it’s trouble free and cost free. I think I’ll sit for a while.

I need to be away in part of March (I’ll explain later) and amazingly, I noticed a 14 night ship cruise from Fremantle to Singapore and Asian ports departing 9 March. Perfect! I’ll try to stay on in Singapore before the return flight, to make it three weeks. Boy, that would be good. I’ve been thinking recently, I have not been able to relax, free of worry, for more than two years. A cruise is just the ticket. Boom boom. I’ve got to find out if it’s available, first. Otherwise, Bali. But in a hotel. look forward to that!

However, all that depends on my leg. It’s still heavily pressure bandaged. I need to get the vascular surgeon to either operate, or give me the all clear.

One of the stop-off ports is Port Hedland. Well, I’ve never been there so I should reserve judgement, but Port Hedland???

I had my appointment with the cardiologist today and I’ve got the all-clear. No congestive heart failure. No thyroid problem. Liver function is fine.

There’s nothing wrong with me except my weight, and stress! Well, this alone is a big relief. My heart is fine. That’s been my feeling – sure, I get short of breath and tired, but I’m carrying two bags of cement with me at all times.

Now I go back to vascular guy and say, “Fix my leg vein please.”

Postscript, Friday 1245pm: I did actually “evacuate the area” yesterday. I’m sure I would have been OK, but the radio was saying to either get ready to defend, or leave. I chose the coward’s path. That’s the first time in the whole 26 years that I’ve felt the need, although there have been fires before.

I just grabbed my wallet and bag, laptop, a couple of bottles of water, a wet towel, a radio and got Minnie into the car, with a big bowl of water for her. She was quite excited – it’s the first time she’s had a car ride in quite some time. She went up the ramp first time. We just drove to Marmion beach car park – it’s a dog beach there, but there’s no way Minnie can manage the steps. Even so, she sniffed the air and grass for a long time and looked all around, then plonked herself down. It was very windy. The choppers were snorkelling from the ocean to the south.

I got her back into the car and went home to check, (and found I’d left the back door open!) then went to visit friends in Innaloo. I used to take Minnie there because they have a very nice Staffie, and Minnie fitted right in. She ate Winston’s food, drank his water, pee’d on his patch and felt right at home. Winston was very respectful of Minnie’s age, much more than he used to be. It was good.

When I got her home at about 9.15pm, she sat down a bit hard when I lifted her out of the car, and she didn’t want to move. She just stayed there behind the car for about 10 minutes before she was ready to move. She was pretty tired by all the activity.

My house ponged of smoke! And my car for that matter. But it’s all over now. I haven’t looked, but I think they stopped the fire before it burnt the whole bush area. I’ll go and look later. What a beautiful day it is today.

UPDATE: the radio is saying the fire is in the Trigg bush, and being pushed north by strong wind. I may need to drive away from my house.

Hey, live blogging! I’m breathing smoke at the moment, and it’s not my neighbour. Something to the west of me is well alight. Smoke is billowing over my house. I suspect the Trigg Bushland Reserve, the bush between me and the coast, is on fire.

First thought? Get the camera! Possibility of some great shots.

Second thought? If I get worried, put Minnie in the car with my camera gear, grab my wallet, I.C.E. bag, and abandon the house. Let it burn! The house itself is insured. There’s still stuff here I’d be sorry to lose, but most of the valuable stuff is in storage.

Third thought? This blog.

Fourth thought? I was here last time it burnt in 1991, I think.

This was the aftermath of that one. It looks bad, but the regrowth in a few months is tremendous. The bush really comes back as soon as some rain falls.

Especially, the grass trees send spears up like crazy, and they bend in all sorts of weird angles. I was too sluggish to catch it last time, but I won’t miss it if it happens again.

Update: It seems the fire is south of Karrinyup Rd, near Elliott Rd and St Mary’s School. No danger to me at the moment.

There was a question in the West recently about Bairds.

It took me a while to find my photo, but this was Bairds

in late 1968. This is the corner of Murray and William Sts.

It's all changed now. This was a very dull building,

but I hate the present replacement.

Funny how it works out. A week or more ago, I was worried about having to move out of this house before I had somewhere to go. Barry asked the buyers if it was possible to grant me a week’s extension. They seemed agreeable.

Then the pressure came off me – I’ve arranged to stay with friends in Scarborough until I work out where to go. And I rented a storage unit to put my stuff. My problem seems solved, temporarily at least. Big reduction in stress levels.

Then yesterday, a request came through from the settlement agent – could the buyers have a week’s delay before they move in? Ha! No problem. So I emailed back and said, no pressure from my end – delay as long as you like. Make it a month if you want to.

So I still don’t know what’s going to happen, but being able to say at my friends’ place in Scarborough makes it all easy. They live on the top floor, and I’ll use a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor – easy. Minnie’s my major concern, of course, but they know her and she’ll use their small paved backyard. I’ll set up a sandpit for her, with “a bit of her smell” from this place to make her feel at home.

As it happens, each of them is going away on a trip for a week to 10 days, at different times, so I’ll be the “guard dog” for their villa for a while.  Phew! What a relief.

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These storage units are interesting. What a way to make money! All you need is land, and to build metal sheds with roller doors. We, the clients, supply the padlocks. There are PIN coded metal gates for entry and exit and two staff in the office, and that’s it. Sit back and watch the money roll in.

Mine is a 3 x 3 x 3m unit, 27 cu.m., and I think it’ll take all my stuff. I’ve made two trips using my car so far and taken about 3 cu.m. I reckon. Hard work for me! I’m seeing the cardiologist tomorrow and I think I may have a problem – no chest pain at all, but I have an endurance of about 10 minutes before I have to rest. Thyroid? Could be. We’ll see.

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It’s certainly making me think again about what’s important in my possessions. Not much! Bin, bin, bin.

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So disappointing to see the Barnett government slashing science funding again. Their attitude is clear, yes, we must call ourselves the clever country, but the government is not interested. In my opinion it’s because the government is composed of lawyers and accountants who look down their noses at anything and anyone related to science, engineering or technology. I saw far too much of that in my working lifetime. Stupid references to “Oh, I leave that to you boffins.” OK Kev, that’s why I pushed you as hard as I possibly could in union matters, and why I held you in little regard. Ignoramus.