Playing the Waiting Game Pt II

Well, some interesting and frustrating stuff has kept us busy this week!

New House - Hopefully!

We put an offer on a property a couple of weeks ago and it didn't get up - I had a bad feeling we were aiming a little too high with that one, so we put it down to fate and moved on. Several property viewing later and we happened across a place that ticked almost all our boxes (although sadly no pool - but I can live with that), so we called the agent. We also began heading up to the area to do a "drive-by", which turned out well as the agent couldn't make it, but informed the owners and they showed us around instead! Long story short - we've put in an offer and it's been accepted, so now we're anxious about the finance, but generally feeling good about it. We have a good feeling about the place - it seems to be in a family oriented street so with some luck Oscar will make some new friends. It's in Narangba which was the area we wanted to get to. 15 minute walk to the train (or 3 minutes by car), good schools in the area, and generally speaking an all round nice place to be - though of course time will tell! We may end up just hating living "out in the country" but something tells me that won't be the case. We have some good friends in the area and that will help.

Wild Weather

Brisbane has had a rough old summer, with some record breaking storms, and the transition to "Winter" is shaping up to be just as varied! We've gone from a 5 year drought to 70% full reservoirs in a matter of 5 months - this week alone Brisbane received 1 third it's annual rainfall in two days! Chaos of course - roads shut everywhere and the whole city essentially stopped for a day or two as people struggled to and from work - one week I'm pleased I wasn't on my bike!

Compromises and Disappointments

Dealing with real estate agents is and has always been - for me anyway - a compromise. A compromise of my principles regarding those people in society that I choose to associate with, and those that I actively avoid... However, interaction with these people is inevitably unavoidable when one wishes to purchase a house, a position we found ourselves in this week. We have been planning on expanding our property portfolio for some time and when a house that I've always liked came on the market, we realised that we needed to at least put our hat in the ring. This particular house is significantly further away from the city - ironic that we always seem to be heading away from where I'd actually like to be! - but significantly ticked a good number of boxes - for example, moving there provided me with more choices in terms of getting to/from work (currently have to rely on Rowie to drive me to the train station; new place had a number of "benefits" which meant I would be able to get to the train unaided!) It's probably a moot point since, in three week and 2 days I WILL BE BACK ON MY BIKE, but not being able to ride my bike has highlighted a number of issues for me...

So, we got the funding and put an offer in. Some may describe the interaction between a buyer, a seller and a real estate some sort of poetic ballet; an exchange of views with the price edging closer and closer to a happy middle ground in which both the buyer and seller walk away happy... to me, this "dance" boils down only to the real estate agent winning, regardless of the outcome, as it's he/she that gets a big, fat (and totally, in my opinion, overinflated) commission either way... If I had it my way, I would ideally deal directly with the owner, but that kind of opportunity rarely comes up. So yesterday I spent what amounted to 3 hours discussing what a "view" was, how I was "surprised" by the size of the property when we walked around it - essentially talking the property that we wanted to buy and live in down! What a strange and frustrating experience - and we all do it!

In the event, the final offer we were able to put in was not enough to entice the sellers, and they received a better offer shortly after... so in a matter of one hour the opportunity had gone and we were back to square one. In truth I'm not particularly disappointed - we can only afford what we can afford after all - and there are always more houses on the market. What it boils down to though, is that I can't avoid the fact that we're going to have to engage with these parasites of the modern world at least once more - and that is disappointing!

Playing the Waiting Game

While we wait impatiently to see if the God's of banking will deem to loan us the money required to take the next steps in our property empire, the house we are looking at buying remains on sale... it would be our luck that we get the financing through just after the owners get an offer.

Our friends Christopher and Caroline moved to Narangba a couple of years ago. At the time it seemed a crazy thing to do; when we went out to see their house it seemed like an age before we actually got there - at that time their new place and the surrounding area got the nickname "the country" and it's been that ever since. I took this shot on Friday night, a beautiful clear night with a near-full moon lighting up the area. Our (potential) new house is just a few houses up from theirs and, after we had established that they were comfortable with the idea (and didn't consider us stalkers!), we spent the evening talking "what if"'s and playing cards, having a few drinks (it was a hell of a week for everyone) and generally forgetting our troubles. Perhaps that's what appeals to me about the move - "the country" is very different to here in the 'burbs, not as noisy or angry, or tense. The irony of course is that when we first moved to Bracken Ridge I felt exactly the same way! Our place seemed miles from anywhere (we'd been living in the inner city until then) - since then Brisbane has continued to grow at a frightening rate and suddenly... the gaps have disappeared, and everyone's moved in.

Saturday morning we all stumbled awake, and soon coffee was brewing and bacon and (fresh laid) eggs were cooking lazily on the barbeque... as we chatted the morning away, the concerns of the previous week a (temporary) distant memory... Pictured left, the free range engines producing the lovely eggs previously mentioned.

Labour Day Brighton and Sandgate

We're contemplating moving to Narangba, so it was timely that we went for a wander along Brighton beach this afternoon. It's amazing how complacent people get about where they live - we're five minutes from a great 3 km walk along Brighton beach, to the pier at one end or on to a big park the other. We took Missy along for a walk, she's so often overlooked and loves to walk along the beach. When I look back at the places I've lived and things I've seen, I'm pretty lucky to be 5 minutes away from the Pacific ocean and this great area. Summer is now well and truly over thankfully, and the weather from here (May) through to December is, in my opinion, at it's best. Warm during the day, cooling at night - just how I like it! We're really lucky to be here, and if we do move, we will miss the convenience of getting to the ocean. One day we will live close to the sea - at least, that's what I'd love.

KChin's Farewell Lunch

KChin is a young guy that was sponsored to come over to Australia from Vietnam, where he had sustained an injury as a child which necessitated amputation of his right leg from the thigh down. I first came across KChin through my mate Craig Morgan, whose Mum and Dad were sponsoring the trip over and looking after KChin during his stay here. Craig mentioned that, at some stage, KChin would have to go back to Vietnam to resume his life, and that he was doing everything he could to get some work experience. KChin has been fitted with an artificial leg (most recently a titanium one!) and appears to be unaffected by this.

I offered him a couple of days a week work experience, working in my team and getting him some IT experience. KChin started with us in October of '08 and quickly became part of the team. What has amazed me has been KChin's seemingly never ending enthusiasm for anything asked of him; his approach is positive and he's never afraid of hard work - he's been an inspiration to all of us and we were all sad to hear that "D-Day" is coming soon... KChin has to leave Australia as his visa is nearing it's end. So, the team decided to send KChin off with a celebration lunch, and we went to L'Academie for a send-off lunch.

Meeting KChin has been a real wake-up call for me; I imagine what life has been and will be like for KChin, and I'm personally in awe of his approach to his life, which in many senses is a gift. KChin had broken his leg as a child and, unlike we westerners, he or his folks were unable to seek medical attention - so they just carried on. Over time his leg became a burden but he managed to carry on, although how I can't imagine. Recently I've busted up one of my fingers and, while feeling sorry for myself, remembered that I'm lucky, in all likelihood I'll have my finger back 100% because I've access to modern medicine and all the benefits that come with it - KChin didn't have these systems in place and eventually that cost him his leg.
So we went off to lunch to celebrate KChin's looming return to his home country. Apparently he may have an opportunity in the tourism industry, and I hope it works out. I know for sure that, whatever he ends up doing, he'll put 100% of his energy into. If he was able to stay I would have him on my team in an instant!

Injuries and Implications

Bad week this week, as I've managed to break the middle finger of my left hand whilst playing beach volleyball. This is BAD for a number of reasons:

1) I was starting to get pretty good at beach volleyball!
2) One little finger has had a massive impact on my life, and will continue to do so for at least the next 3 months...

My fifth game of the season, and I was starting to "get" the ins and outs of beach volleyball. In assessing the game, I'd figured that in the scheme of things the impact would surely be fairly low - it's not touch football after all! The opposing team were well organised and as a consequence, our team ("Hit's 'n' Giggles") lifted our game to suit. All in all it was a great first game (3 games/match) - then I tried to block a drop-shot and somehow managed to have my fingers bent forwards as I blocked the ball... at first it didn't seem so bad, but pretty quickly I realised that this could be quite serious. the end of my finger was bent at 45 degrees from the rest of the finger. Of course, everyone on court became a ringside doctor and all offered their opinion! I decided to err on the side of caution and went off to find a doctor... what a pointless exercise that turned out to be! Turns out that our private health fund is basically pointless for emergency treatment, and the Australian hospital system has been so successfully raped and pillaged that you might as well forget it. In the end Christopher put me in touch with his mum who happens to be a nurse, and she splinted my finger.

Next day I went off to the doctor, who confirmed (by x-ray) that a tendon had pulled off a chip of bone from the last bone in the finger - ouch! Suddenly the conversation went to possibly surgery! Apparently I went white (I'm not good on the idea of cutting into me!)

Thursday I went off to a hand specialist expecting the worst, fortunately he diagnosed a permanent (3 month) splint. No riding my bike though... I'm devastated. For some, a bike or car is a means to an end, transport and that's it. For me, my bike is the solitude and therapy that I need... without it, I'm very down. Three months of trains.. I'm unsure how I'll cope.