Nineteen years of neglect, procrastination or good old "head in sand" mentality has come home to roost in the last couple of months. While we were furiously spinning the hamster wheel in our jobs in Taipei, we tended to give scant regard to our humble little apartment back in Merewether. After all, wasn't that why we'd bought it in the first place? Easy care, modern block of units, brand new: it will take care of itself, right? Right it was, but nearly two decades later, a few issues we haven't dealt with are needing our attention!

Hot water systems are supposed to last between 10 and 15 years. Afraid that ours would burst and cause flooding in our place and below (as happened when the system in the floor above gave way a few years back), plus a suspiciously leaking overflow pipe and gasping noises emanating from the tank (!) we decided to get it replaced. Cass did some research, contacted a likely looking firm and they dispatched someone without delay. The plumber was great and got to work. Win, win, win!

Only trouble was the spectre of dodgy builders past came back to haunt us yet again! The morons who originally installed the gigantic water system did so in a cupboard, then built the door frame around it, meaning it was never going to come out without obliterating the door frame! After hours of me and the plumber chiselling, sawing and hefting, we gave up and he tore the side of the door frame off with a flurry of chips and wood splinters jettisoning out before finally the HWS was free from its bondage! What a saga. To add insult to injury, we were billed an extra three hours of labour costs! Now of course, I'm desperately seeking a carpenter who can replace the ruined door frame...wish me luck!

The other ongoing dodgy building fault is the leak in our main bedroom that has been "fixed" dozens of times over about 7 years! Now that we're finally here, we're persisting with different groups of roofers and plumbers, and various fixes have been attempted in the last months. Yet another is planned for a date as yet to be determined. The quote is in, but our frustrations continue as the plumber has to quote, the strata committee has to approve, it goes back to the plumbers, they have to schedule, then they come and "fix", finally they have to come back later and "pressure test". All this takes endless days and weeks and still the water flows in every time we have a storm, sponges and dams built from towels having to be changed and replaced as long as the rain endures.

We have wardrobes and cupboards quoted and waiting for a confirmation date, but we can't proceed as the leak must be fixed first, then the carpet replaced, or at least, re-attached. As the delays continue, the time frame balloons: even if we committed now, the date for commencement is mid January. Even a screen door we ordered won't come for a month! All these delays and impediments are not encouraging us to go ahead with any major renovations to kitchen and bathrooms....we can hardly imagine the trauma that would induce!

Anyway, it's lucky we don't have to fit a job in as well. Merrily going about our "real lives" in Taipei was frantic, exhilarating, fulfilling and quite often exhausting, but on our visits here in June and July each year to recuperate and re-charge for another hectic year, perhaps we should have done a modicum of maintenance on our Newcastle abode....it might have alleviated some of the issues we're experiencing now. Suffice to say we're determined to get the backlog of jobs done and we feel we're slowly whittling away at the necessary tasks. 

We continue to do our daily walk and little jobs interspersed with lots of interaction with Chris&Val and trips to the Bay where we're helping their gargantuan task of moving, packing, selling etc. etc. Busy times! I'm re-reading Stephen King's masterful "On Writing" and Cass is wading through a rising tide of violence, deceit and general skulduggery in Hilary Mantel's second  weighty tome of the Wolf Hall trilogy.

Photos: shots from the walks, Chris the Fragile(!), destroyed door frame, and some beautiful new linen bought with gift vouchers from David Jones that were presented to us by our former colleagues when we left in June.

 

The recurrent theme about three weeks after the last post is similar, yet evolving. Our days open with an invigorating adventure into the outdoors from our little beachside abode, an idyll that shows no sign of wear, in fact, with Cassy's new mantra of discovering "tiny spots of beauty" each time we step out, it's become fresh and exciting. She read somewhere that happy people tend to discover beauty in small spots of their usual lives and we realised that we already do this. We've just become a bit more intentional about it. Some of the photos above are a testament to this discovering (clouds, buildings, rocks and even gaily-striped umbrellas!)

Digital marketplaces have been a space for discovery and learning this week. When we left Taipei, in a bit more of a hurry than originally intended due to flight bring-forwards, we didn't negotiate the labyrinth of online classifieds such as Facebook Marketplace, Ebay or others. Language was not an insurmountable barrier, (it would have been challenging), yet the main reason we demurred was one of expediency due to time and the sad fact that most of our goods were not only unworthy of sale, but mostly in such a state of disrepair that they were embarrassingly unfit for donation to charities! The recycling depot received much of our detritus, a saga I've outlined previously on these pages.

A peculiarly Australian iteration of these platforms is "Gumtree", so we thought we'd give that a go for Chris and Val's treasures which won't fit in their new apartment: they were in inverse proportional value to our rags and junk! It's been an eye-opener, to say the least. Chesterfield lounges seem to be back on trend briefly, so these lounges and wing chairs and ottomans were snapped up, but the exquisite cabinetry by famous makers, in perfect condition have been languishing on the platform for days with nary a nibble. A few scammers have leapt on to ply their evil trade, but after getting rid of them, it's been "crickets"!

Even modern, more practical items are left to wither on the online vine ("onvine"?). Brand name sumptuous leather lounges, glass top tables with sets of chairs are yet to be noticed and other more valuable items are similarly ignored (an antique chaise longue and elegant English dinner sets for example) despite a ridiculously low asking price. It seems if it's not on the latest edition of "The Block", it's passé. It's an awful indictment on our modern throw-away society and makes one want to weep in despair! I'll live in hope: I continue to check for messages many times a day, but alas...

We're still negotiating our own slight mess, but are slowly whittling away at the jobs to be done. In fact, as we speak, I'm waiting for the Lifeline truck to pick up some bedside tables (2 sets that we had for renters) and a Chinese rosewood cabinet. Despite the excellent condition of these items, I've been warned that the driver will inspect the items for "saleability" before accepting them. I felt ridiculous, but Cass and I cleaned them all thoroughly and now I've arranged them "showroom" style in our garage (after moving the car), to show them in their best light to influence the driver to take them: seriously?!

On another note, its been exciting to follow the footy finals live and in situ for the first time in a couple of decades. I will miss our annual get-together for the AFL Grand Final, however. By long tradition, we gathered at 11 a.m. on grand final day at the Green Bar, then Patio 84, then The Patio to watch the game and yell at each other. Wal and I have been waiting for 19 years for Richmond (my team) to play Geelong (his team) in the big one, and, of course, it has finally happened this year! Oh well, I'll be there in spirit and I'll be able to revel in the NRL GF in all its glory this year, rather than having it relegated to an afterthought by my Tasmanian and Victorian mates!

Cass is deep into the sequel to Wolf Hall and continues to dissect 16th century English politics and intrigue. I've been reading another Braggett history book by the prolific Eddie Braggett, hot off the press, sent to Mum by Eddie, and in my hands for a quick first read. It's quite fascinating and I've been excited to trace our generation's exact lineage from the present all the way back to and beyond convict William. I've got it now thanks to Eddie! 

Photos: our beautiful moments, plus a BBQ hosted by Wayne, and pancakes with Nutella and strawberries cooked by Cass!

 Spring has sprung! We're revelling in the delightful weather, the smells and sounds of early spring and the "spring" in the step of just about everyone out and about. Although Newcastle has a relatively mild winter and nothing to get frosty about by any means, it's all relative, and the emergence from some darker, shorter, cooler days is always a mood enhancer.

We've continued our near-daily trekking up the coastal bluff most days, and coupled with some weight work for Cass, and push-ups and pullups for me, we've managed to exhaust ourselves before breakfast on a number of occasions and certainly get "the noddies" in that blissful, soporific lull after a leisurely lunch! Nothing like the non-working life wethinks!

Despite the fact that we're under our own auspices most of the time and still have to pinch ourselves that we're not locked into Pavlovian slavery with class and meeting times each day, we've still been committed to various tasks. Cassy's parents have been in an absolute flurry of activity, variously negotiating the sale of their current unit of more than 30 years and all the associated tasks attached (of which we're very well aware after recent events in our own lives!), and finding a new place to live and in the middle of it all, experiencing medical emergencies and attending to them and other issues. The poor things don't know whether they're Arthur or Martha.

Cassy and I have tried to offer as much assistance as we can, and despite the fact that C&V value their independence and don't want to hassle us, we've been able to convince them that we'd feel better as well if we were able to assist a little. So, therefore, we've been  able to assist with a few little tasks lately, offer any advice or reassurance we feel will help, and make ourselves available for the myriad of jobs coming up in the near future. In fact, we're going to assist with some driving to various appointments tomorrow.

We did get a little time to spoil ourselves recently and dined out at that most decadent hour, lunch-time, at both the Paymaster's Café and Custom's House, both on the lawned foreshore of Newcastle Harbour, bathed in sunshine and with views of the working port and the maritime leviathans that appear seemingly from no-where every now and then, being shunted and shoved by an armada of grunting tugboats! It's decadent for us to eat out at lunch: for 35 years we've had jobs that allow barely a breath to ourselves during the day, let alone an hour for lunch. Who'd look after those kids on the playground or grade those essays?! We revelled in the freedom and realized that we could do this any time we want: the reality has taken a while to dawn on us.

We tackled another of our lurking back-burner jobs this week when we selected 40 classic "must keep" DVDs from the many hundreds we brought back from Taiwan, before packing up the remainder ready for delivery to a charity outlet: hopefully they'll make a couple of bucks to use for different purposes by selling them. Next stop, CDs!

Cass broke out a brand new pair of shoes to meet up with the "Big Four", a quartet of Grammar teachers from years gone by who regularly meet, previously during June and July when we've been back. With less urgency this year, they've delayed till now. I still haven't met up with any of my old mates except Mark: that same lack of urgency is driving my laziness but I don't want another school holidays to fade away without at least an attempt to meet up. I need to get onto that!

Finals time in the AFL starts tonight and the NRL begins tomorrow. We attended a special event of one of the Knights final training sessions through the week: we were mesmerised by the precision drills and Cass commented that they were almost balletic in their choreography. Let's hope they dance well come Sunday! We demurred on the member's special tickets for Sunday's Knight's semi: we hope it doesn't happen, but it looks like they're going to get flogged, and we didn't want to drive all the way to Sydney for that. I'll miss Wal at this time of year, as we made some special times during the finals when we were both back in Taipei, especially on those sweet Friday nights after a hard week at work. 

Cass has finished the massive tome, Wolf Hall, and puts it firmly in the "A" range. I'll have to give it another try: I think I'm a bit dumb! She's contemplating launching into the sequel, "Bring Up the Bodies" while she's got the characters still firmly established in her mind. I read a Michael Robotham sequel which wasn't quite as tight or entertaining as the original. "When She Was Good" didn't quite have the shock value or the pacing, but was very competent. I also read "Cry Baby", a prequel to the Tom Thorne novels by Mark Billingham. It was great and now I'm keen to investigate the back catalogue of Tom Thorne thrillers, of which there are 20 or more....should keep me busy!