We woke up to a glorious sunrise, with the promise of a lovely day to come. It was definitely on the chilly side though. All the roofs around us were covered in frost
The day proceeded without anything very much happening. At about 4 o'clock I suggested that we do a bit of a Masterchef catch up. We had both missed Sunday's episode and I had only caught odd bits of subsequent ones (although we had both seen all of Thursday's, which is the last for the week).
So I poured us a glass of wine each and we sat down for a Masterchef banquet.
At about ten to five, Jim saw a couple of people walk up the drive. I didn't see them. I did notice a couple of other people walk up past us a few minutes later but didn't pay much attention. I was, after all, watching Masterchef.
I did notice when they all walked back down a minute or two later (must have been an ad break 😀). One of them waved at Jim who was stood at the window watching. Jim waved back (Yeah - don't do that again! Where's your British reserve gone? 😛)
The bloke turned back and came and knocked at our door.
"My daughter is thinking of buying this place," said he. "This place or #5."
Really? The estate agent hasn't mentioned it.
"She came and looked at it last week."
No, no she didn't.
"Oh no. It was #5 that she looked at. But she would prefer to buy this place"
Really? But she hasn't looked at it. Why would you buy something you haven't looked at?
"Well they're identical. She doesn't need to look at it. What's it like living around here?"
(I pondered the logic of wanting to buy something you haven't looked at when you have looked at something the mirror image of it and there is, apparently, no difference)
Well, we've only recently moved in. But it's a lovely place to live. Nice and quiet. We're tenants and we have a year's lease.
"Oh that's not an issue. We can always break the lease"
No, no you can't. We were explicitly told that the lease couldn't be broken when we rented the place.
You can see why this conversation was proving to be unsettling. We had no idea who this bloke was. He might well have had a daughter who was thinking of buying but equally he might not. And it hardly endeared him to us when he casually announced that our lease didn't matter and they could easily break it. Then he asked a load of very odd questions. Or they were odd in relation to Mount Helen.
How much petty crime do you get ? (What - in Mount Helen?)
Much anti-social behaviour? (I say again - in Mount Helen?)
What about fly-tipping, violence in the complex, domestic violence? No, not at all (I'm sure there is domestic violence in Mount Helen but it isn't played out in public and certainly not in the units around us. No massive arguments on the doorstep, no shouting so you can be heard)
I asked, I think somewhat incredulously, why he would expect any of those things. He replied that the units in the area he lived were very unsavoury places.
Our units are so quiet that it is noteworthy when we encounter our neighbours face to face. We see them in their cars and everyone waves when that happens, but you don't often see people ambling around.
I said to him three times that he was making me feel uncomfortable. I must say that I didn't feel in any danger. Jim was there too but even if he hadn't been I don't think the bloke was dangerous. But he was making me very suspicious. My librarian's antennae were on alert. In part it was because when I said he was making me feel uncomfortable he didn't go away, which most people would. In part because it is very unsettling when someone you don't know says that your 12 month lease doesn't mean anything. And also because I hadn't seen a daughter and he could have been anyone. Anyway, it was unusual behaviour, especially since it was beginning to get dark
He took serious offence when I said for the third time the he was making me uncomfortable and disappeared in a cloud of umbrage declaring that least he knew how his daughter would be treated. Only she wouldn't be if she didn't bale people up their doorsteps and refuse to go away.
I waited a couple of minutes and then went out to see if he was still about. He wasn't. And then I rang the Ballarat police, not because we felt threatened but Just in Case. If he did happen to be a chancer who was casing the place I thought the police might want to know. The nice police officer who answered the phone said that they would definitely want to know. She suggested that if it happened again I should call the emergency number. I had already pondered if ringing the police at all was a bit of an over-reaction. Calling Triple Zero would definitely have been overly dramatic.
So that was Saturday. Mostly quiet but ending in a very unsettled manner.
Today (Monday) I rang the estate agent who is managing the sale of the place. It seems there is a young woman interested in buying #5. The estate agent and the daughter have had no conversations about our place. She says that our place is being marketed to investors as having stable, long term tenants and not to the private home market. And our lease can't be broken just because the new owner wants to move in. And if such a thing should ever happen again that I was to tell the person that all enquiries were to go through the estate agency and to close the door.
Actually, I think if he had said "I'm Fred from Upper Woop Woop and my daughter is thinking of buying one of the units that are for sale; do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the local area" neither Jim nor I would have thought anything of it and would have cheerfully answered questions about the local area. His was very odd behaviour, I tell you. Though I am fairly certain he thought our behaviour was odd too.
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