Skip

This came last Thursday

Since then I have been emptying out the garage of all the junk, the electrical and electronic rejected things, the rubbish and stuff that has accumulated in there. Lindsey came down on Sunday and helped me manoeuvre a mattress out and prop it up against the skip. She also helped me move a bookcase into the guest bedroom wardrobe.

Now the skip looks like this:

And the garage looks like this:

The back walkway by the laundry door has had loads of Colorbond garden bed edgings moved out the way - cautiously because there were lots of what easily might have been redback spider webs around them. I only saw one spider, which didn't seem to be a redback. Now the back walkway looks like this, waiting for me to sweep up all the leaves and for the arrival of another skip for more rubbish removal

A lot of what I have isn't necessarily junk. But if I am planning to move from a house with three bedrooms, a lounge room, a kitchen/dining room, a bathroom and a laundry, with garden,  to an apartment with one bedroom, one small lounge/kitchen/diner and a bathroom, no garden, realistically I need to get rid of most of my stuff. 

As I wander around the house and garden I ask things these questions:

• Are you coming with me? 
• Yes. 
• Do I need you between now and then?
• Yes. Stay where you are
• No. You get packed in a box, as boxes come to hand
• No
• Do I need you between now and then?
• Yes. Stay where you are
• No
• Can I take you to an opportunity (charity) shop?
• Yes. Into a box you go, or into a corner of the garage while I work out how to get you there
• No. Into the skip you go
• No. Stay where you are until I work out how to get rid of you
• I don't know 
• For some things, like the bookcase, now in the wardrobe, or the desk in the middle of the garage, it depends if there is room in the new place. Obviously, I won't know that until I get the new place. 
• For other things, I just don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Until I decide, just stay where you are.

There will be at least one more skip before I put the place on the market, and almost certainly one when I finally move out.

I put a YouTube Cat TV channel on the TV yesterday afternoon

Brandy and Whiskey showed absolutely no interest at all. None. Not a bit 😂

They watched it for ages, before eventually
deciding it was time for a nap

(For the avoidance of doubt - the cats will be coming with me!)

Labour Day long weekend

The rest of the week proceeded without further alarms.

Tabitha sent me this :

It's a hand towel with a sketch of Bishops' House, a medieval building in Sheffield which is now maintained as a museum. Jim and I used to volunteer there when we lived in Tupton.

The My Car in Reservoir fixed my car headlight so I can now drive at night again. I would have done it. myself, except the bulb fixtures are very hard to get to in the Honda Jazz and I couldn't reach them to twist them properly.

It's a long weekend in Victoria, and the Begonia Festival in Ballarat. The traffic heading home on Friday was ridiculous. It took me an hour longer than usual to get home. I gave serious consideration to renting a place in docklands and moving immediately. At least if the traffic is awful while you are on a tram, it's not really your problem and you can read a book or gaze idly out the window while somebody else watches the traffic. I might not move immediately, but it did give impetus to carrying on with getting the house ready to sell.

Lindsey and I went to the market by the lake, on Saturday morning, which was combined with the Begonia Festival market. I didn't buy a lot but I did buy some very pretty, mixed mushrooms, along with eggs and some flowers. I also bought a can of Red Duck beer for a libation for Jim, when we scatter him at Hill House. He liked Red Duck beer. This one is a "Ruddy Brown Ale" and his surname was Ruddle. It seemed appropriate. 

We came home via Stockland Shopping Centre, Wilson's and the IGA.

Such pretty mushrooms
I had the pink oyster mushroom last night
It was delicious

Jim's beer

On Sunday, I headed to Geelong for lunch at Irene's place, together with Gillie, Chris and John (and Flora). It was quite hot, to say that it's March. I think it is supposed to be in the 30s pretty much all week. We had a lovely, retro avocado mousse with prawns to start, a chicken casserole with couscous, beans and salad, and a cheese platter to finish. All very delicious. It was a lovely afternoon. I came back via the bay, so I could say I had seen the sea. I had, of course, forgotten that it was the middle day of a long weekend, and that there are festivals and events right around the coast, the central highlands and everywhere else. Lots and lots of people all over the place. Certainly nowhere to park around the beach. Not that I wanted to park, which was just as well! And there was rather more traffic than you usually get on a Sunday afternoon between Geelong and Ballarat.

It rained on Sunday evening. The air was fresh and cool. The cats and I sat on the front porch for half an hour and watched the rain, which didn't reach us, under shelter. But it did water the garden a bit.

Yesterday was the public holiday and the culmination of the various festivals happening around the state. Lots of parades, a big one in Melbourne, a smaller one at the lake in Ballarat. I did not go to any parades. I carried on with a little gentle clearing and tidying of the house and garden and in the afternoon went out with Lindsey. I have had a good go at de-fluffing the lounge room carpet, which is looking good. I need to shift the furniture and do under that as well. I will steam clean the. carpets, but not until I am ready to put the place on the market. I need to go to the post office and to the bottle bank today. If it doesn't get too hot, I might sort out the patio. I won't power wash it, but I might ordinarily wash it. Maybe :D

And I must order a skip for the weekend.

Mount Buninyong

I went back to work on Wednesday. I couldn't leave at my usual time because I discovered that one of my headlights wasn't working, so I waited until it was light enough for me to use my sidelights.

All was going well at work - until I had an alert from the Vic Emergency app to say that there was a (small) bushfire on Mount Buninyong.  

Lindsey, Freyja, and Emily in Vancouver also got the alert.

Then the alert was changed to a Watch and Act, for Buninyong and Scotsburn.

Freyja told me that Ross had closed the bookshop, but that the cafes in Buninyong were carrying on.

The fire was on the south side of Mount Buninyong, so probably wasn't, under the prevailing conditions, a threat to Mount Helen.

Lindsey and I, who were together in Reservoir, kept our ears tuned to the app alerts.

It was a lot more disconcerting when the app alerted us to a bushfire in Mount Clear, near the Woowookarung forest. If it would take a mighty effort for the Mount Buninyong fire to get to us, a fire in Mount Clear could just stroll up along the trees and grassland by the side of the main road. Fortunately, it was quite a small fire, but that can change very quickly.

I decided to come home, just in case. I could, if necessary, rescue the cats and grab important documents from both my place and Hill House.

Mount Buninyong looked like the active volcano it once was, as I drove along Yankee Flat Road. Billows of smoke erupting from one side.

The Mount Clear fire was under control by the time I got to Mount Helen. Buninyong was not, but still wasn't considered a threat to Mount Helen. All was calm at my place, although it was quite smokey.

And all remains calm.  Mount Buninyong isn't yet properly out but the mount isn't smoking like a volcano about to erupt. As far as I am aware, Mount Clear is extinguished.

I have to say, I wasn't expecting fire alerts on Wednesday. The weather wasn't doing anything exceptional. It was rather a nice day, all things considered.

Brandy and Whiskey were entirely unfazed by the fire alerts

Werribee Open Range Zoo

At Stella and Tony's wake on Sunday, Freyja. and Simon said that they were planning a visit to the Werribee Zoo on Tuesday and did I want to join them.

Definitely, I wanted to join them. I am back at work this week, but I only go into the clinic on Wednesdays and Fridays and spread my remaining hours over the rest of the week at home. I could arrange to be free on Tuesday.

And it was a beautiful day. Sunny. Pleasantly, but not too hot. Light breeze. I drove along back roads to Werribee, mostly because that's the way the SatNav took me.

It's a lovely zoo.  We had gone because the elephants have moved there from the Melbourne Zoo, although they are not yet receiving visitors. They are settling in and getting to know their new home. Didn't matter. There lots of other animals to visit, paths to explore, trails to wander, and a safari bus to ride.

There are hippos in here, if you look carefully 

It's not only about the animals:

But there are, of course, animals:

We will go again, when the elephants and their new home are open to visitors.

I bought an annual membership for the zoos. I haven't done so before because it's quite expensive. The advantage to only having to think about me is that I only needed to buy one annual membership. Of course, it will still be VERY expensive if I only go once, but I expect I'll go more often if I can just drop in whenever. Freyja rang me from the Melbourne Zoo the other day. She had been going past and dropped in for an hour or so Just Because. (She and Simon have annual memberships). And I get a discount because I am old and have a Seniors' card.

On another matter, my vegetable garden this year is small but has been quite productive. This was my dinner selection the other evening:

Not a bad late summer dinner,
accompanied by a small
piece of steak

Stella and Tony Go Home

Tony was absolutely adamant that he did not want to leave Mount Martha, wasn't going to leave Mount Martha and intended to stay there for ever.

And he didn't leave Mount Martha, or not until Stella moved to Mount Clear and brought his ashes (interred in a teddy bear) with her.

Stella didn't really want to leave Mount Martha, although she did enjoy life in Mount Clear and in Ballarat. She said that Ballarat was a beautiful city, even if it was unnecessarily cold. She enjoyed the lake, the cafes and restaurants, the local countryside, the fun and merriment. But she still had a hankering for Mount Martha.

When Stella was cremated, we included Tony and The Bear (I still think that would be an excellent name for a rock band) with her and since then they have been on one of my dining room dressers, next to Jim.

Yesterday, we took them home. Everyone who was in Victoria met at The Dava, which Tony absolutely loved, for a Family Farewell lunch. We ambled along the cliffs, which Tony regularly walked along before he couldn't reliably walk on them any more. We didn't go down onto the beach. Stella lived in Mount Martha for decades, loved looking at the sea, went to the beach often and never once set foot on it! We poured a libation of red wine for Tony and a gin and tonic for Stella. And we left them there, in the (unexpected) sunshine which came out to greet them.

Their five children were all there

plus all the grandchildren and great grandchildren who were in the state, including the youngest, who is only 3 weeks old. (I was a bit disconcerted to realise that I am now the oldest!)

I wore the clothes I had bought for Stella's 90th birthday party. One grandchild wore a ring Stella had given her. People wore Stella's or Tony's socks. Freyja brought Stella's nursing badge, which Stella had given her when she (Freyja) skated in the tribute to the NHS in the London Olympic Opening Ceremony.

It was a great tribute to them both

We didn't just leave them there. Wendy is heading to the UK in May and she will return them to their birth country. And Lindsey and Ian will take them to Hill House, as a mark of the happy times they had in Ballarat

Next time we gather will be to mark the 60th anniversary of our arrival in Australia

Vegetable Garden (and other things)

A large tomato, ripening on the plant.
There are more coming

There are lots of cherry tomatoes ripening

It's the first summer in Mount Helen that I've had many tomatoes ripening in the garden. Previous years have had a few cherry tomatoes but not a lot, and none of the large tomatoes have ripened. I've brought them in and ripened them inside once autumn has come in. But now I think about it, this is the first year since we moved into Tani that we've had consistently warm and sunny weather. This is, of course, Ballarat, so there have been some cool and even cold days, but mostly this summer has been pleasantly warm with even some hot days. I've also had a good few cucumbers, although the zucchini have been a bit reluctant to grow into a good size. This doesn't matter. I'm happy to eat baby zucchini.

The runner beans are finally, finally setting. I was beginning to wonder if the problem was a pollination one and if the flowers were simply dropping off before forming beans. Then the flowers on the (self invited) potato plant disappeared. Potato flowers don't generally disappear of their own accord. I think something has been eating them, although I do not know what. I also have corn cobs growing. Last year was a complete germination failure for the sweet corn. I also think something might have eaten either the seeds or the emerging seedlings. This year has been much better.

I went to Melbourne yesterday to visit my podiatrist, who used to practise one day at week at Reservoir but doesn't any more. He goes to Rosanna and to North Fitzroy. Rosanna isn't particularly convenient for me but once upon many lifetimes ago I lived around that area of North Fitzroy, so I went and saw him there. I am often around there anyway - it's not far from Freyja and Simon's place. It's not far from Clifton Hill. It's not far from various places that I go to every now and then.

My feet are lovely once again.

I went out to East Ivanhoe, to my optometrist's rooms, to collect the new lenses for my reading glasses. It's not a significant change in prescription, but it is amazing what a difference it makes to my reading vision. I borrowed a book from the library recently which I was really struggling to read. The print was on paper in pastel colours and I couldn't see the words at all well. So much better now - although I do wish publishers wouldn't print on pastel coloured paper. I subscribed some years ago, when my reading vision wasn't too bad, to a really interesting quarterly, but had to give it up because I simply couldn't see the coloured print on the various shades of pastel paper they used, even with my reading glasses.

I spoke to the estate agent this morning. I suggested aiming for just after Easter to put the house on the market.  He reminded me that Easter is quite late this year and that  the Friday after Good Friday is Anzac Day. Lots of people will be away then (you get 10 days holiday for three days annual leave, if you book your leave before everyone else does). We settled on aiming for the beginning of May, which is more than doable. But thinking about it later, I thought it might in fact be too doable. It will be tempting to leave the Getting Ready to List project until Easter and then having to rush. I might just as well aim for the beginning of April and see how I get on. I reckon I can get this place ready to list inside a month, if I really try. 

I am almost ready now. A four week push should do it. And when I think about the two flats that Freyja and I looked together at in Docklands, they were in a right state and that didn't influence our thinking. We could see beyond the untidiness and clutter to the flats underneath.

But I don't want prospective buyers to have to look beyond untidiness and clutter at my place!

I have finally sent the paperwork that the mortgage advisor asked for, so the quest for a (small-ish) mortgage is underway.

It's been quite a productive couple of days, all told

One of my home grown, garden ripened
tomatoes for my breakfast

Last Week

I got back from Docklands, looked around my place and decided that I had neither the energy nor the inclination to reduce all my possessions to a level where they would fit into a small, one bedroom apartment. I looked at my gardens, especially the backyard, and decided that it was not possible to bring them up to the standard where I could put them on the market. I didn't even consider the garage!

Anyway. It was too cold, too hot, too windy, too wet, too ... to do anything very much.

Then I remembered the enormous job that clearing out Stella and Tony's place was when she moved to Mount Clear, and it took all of us weeks and weeks and weeks and skips and skips and skips  to empty her place and get it ready for sale. I definitely do not want to leave that as a legacy for my nearest and dearest. And as Freyja pointed out, there is no hurry and I don't have to do everything ALLATONCE.

So I carried on. A nibble here, a small bite there. A drawer in this room, a small cupboard in that room. A weed here, a plant there.  A trip to the Op Shop in Buninyong. A visit to the clothes bin, which had been in Mount Clear but seems to have moved to Buninyong. A couple of visits to the bottle bin in Mount Clear.

And very slowly, the decluttering is making progress. The third bedroom is more or less done. The dining room, likewise, although I do need to clean out the fireplace and move a small table. I need to clear out the fireplace before the winter anyway, and it might as well be now. I have made a start on clearing out the remarkably tall grass that is growing in the garden beds out the back. 

Slowly, slowly.

I have started clearing out the pantry and made a tiny, tiny, tiny start on the garage. 

I also have documentation to assemble for the mortgage advisor, plus there are all the normal activities of daily life that need to carry on. 

It's all a bit daunting if I look at it all together.

So I don't!

(But then I also remember how nice it was to walk to the shops, to catch a frequent tram to the city, to stroll to the library - and not to have to get in the car if I wanted to go pretty much anywhere)

Slowly, slowly ...

PSA:  if you are struggling to remember how to collapse the rather large pet carrier which you bought when you acquired the cats four years ago (because it was the only size you could get at the time), it is wise not to actually collapse it while you are leaning on it!  

I don't think I have ever previously collapsed it - it has been sitting, fully expanded, in the wardrobe of the third bedroom. 

It is collapsed now. And is sitting in an untidy manner in the middle of the lounge room floor. I had intended to add it to the stuff in the garage but someone seems to think it makes an excellent bed

Personally, I think it looks a bit uncomfortable, but Whiskey seems to like it.

Sunday

I had a nice, lazy start to yesterday morning.

First, breakfast. Cheers Coffee is closed on Sundays. Other places don't open until 10. Billy Barista was open but was absolutely rammed. So I walked around to Groovy Mama, also busy but bigger than Billy's place.

Groovy Mama is indeed groovy. Not only that, the food was delicious

Salt and pepper shakers on every table

Avocado toast. There was so much avocado under the eggs that I couldn't eat it all! 

I had a mug of cappuccino as well
but you'll have to imagine that 😊

This is supposed to be a weekend of exploring Docklands and working out if it's a viable place for me to live. There is a tram stop a two minute walk from here (if you happen to live in North Balwyn, it would bring you practically to my door) but it isn't the tram I would need to get to work. I  could, of course, use it anyway and then change in the city. But I decided to walk around to the tram that does deliver to work. It took me about 15 minutes of gentle walking.

I didn't stay on it all the way to work, although I did go a stop or two further than I had intended. Not paying attention!

I visited Daiso. I didn't buy much - I'm supposed to be de-cluttering and preparing to downsize  - but I did have a lovely wander around

I took a gentle stroll to Melbourne Central and wandered around the Asian supermarket by the station entrance, then took the tram back out to The District and pottered around there for a bit.

Then home, for a bit of a rest.

The weather finally improved later in the afternoon, so I went for a walk. There are some very serious yachts on the City side of the river. There are, of course, yachts here and over on the New Quay side, but the ones on the South Wharf have some hefty money tied up in them

Back at Victoria Harbour, I think the relative peace and quiet would be shattered very quickly if there was footie or an event or a concert at the Marvel Stadium. This weekend, however, it was deserted and all was calm. There was activity, people fishing or rowing or heading off on afternoon cruises around the Bay, but no yelling or cheering or excess traffic

My Sunday breakfast had been so filling that I didn't need any lunch. I had a small bowl of pumpkin soup and some potato chips mid afternoon. I still wasn't particularly hungry at dinner time so snacked on part of a rotisserie chicken through the evening. I might have had an apple pastry this morning, to prepare me for heading home. You need to be properly fortified before going on an adventure.

The first part of the adventure will be finding the coffee shop where I'm supposed to be meeting Freyja in an hour. But first, I need to get packed and organised

Bye Bye Docklands, for now

Inspecting and Exploring

I have to say that the weather yesterday was awful. You wouldn't have thought it was February. It was cold. It was very windy. It rained on and off. You might say it was a perfect day to go out and look at potential new homes. Everything, pretty much, looks delightful in the sunshine.

Freyja wasn't available in the morning, so I wandered off on my own. Simon had drawn my attention to a flat just around the corner from my Weekend Home with a viewing in 40 minutes. I registered to have a look and wandered around. There were a couple of people also waiting to have a look. They rang the agent. I rang the agent. No one came to let us in.

So I went away.

My first two pre-planned flats were on The Other Side, in New Quay. The first one has been on my radar for quite some time. It has a fabulous view out over the harbour and even out to the bay. It was a bijou apartment but which could work for my furniture, cats and lifestyle. Plus, the full length windows looking across the water along the back wall made it seem bigger. It was light and bright even on a dull, gloomy day. Alas, it is right at the top of my budget and the mortgage advisor says lenders won't consider places under 50 m2 and this place was 49 m2 

I could live with this view from the balcony

I went for a wander through The District shopping complex before my next viewing, which was in a building where Freyja, Simon and I had tried to have a viewing once before, on a Sunday, but the inspection day and time was obviously a mistake and no one came. This time someone did come. The flat was a very low price and was in need of a lot of TLC. At the very least a coat of paint and new flooring. The balcony view wasn't particularly enticing but you could turn the flat into something quite nice with a bit of money, effort and imagination. And I wouldn't have needed a mortgage :D

The next couple of viewings were back on this side of the river and Freyja came with me. Both flats had tenants, both were fairly untidy. Both had beds in the living area. But the first one said "No" to me the moment I walked into the building, well before I got into the flat. The flat said "no" to me, not because there was a bed in the living area and nothing but junk in the bedroom. I just didn't like it and I couldn't really explain why. The second one I did like. I liked the building, which was built around a central atrium. I liked the design of the flat. I liked that there were unexpected little water glimpses from the balcony. I liked the quirky nature of the building and the flat.

Not that I am in a position to buy anything. My place isn't even on the market yet. But it was an interesting and useful exercise.

I had breakfast in my Weekend Apartment - coffee and a toasty from Billy Barista across the road. Freyja and I had lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant. We had afternoon tea in a cute cafe. We had dinner, with Simon, in an Asian restaurant which seemed to do Malaysian and Thai food.

I walked 15k steps and made use of the trams, which are in the free tram zone. We inspected the beautiful Library at the Dock, little gardens and parks. We found little cafes tucked away in odd corners. We found a local community garden. We walked along the water. 

Starting the day with a riverside stroll

Wandering around The District shopping complex

Inside a quirky cafe

Library at the Dock
There are armchairs along the windows
so you can sit and read while watching the river

Mixed berry mocktail

Malaysian style sizzling beef plate

My attention was first drawn to Docklands as a place to live when I read an article saying that it was a soulless, lifeless, underdeveloped place to live. I really don't agree. I know I have only been here for a long weekend but I think it's vibrant and lively and full of activity, cafes, coffee shops, restaurants and interesting shops (although no tourist tat shops; the tourists haven't really got here - yet).

I like it.

I am on my own today. Freyja and Simon have gone to Ballarat for the day. I shall do a bit more exploring and then probably will head into the city for a potter about. So once again, I need to get dressed and go in search of coffee.