General Chat

Good Morning Berona,

Yes, they've forecast cooler weather for the rest of the week - I have work to do in the garden, but it's been too hot to do it, so maybe I can get stuck into that now. No rain forecast though.
Was watching a programme on tv tonight about a British couple house hunting in and around Sydney, Belrose and Cromer areas. Some lovely houses on the market at around £320,000, whatever that is in Aussie dollars. The house they bought had an enormous pool.
The guy had joined the Australian Army.

Tec.

Tec without doing the calculations it would be in the high $500,000.00 range.

Allan

That house would be well above the average here, but the spec was much higher than it would be here for the same money.

Well it really is late now, so I must away.
Enjoy your day Allan, Sue, Beronan.
~~~~~~to Diane,

Goodnight,
Tec.

Good night Tec

Hello again, It’s now a much more civilized hour. 10am or so……

Yes, I did get back to sleep for about 3 hours then up and into it again. Have just stopped for a coffee and thought I’d look in to see if anything happening.

Hey, that’s a bit exciting. I’ve never been initiated before. I just hope it isn’t painful. Not into pain, me.

OK, temps for today. For Mareeba which is about 50 klms from here 17c (60F) to 28c (83F) – Cairns, about 40 klms from here and on the coast 21c (56F) to again, 29c.. And do remember this is the start of winter for us.

Lots of tourists around town yesterday when I was working down in Cairns. There was me at the Esplanade Pool complete with long pants, closed in shoes and longish sleeved t-shirt and here were these people in the pool. Can’t believe it. Reminds me of one time when I was in Vancouver and I was in winter clothes even with a fur jacket on. It was only 15c (ie under 60F) and here’s this girl sunbathing in a park in a bikini.

Hey Allan, good to see you back. The mob were about to send out a search party for you and Persey.

Berona, good to see you back again. Feeling better?

Pam.

Hello Pam,

I'm still around at the moment but will have to go soon and spruce myself up for the day.

I'm not sure that I would enjoy those temperatures. Probably OK for winter, but of course summer would be much warmer.

I spent just over 3 years in the North Eastern Goldfields of WA at Leonora. Summer temps regularly hit 40c but there was very little humidity unless we had just had rain...a very rare event!

Allan

I think $500,000 would not buy you much of a house around Belrose and Cromer, but I could be wrong. Both are in the northern beaches, but away from the coast, especially Belrose.
Transport is always an issue there. There are no trains and the bus network to Belrose is private. Cromer is I think on the State Transit network but I don't know the frequency. Of course you can always drive everywhere.

I'm with you there, Colin. I can only see that amount as a deposit on a home in Belrose or Cromer. Homes are very pricey in the northern beaches.

I can't believe I've missed you again Berona and Colin. This silly site was playing up this morning so I gave up which is really annoying because I missed Susanwithnumbers, Tec, Pam and you. I could only chat for a moment with Allan and just caught Linda before she went to bed.

I hope you continue to improve Berona. We've been very worried about you. You're very dear to us so take care.

Where's Persey?????

Sue xx

Good evening Berona, Sue and Colin

House prices are ridiculous. Even in Bunbury now some apartments (admittedly waterfront ones) are going for $1.6 to $2.0 million dollars: and I remember what the land was used for before redevelopment and before the Contaminated sites legislation came into force!

Allan

House prices are starting to rise here in the northern suburbs as people are finding it too expensive in Sydney. The roads to the city are much better now so people are prepared to commute. When I think what our house cost and what young people are looking at these days.

Sue xx

Hello all,

Yes, I agree. That amount of money wouldn't even buy a small block of land at Belmore/Cromer. I'd love someone to come along up here and offer me that much for my place though. I'd take it and run. Only because I want out.

I think that 500,000 was in pounds, though wasn't it? Not sure. And too tired at the moment to go check it out. Not long home from work and will be more than happy to hit the sack.

Take care all and maybe I'll catch up with you all around morning tea time tomorrow.

Cheers
Pam.

I also have sent a PM to Persephone today. No reply yet. She didn't say anything about a holiday, so I hope she is not in hospital or anything like that.
As for house prices, I think part of the problem is that people want too much. The five bedroom four bathroom McMansion on the "huge" 400 square metre (0.1 acre) block may be your dream home, I have no problem with that, if that is your dream. But not as a first home. For a couple starting out, what is wrong with a 2 bedroom apartment in Randwick, Eastwood or Westmead? To give just three examples. Then, when you have built up a bit of equity, then you can think about upgrading modestly.
Not far from me some blocks of apartments have been built with similar price tags to what you are saying for Bunbury, Allan. Sure, they overlook the noble Parramatta River (I jest) and are close to the ferry. They probably also have marble kitchen benchtops and gold plated plumbing. The suburb has a pretty ordinary reputation, although not too bad, so I suspect that soon there will be a secession and the area will get a new name. Shepherd's Bay or Bay View (not Bayview, that is already taken) rather than Meadowbank.
One of the reasons that I bought where I did apart from the fact that I could afford it was ease of transport. Trains and buses within relatively easy reach although for the latter I am more like to drive up to the bus stop and park nearby. I's about a kilometre but the hill is a bit much for me.
As a child I lived on the northern beaches near Narrabeen and transport was always an issue as we didn't always have a car. A long way from anywhere, even decent shopping, but pretty, My grandmother bought land there after the war when it really was just opening up. 16 miles to Sydney and 75 minutes on the bus. 60 if you could get on the express bus. I made that trip hundreds of times as a student at Sydney Uni/Sydney Teachers College.
The batteries in this are almost flat and it has a tendency to crash when on the charger so will say good night.

Hello:-)) I have heard from Persey. All is well but Persey is finding the time difference makes it difficult to chat. She thanks us for our concern.

I'm definately not a rebel but I will speak up for that which is important to me and I rarely back down. That is something that has come with age as I was such a little mouse when younger. Thankfully my daughter has had the confidence to speak up when necessary at a much younger age than I did. She is a gentle, kind-hearted girl but a tigress where her children are concerned. Having a child with special needs makes for a strong mother.

Space is nice, CC and doesn't always have to be filled up:-)) I had another look at your garden today. It's a joy.

Sue xx

Hello all, Well another night where I've awoken unable to get back to sleep yet. Thought I'd drop in and check. Last post here was at 1400, checked World Clock, currently 1741 there, 2.48am here, (probably some minor discrepancy which isn't going to matter - not about to catch a bus) so that would explain why no one is here. The Aussies are abed and the poms are getting the dinner ready. So I'll just talk to myself for a bit.

True, young people these days do seem to want the mansion on the hill to which many of us would still aspire except we're older and wiser (???). Not something I want and never did, I must admit. Being one who abhors housework and does housecleaning in small easy stages, why would I want a big house?

I don't feel the need to impress many, if any, people these days and it's only more cost, more work, more worry and more and more of all those things I'm trying to escape from.

Certainly there doesn't seem to be much of the 'make do' attitude these days even amongst couples who don't have any kids. Gotta have the biggest house, biggest TV, biggest whatever which often means the biggest debt.

I'm still waiting for the magic person to come along and buy this place because I want to downgrade. They are out there somewhere. Come on, hurry up, find me.

Meantime, I"ll while away the hours talking to you sweet people and doing my housework piecemeal.

Cheers,
Pam

Good morning/evening all. Hope you are all well today.

It's a cold dull morning here and we are told to expect rain and wind. Oh joy!!

We are expecting a rubbish skip to be delivered today as we begin to declutter our garage and yard. We've lived in our house for 33 years so we have accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. My OH is a hoarder but he has decided enough's enough so he will do a massive clean-up.

Sue xx

Good morning, Sue, Pam and Colin

good evening to CC and Tec

~~~~~~~~~~~~ to Persey and Diane.

Speaking of houses, at the time OH and I married in the UK (1970) most young couples in our situation looked at buying an old terraced, two up, two down house. They would improve it and a two or three years later sell it and move into a semi-detached property, and then move on to a fully detached property.

Same with cars: you'd start with an old banger and progress as your finances improved. My first car was in fact a van: it was a mini-van. Fantastic little vehicle but forever breaking down. Howvere it was easy to fix and I do have fond memories of it.

It was hand painted! the body was blue and the roof was white

Happy Days :0))

Allan

Hi Allan and CC. I know how frustrating it is to be without the computer. Whatever did we do before they were such a common piece of equipment in the home?

Allan we had only been married a short time when we scraped together a deposit for our modest little home. It was brand-new and unlandscaped so we did all the work ourselves. We would have working-parties with friends who were in a similar position - one weekend working on our place the next on someone else's. That evening would be spent eating spaghetti bolognese and drinking cheap red wine. Great days.

Sue xx

CC my AVP is Vet by Computer Associates so I don't have problems with Virgin's.

In fact I haven' for a very long time :0))

Sue there were some Housing Associations like that, formed in the late 70's early 80's in the UK.

A whole group of individuals would get together and try to include in the group, the various trade groups: they'd buy some landand then start building the houses. Those with no skills would act as labourers. Apparently the savings in construction costs were tremendous.

Allan

That sounds like a good idea, Allan. We were just mates helping each other out but it would work on a bigger scale. We all managed to get our driveways, insulation and gardens done for a lot less money and time than if we had done it ourselves. As most of us had at least one child at the time and of course a new mortgage money wasn't plentiful.

Sue xx