Transport and leisure

Lounging on the new seats.

December 2015, we went to Ikea and picked up some outdoor furniture, plus pot plants. It is pretty damn pleasant out there. Not sure when this shot was taken. The boys were having a nice lazy day, doing a bit of drawing, while we pottered around.

While on the courtyard, earlier in 2016 they had to dig up some pipes leaving a big hole in the middle. We didn't have pavers to cover it and the new ones wouldn't match up. So with the insistence of the Body Corporate president and the agreeance of Marie, they pulled up the lot, and put more down, at a cost of about $11,000, half the cost of a good small car. The tilers did a very good job, and the new tiles look terrific.

Hitting the streets, on the way to work, Epping Rd bikepath.

Now here's me in election mode. The fed govt called a double dissolution in the hopes of clearing out the "ferals". In a cliffhanger result, they only just got their power back, with a few thousand votes right across the country determining who formed government. As for the senate, it is even more full of ferals with minor parties like us plus Greens. I'll post later on how we went, but Australian Cyclists Party did not come close to getting a seat.
so
here









The boys bedside tables don't have much space for books, but we fixed that right quick with some new shelves. It did take me a few weeks to cut, screw, oil and wax polish them, then a couple of hours installation. They seem pretty happy with the result.

In this photo, Louis is modelling a Ford Falcon that we hired via the share service www.carnextdoor.com.au. We've been living the last 17 months without a car. We hire them on the weekend to visit family, or pick up furniture etc. Having a parking space downstairs at any time has been ultra handy for visitors. It can be inconvenient when you've booked a car, and can't find where it's parked.

People with cars sitting around doing nothing effectively hire them out. We pay the share service, who takes a percentage, and the owner gets the bulk of the money. Insurance, fuel, maintenance, everything except tolls are included in the hire, plus 33c per kilometre travelled. Way cheaper than car ownership. At this time, not many people do this kind of thing. Hopefully, more people do this in future, and car ownership goes down. Part of the cycling thing is so that we have more people using a transport mode that uses no oil, and produces no CO2 and air pollution.