2020 - October

We went down to down to Wollongong during the long weekend in the school holidays, for a ride from Thirroul to Kiama. It was awesome.

Lots of interesting things to see, including the steelworks that is still producing steel. Nice to see.

Near the steelworks.

We were going to stay at the pub at Coniston, parked up, had the booking, but it was for the following night. The choices were to go back to Sydney and get home very late, probably can the rest of the trip, or find something else when there was nowhere else due to the long weekend. 

Lucky Yves said we could stay at their place in Kiama, and the train station was just across the street.

Getting a late dinner in Kiama after the screw up with the accommodation in Coniston.

Staying at Yve and Meri's. We had a lazy day. Anna came down to visit, then stayed the night at the Coniston pub. We walked down to the beach during the day, and got out of there pretty late.

Halloween for us was pretty low key. We gave out a few chocolates in wrappers, in a bowl, due to covid, and only to people we knew already.

Laurens sent us a photo of what they did: Arush, Rohan, Kevin, Michael and David handed out lollies instead of trick or treating for Halloween.

Laurens put on a good costume!

Our neighbour and good buddy Jaime, his dad died recently. It was sad that he could not be there as they're here, and their family is in Peru. They organised a wake via zoom.

Their daughter Andrea started at a new school. Tough but she blends well and has quickly made friends.

Lou visited their new place near his school. 

We're getting a lot of showers now, and the place is looking very green! Here is Petersham oval, just beautiful, so nice to live close to this treasure.

This is a shot of the cat and the beautiful flowers, plus our two crazy boys. Still building junk in the yard.

Two cats on the bed makes it hard to sleep as there's no room for my legs. Sumi does a great job of making it totally uncomfortable by herself. This arrangement was impossible, Had to shove them over a bit.

The boys and Jaime's kids at Maroubra beach; nice time for all.

More photos of the professional's efforts; sagging water lines, joists not touching, too much rubble under the house, not super liking this.

2020 - September

 

Don't give the kids your phone! Not sure how they made Mumma cat look so terrrifying.

The Inner West is best! Down with Capitalism, boo!

Vince helped us make a shed. And when I say helped, I mean he designed, carried the stuff in, jackhammered out the new useless ramp and retaining wall, did the roof, the door and the windows, with a bit of help from Marie.

Managed to get the family to go for a bushwalk! Here is beautiful La Perouse, only a few k's a walking and a few cafes nearby to choose for lunch. What a great spot.

La Perouse.

John also came over one day to lend his chainsaw that I think we burned out and had to get another one.

Lots of laughs as Marie gets on the jackhammer.

The local Portuguese butcher. A myriad of weird stuff including sausages made in the style of many south American countries, blood sausage, slabs of pork etc.

A better shot from Holly.

Sleep over with Charlie and Lola.

Ollie has started to play basketball. He is pretty good, some good dribbling under pressure and good passing. Go no. 68!

Crazy hair day; if you got it, use it, and Ollie has a lot of it.

The software support team Dennis, Myriam, Chris, me, Lee and Danesh.

Had to throw this old shot in; the young version of Marie.

and the current versions of her sisters and brothers.

2020 - August

 

The old front area was simply a concrete finish. We got some heritage tiles put in. It's like they were always meant to be there. We had to get the gas meter raised at great expense, but then they could run the tiles to the edge.

The cats are getting on, or at least they've come to an understanding of sharing the place. Mumma cat still chases Sumi, and Sumi still hisses when Mumma comes too close. Most of the time they're quite fine with each other.

At the Garge sale (thanks to Mill for the signs) to get rid of some of Mum's old stuff. Give it a new home.

Not sure if we made much money but it was fun hanging around with Ceal and Fil.

Took the boys to the basketball by bike. I had all 3. Marie must have been away, think it was for Holly and Lola's birthday weekend (or she went either to the south coast with her sisters or to Hawks Nest with some girl friends). Anyway, we had a great day rolling around, getting gelato, popped in on Sev and Brett and had a big long discussion on Trump and how she will simply ignore the whole country if he manages to get back in again.

Probably a lizard. Sumi catches the little ones all the time. Mumma is a little bit interested.

More complaints; water pipes not supported, electricals are sort of neat, flooring joists don't touch each other in places.

Powerpoint is dangling in the air.

We had the roof converted into a big open area. Previously it was occupied by the timber supports. Now it is really useable. The roofies came back some time later to adjust the tiles to stop any leaks.

2020 - July

 

Sumi cat models in the kitchen. Our place looks better in the photos than it does in real life?

Brave cat: Sumi will go anywhere. I had to get up the ladder to get her back down off this ledge. Am thinking of putting some platforms up the wall to make getting up/down easy for her.

You can also see in the photo the smashed glass; a safety hazard that sat there for a month before they ordered the replacement, and another one or two months for the replacement to arrive. The door had to be lowered as it was previously sitting on expander foam, which is not a structural element!

Our wall leaked moisture so they finally came in to rectify that. It's under warranty for 6 years, so hope it works ok. We had the house inspected recently by Mario the professional builder in November and the damp was ok now.

Garry Corstorphan from Paddington Lace redid our front lace and balcony. He is semi retired. When he got back to work, his old wealthy patron asked him to just do something simple. So he slowly did the patron's daughter's lacework etc. As he went people cam past and asked for his card. He said he'd run out for the moment and gave out his number. Suddenly a business was born doing house fronts. He did a great job, careful and methodical. As Mario said while walking through; guys like this are a dying breed.

Many passers by commented on how it was going, and a fair few would love to put the detail back into the front of their terrace. Not sure who could do this once Garry fully retires.

Potato frenzy: at Laurens and Anke's place in Copeland near Gloucester. As much as you dug, there were more and more potatoes. We filled a bucket, and left it at that.

I love it when the boys get excited about this kind of thing. 

Good times.

At the local waterhole.

As good as it gets: the Prius averages 3.3 l / 100km. The only way you could beat this is if going downhill with the petrol motor turned off.