*There’s another update on the “As Seen On…” page tonight – from Bored Panda…all I can say is…. “Oh dear! What were we thinking!”
What a very interesting day! We had to be off early this morning, to get to the Vermont South “Water Feature House” by 11.00am for the “Open For Inspection”. There weren’t as many people as one might have expected, this last Saturday before next week’s Auction – I’m not sure if this is a good, or a bad sign! Hopefully good… Anyway, we went around the house, as one does, and this time Julian didn’t scowl at me when I opened cupboard doors and turned on the kitchen tap to test the water pressure (which seemed fine – maybe a bit better than ours here (which wouldn’t be too hard, come to think of it!)) With a sly look, I turned to the fridge, and put out my hand as though to open the fridge door, raising one eyebrow at Julian, as though to say “shall I?? 😉 ” 🙂 He did scowl then – “don’t you dare!”, he growled – but he knew I was only teasing 🙂
As you walk through the front door, there’s a good sized room to the right, with wooden slatted shutter-type window coverings that was set up as a “home office”. To the left there are three reasonably sized bedrooms, a separate toilet, and a decent sized bathroom with a bath, a double vanity unit (two sinks) and a decent sized shower. Then you move out of the bedroom area, where you face a short corridor that leads into the double garage (it’s a big double garage, too – we’d have no trouble getting the Merc and the Lexus in there, plus there’d probably be room to park (and charge!) my wheelchair) However, turning left into the entry area from the bedrooms, you come to the master bedroom on the left, and a sitting room type room on the right. The master bedroom has a very big separate walk in wardrobe, which is next to the en-suite. There’s a big double door space into the en-suite – but… no door! The bed would sit facing the open door into the en-suite, which, though we’re no prudes by any stretch of the imagination, we found a little… uncomfortable. There are a few things that I do not want to see Julian doing, and a few things that he doesn’t want to see me doing, so I think we’ll install a sliding door there (if we manage to buy the place, that is!) Then there’s a very nice sized laundry, with plenty of cupboard space, and a lovely, clear beveled glass door leading outside to a nicely finished “pebble mix” path to the back yard. I know that pebble mix is largely passé these days, but all the paths are done out in this creamy-oatmeal coloured pebble mix, and it does seem to suit the place… Then the entry area opens out into the kitchen and “living” areas – the kitchen has an island bench with a double bowl sink in it, dividing it from the meals and family area. Along the outside wall there’s a Bosch gas “aga” type stove – well, that’s what Julian called it – I’d just call it “a big stove with the hot plates on top and the oven underneath” – but I suppose it’s easier to say (and write!) “aga”. There are plenty of very nicely finished cupboards, though I’m not sure if the fridge space would accommodate our rather large fridge without “some adjustments” – we should have taken a measuring tape – though I hardly think that the fridge not fitting in the space provided would be a deal breaker, if it came to that… Anyway, the place is Open For Inspection again on Thursday, if we do want to go trotting back with the tape measure.. In front of the sink/island bench is the meals area – a very generous sized meals area, and beyond that is the family lounge/sit and watch television on the biggest screen you can get/relaxing area. There’s yet another large room off to the right of the kitchen which would make an ideal “Den” or “computer room”, that overlooks the decked and roofed outdoor entertainment area, which is huge! This outdoor entertainment area also has clear, as well as opaque, pull down blinds around two sides, so that if you really have to be outside, you can shut out the weather! (it’s almost as though it was made for me!) In the back “yard” (for want to a better term!) and behind the large double garage is a medium-sized shed, painted nicely in blue and white, and with a very nicely constructed wall of bamboo (fake, I think!) facing the rest of the outside area. There’s a garden bed along the back and side fence – just enough for the extant lemon tree, a small veggie garden (he promised!), and maybe a small herb garden. There’s some grass in the middle – nicely manicured, though a little on the dry side of “well watered”, and everything is surrounded by these nice, creamy-oatmeal coloured pebble mix paths. The “Water Feature” outside the front door is a big – perhaps about 4 feet tall?… coloured concrete? stone? I dunno – “urn thingy”, standing in a small square pool of water (which actually has one small red and white fish lurking in its murky waters!) The pump was going both times we’ve been there – probably to impress the prospective buyers, and water bubbles out of the top of this “urn thingy”, runs down its sides, and back into the little pool, to be pumped back up to the top again.
And that’s what we’ll be bidding on next Saturday! Please, everyone, cross your fingers for us next Saturday! 🙂
Then we went on to watch a couple of Auctions in progress. Julian’s terribly nervous about this whole business – he’s so afraid he’ll muck something up! I know he won’t, but he won’t believe me 🙂 It is actually a little fraught – neither of us have ever been involved in an house Auction before, but this time the week after next will come, and we’ll either have the house, or we won’t 🙂 And we’ll either be penniless paupers, or we won’t – but we’ll survive! To the Auctions, Batman!…
The first one was a 3 bedroom unit in Mount Waverley – part of a small “retirement” enclave. I didn’t go in to look around, but Julian did. He said it was very nice – “impressive” was the way he put it – but we weren’t there to appraise the house, we were there to observe how Auctions work. The house was Open For Inspection for half an hour before the Auction started – the Auctioneer strode out of the house ringing a large hand bell, to announce the start of the sale. First of all he has to announce to everyone what’s happening, what the terms and conditions are, and how the Auction works – a sort of a “three strikes and it’s yours”, type of deal. Bidding was slow to start off with, and although a lot of people were interested – in fact very interested – no-one seemed too keen on paying what the Vendors wanted for it. It was eventually “passed in” at about 1.2 million, without even reaching its reserve price.The person who’d put in the last bid offered was invited inside to “negotiate” directly with the Vendors.
The second Auction that we watched was in the Glen Waverley/Wheelers Hill area – not too far from where we used to live. Once again, I didn’t go through the house, though Julian did. The Auction started off in much the same way – the Auctioneer comes out ringing a large hand bell, and explains all the ins and outs, and terms and conditions. Bidding was patchy – but the difference with this firm was that they had people working the crowds, talking and jollying along those who were bidding, and doing their best to pit one against the other (which is of course, part of their job – to get the best possible price for their client, the Vendor!) A very young Asian chap and his girlfriend arrived late, so he was escorted inside to pick up the necessary paperwork. In the end, there were just two bidders left – the young Asian chap, and another guy. Every time the second guy put in a bid, the young Asian chap would up him by one thousand. The second guy would then raise the bid by two or three thousand, probably thinking, as I know I was, that this young Asian “kid” was far too young to have that sort of money – but no, every single time the second guy put in a bid, this kid up’d him by one thousand. It was like watching a game of tennis! Second bloke was on my left – young Asian kid was standing in the middle of the road on my right (I was in the car!) Your head would swivel when one made a bid – the swivel back again as soon as they had, knowing that the other one would counter. In the end, the young Asian kid got the house for $878,000 (is that right? eight hundred and seventy eight thousand?) and I was pleased – I’d been barracking for him from the beginning, after he stuck his finger in the air and said, with a very small smile, “and one thousand!” 🙂
Then we came home, I ripped off my shoes and went for my Stair Walk, and had a most welcome cup of coffee when I got back. Now it’s almost time for me to go on my evening Stair Walk, and I’ve really been rattling on long enough – your brains are probably numb by now! 🙂
Weigh-in this morning. I went down another one point to 87.6kg. I tell you, I’d much rather go down in one point increments than slide a long way all at once and then have to bounce back!
Well, tomorrow is Sunday, and we’ll be splashing around Goboro Reef in the Plane of Water – I’ll fill you all in on that tomorrow night! Monday looks like being back to house hunting again – just in case we’re not successful next Saturday (and of course, there’s always “The ‘C’ House” which is being Auctioned the following Saturday!) I’ve been busy working on making adjustable frames for future headers, and I have been re-instated on the Facebook page I couldn’t get to for the last couple of days – thank you, my friend! 🙂 And now, before this blog qualifies as a stand-alone volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, I’ll remind you all to call back again tomorrow night to catch up on all our doin’s in the ruins of Goboro Reef, what my weight did next, and all sorts of interesting tidbits! Until then, however, bee good, remember to focus on what’s right in your world instead of what’s wrong, don’t forget to keep warm, drive carefully (especially when it’s foggy!), and look after yourselves… but above all…. stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 