Will this be the Year?

Happy New Year! As we start 2023, I’m wondering if this is the year that we will open the front door of our new house. More on that later, but first, let’s review our timeline so far…

We wasted 3 months and 3.5 grand with Plunkett. And like a classical music radio station, it’s slow with gaps. But like the Orinoco, it has at least flowed.

From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon
From Fiji to Tyree and the Isles of Ebony
From Peru to Cebu, hear the power of Babylon
From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)…

I decided to put Enya’s itinerary, which has been likened to the most expensive gap year of all time, into Rome2Rio and it’s not that expensive. It’s only around 15 grand, but it’s a lot of messing about as you can see by the resulting map. I’m sure she could have come up with a better route if she wasn’t too busy writing a number one single.

So where is the block now? Well, it’s stalled because of Christmas – but I’ve been promised that bricklayers will turn up within the next 6 months. But we (and the builder) are hoping for 3 months. Hopefully our hard-working brickies are eager to get back to work after the festive season. Hopefully they have had a very festive time and as a result are quite poor – a looming loan payment on the ute will get them back on the job faster than the inspirational messages I had to endure when I was working. I mean – who really wants to soar like an eagle?

And giving 110% – well that just means you don’t understand how percentages work. Unfortunately, I once had a manager that recommended that rather than move our arbitrary and unachievable deadline, we would just have to ‘make time’. Well, nob head, if I knew how to do that, I wouldn’t be working here now, would I? I’d have a job as one of the Gods, with that knowledge. Anyway, I’m retried now and shouldn’t dwell on those people that really made my working life a lovely ‘journey’ and not a ‘destination’.

I went up to the block the other day and had a quick fly, here’s the vid…

I’ve been trying to imagine what it would be like opening the front door after getting the keys. In my mind, I drive up to the house and admire the landscaped gardens on approach. I press the clicker for the garage remote and drive into my spacious garage. Rather than enter via the shopper’s door, I go back outside and approach the front door from the porch. The front door unlocks with a satisfying click, and I enter the hallway with immaculate walls and tiling. The corridor leads me past spacious bedrooms to a beautiful living area, complete with fully equipped kitchen and smooth, solid doors that take me to a gleaming patio and landscaped back garden. Just like every show house we visited (well the ones we liked, anyway). Oh – and my phone immediately connects to the mesh network.

But I think the chances of that are slim. I’m expecting minor defects and unfinished items, mainly sand outside, and a kitchen with the doors that will immediatley need replacing, and with a sink I don’t want. But I’ll hold on to my dream for now!