this picked me up on a very quiet, dreary work day:
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3,2,1…
I’m sooo glad I delayed my departure for three days. I have no idea how I would have finished everything up in time otherwise, as it’s been uber-hectic since Thursday.
The working year finished on Thursday, topped off by a great dinner with James and Andrew at Seabay restaurant on Pitt St. Amazingly good dumplings – gently chewy, sweet dough with superb flavour – and good salads washed down with some fine wine and conversation. A top night and a place worth returning to, though jellyfish though is something I won’t try again in a hurry…
All three major projects are finally completed:
Work – the move went relatively smoothly, some hiccups as you’d expect but all the key stuff got done on time. The office looks fantastic and I know it’ll be a great place to return to when fully refreshed next month.
Mum’s house – completely empty and ready for handover. An immense amount of work, done mostly on weekends, to get to this point. But it’s going to a lovely young family, and it’s great to get my life back and have time to think about the events of this year without distraction.
Exit from The Rocks – done in quick-time over the weekend with help from Mai, Tim, James and a ute. I am officially Homeless! The end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one 😀
With all the hard stuff now out of the way, it’s time to relax and realise that by this time tomorrow I’ll be in Shanghai!!!
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one down
I don’t know how people can hold garage sales for the fun of it. And now I can understand the forlorn hope written on the faces of storekeepers who stand in their doorway, anxiously scanning the street for their next customer.
I had hopes that nearly everything in Mum’s house would sell at the garage sale, albeit at generally very low prices. It was not about the money; it was about finding new homes for all the furniture I (nor my family or friends) have need of. Sadly it was not to be, even after I resorted early to the liberal use of “free!” pricetags. While the nice pieces went early, people’s opinion of the rest was summed up by a husband who said to his wife “why do you want that? It’s only gonna sit there and look crap.” Harsh, but in fair some cases.
The sheer size of what was left over put me into a very deep funk on Sunday, so much so that I was seriously considering delaying my departure for China. However some hard thought led to a sensible solution, aided on Tuesday by serendipitous events that saw another half a dozen items taken away. Saturday is the final cleanup day, with Sunday being the “walk-through” with the new owners to give them the tip about household quirks such as the well-hidden light switches in the basement. Then only the memories will be left…
It’ll be hard work, but I know it’s doable. And my mind is much clearer because the office move went very smoothly – I’m now working in beachside Cronulla! In a newly-refurbished office in a great location just a few steps from the Mall and the beach (and Northies). I’m looking forward to a totally different lifestyle next year 🙂
I’m also looking forward to getting my life back, having the time to enjoy relaxation and friends. And time to remember.
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go the eeePC!
Woo hoo!
I’m typing this with James’ eeePC, which is on loan from him for my trip to China.
He’s very kindly lent it to me to allow me to blog my trip and photos, and it’s clearly a much more reliable and sturdy device than my windows-based work laptop!
More posts to come – China is less than two weeks ago!
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friday night
It’s been another night successfully avoiding Chinese study. I don’t know why, as I really want to learn, but I just wasn’t in the mood this evening.
At least I spent the night productively. I finally got around to blogging again and resumed my love/hate relationship with Facebook, I researched second-hand furniture prices on Trading Post and eBay in preparation for the garage sale, I chose a new super fund, I signed up for regular donations to Medecins San Frontieres, I read the fine print of my travel insurance and I updated my “where to find the money if I die” list. Note to all: I’m certainly not intending to cark it anytime soon!
But as Mum’s estate is far from finalised, things could get very messy for my executor if they don’t know where to look for stuff. And it’s amazing what you can learn in the process. For example, under my travel insurance policy if I were to go while travelling on a plane/train/bus/ferry/taxi then the payout is a whopping $250,000. It’s quite annoying to know that I could be worth a lot more dead than alive… best not to think about it, eh?
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Happy Trails 