Living Contentedly

Expedition (noun) "A journey undertaken by a group of people for a particular purpose ... ". I woke (isn't that a fraught word now) this Sunday morning thinking about doing exciting things like adventure (though I think more like expedition). (Two lots of parentheses in a single sentence might get the Parentheses Police upset but screw them.)  Well, for me unfortunately this thinking has been transformed by the water torture of advertising on my brain, to equate to a thing. A tent, a boat, a pocket knife. I have it all arse up, i think gear first and then plan an adventure to try it out. Sadly, my  Spirit of Adventire  lasts as long as the gloss on the new thing.  This morning I began Gumtree &/Youtube scrolling for small " adventure " sailboats such as the "Hobie Adventure Island ". Immediately I  hit by the pizzazz, the gaudy colours & shiny carbon fibre like fittings. Fit young sailors wearing kevlar suits flash their pearly whites in the b...

@ 13/9/2024: instructed lawyer to rescind contract. Feeling sad, knocked over & confused by the entire event. So many hopes, hours of hard work, vision & dreams have been washed down the drain by bureaucracy at its worst.  -   x.    X.    X.    X.    X.    X.    X Letter #1 - Dear Mr Blake (General Manager) I  writing to ask for your discretion on matter I  currently have running with Council's Planning section.  Please, first allow me to provide some context before adding details on how i understand this matter has unfolded.  Following my  daughter's relocation to Peak Hill earlier this year, I have visited six times and planned to relocate there from my property on the Hunter Valley where I khave loved for over sixty years. When I learned that a rusty little miners cottage was listed for sale at Council's Unpaid Rates Auction on 27 June I was very enthused. Although bidding proc...

At a tender age I attended Marist Brothers high school. Hamilton. Our parents paid high fees & understood they were doing the best for their children. Earlier this decade a Royal Commission & several court cases painted a very different picture. One of priests raping & sodomising boys, forcing boys to perform oral sex, molestation & indecent exposure. Arguably the worst offences were failure to report, punishing victims, hiding offenders within the Order, destroying evidence & lying to investigators.  All children attending the school were traumatised, in later life many turned to sexual promiscuity, serial relationships &  drug misuse, while many suffered acute mental health problems, several suicided. A classmate, Andrew Nash suicided after school, aged 12 years.  The Principal Brother Christopher, Brothers John, Dominic, & Romuald were gaoled, while Patrick died before the law caught him. These men wore robes & crucifixes, so high & ...

Waking to steady rain put paid to today's ride out west.  Tex rpulled the blankets tighter,  told the dog to settle and rolled over for a sleep in. Banking some zzz's for tomorrow's long ride. After rising to action much of the day was spent tidying, packing the saddle bags and checking Hondo. The bars were set further forward to create a more open riding stance.. A second gremlin bell was fixed down low, the chain got grease &  the rest of the bike was polished.   The anticipation of the long ride is intoxicating & keeps the mood light for the day. Extra time was lavished on the dogs. They will eventually go west too, but not until the contract on the cottage is signed off & the cottage is properly made up.  The rain increased & extra c are would be needed with the fully laden bike on greasy clay  above the dam. Managing the bike with full saddlebags, a heady engine would be interesting.   -   +  -   ...

It has fascinated me that while focus has rightly been upon bullying in schools or the workplace, little is done to acknowledge the impact of nagging women in relationships.  It struck me yesterday at ALDI when I saw an ursine fellow with slumped shoulders and a hangdog expression  I immediately wondered what would reduce such a once physically powerful fellow to an obese wimp. Then I was shown how by his partner.  Standing bye idly as the said couples'massive burden was checked out, the guy had dipped into the alcohol section, tiptoed back to his wife's side and held up two bottles for her approval. She nodded almost imperceptibly, his shoulders drop in relief and, like a trained dog staggers to the trolley to load groceries. The wifey let's out a shriek of indignation, draws attention to her situation and barks at the checkout worker "these are not ours!". People check their movements, did my groceries get mixed in with hers? The checkout worker died a classic A...

Big things this week, sold my Folkboat after a morning of heavy scrubbing; mould below & shell on the hull. I actually used a pruningcsaw yo hack off barnicles.   The next day I fitted a new battery to the Defender (which hasnt run for months), and bingo he fired on all fours. Later that day and the next, a  couple of trips to Merewether to clear out my stuff from my parents' house. A few days of  mowing in between and the slate is clear for a ride out west.  The only non event this week was on the house; no news, I'm hoping to visit the local Council early next week. Today i took the bike out for its first run in days, and it was majestical.  

Anticipated  Unanticipated  Non-event  Sleeper  These are four kinds of Life Transitions. Self a explanatory words to describe the nature of each as described by the author referenced below.  As a social worker I was taught the most people have Normative Transitions; you're born, you eat solids ... you get hitched ... you die. The kind of "normal" life events, faced by most people in a rather predictable way. I suspect they are the bread and butter of clairvoyants. They see a young thing bound into the booth, fit and lithe, looking and smelling great but looking vaguely needy, and predict they are about to find a partner. Another strolls in looking well attired and slightly bored: "I can see travel ... food, a rainforest, beach, you're in a natural setting... ". Meanwhile reading the person for subtle reactions in favour of what's proffered.  The transition i am moving through is a bit random. I've always lived within cooee of water, loved swimming, ...

Due to the government's clandestine actions to reduce the numner of private moorings on Port Stephens, I've sold my dream sail boat.  I'm not finished sailing though. A way through is to get a trailable sail boat. No mooring, no slipping, no antifouling. Just trail her in, set the mast, sail.

Tomorrow I plan to rise early under clear skies. After feeding up & having oats & coffee, i will load the bike.  Swimming & scrubbing gear, documentation, keys & "stuff". On the road, filling up & checking tyre pressures, I will hit the road to Pittwater.  Taking a break at the Hawkesbury, I hope to reach Avalon early & grab some diesel at the local servo.  On board I will:- fuel up, pump out, scrub her belly & tidy up below.  At around 1400 I will head off to Taylors Point Wharf to meet Philip & do my best to impress upon him the boat's seaworthy design, sturdy rig & engine.  My motives for selling care to free myself of a Pittwater based boat. Beyond this I will free myself of the burden of care for that boat as I move my attentions west for some months, perhaps towards a Harley & later, a trailable trimaran for gunkholing & expedition coastal sailing. 

"Philip" a very pushy boat buyer has ignored my claim that I live far from the boat and cornered me into meeting him there tomorrow afternoon.  So naturally I have to go early in the day, make everything shipshape before he arrives.  I just hope he knows the Folkboat design and trusts the legend around the mach. If so I could have a handful of thousands on my pocket. The temptation to add more to it and buy.a small Harley may be more than  I can manage. :) -+-++++++ I have a theory that the love of money brutalizes people. Following "Million Dollar Bogan" on utoob I found an odd fellow that created hijinks on Harleys. His background was on real estate and his gig was to carry on through the day and land on a plush hotel on the evening. His bike was a top range, new machine and he basically had the wherewithal to buy his way out of  any situation he got into. But all this was hidden. On the vids you saw this queer little guy sweating over the roads and swearing that ...

Thursday brought seemingly bad news. Council wanted to rescind the contract on the cottage due to a complaint against "fibrous asbestos".  There was no doubt, the neighbour that missed out at auction was set to spoil.  My enraged  Conveyancing man hatched a plan to offer a reduced price to salvage the deal, with me paying for remedial work to be carried out.  Late Friday evening I received word that Council intend to proceed on these grounds.  I will argue, after the lowest sale price is set, that the property contains only a modest quantity of "non-fibrous asbestos" as do thousands of houses across the state. I get a reduction in the sale price and have to renovate the property. Bingo!

Well here's the problems with a yacht: 1. Cannot get a mooring. 2. More involved to move. 3. Risk of damage. 4. Deep draft 5. Expensive to maintain. Trailer boat: 1. Angle of heel. 2. Lack of space below. 3. Don't sail well in shoal waters. 4. Heavy towing. For these reasons a keel or centreboard mono are not ideal sailboats fore.  Benefits of the Trimaran: 1. Affordable  2. Easy the tow, launch & maintain. 3. Stable underway, & usable deck space. 4. Quick, easy driven under sail.  5. Shoal draft.  

15 Aug. Geoff - PSC set to issue Demo Order. Letter indicates presence of asbestos, triggered by complaint.  Discussed sour grapes by nbr.  Geoff suggests making a,lower offer & self demo or part demo.  Geoff waiting on bottom line  from PSC. FURTHER negotiations due today. Geoff has warned PSC vs cost of demo & poss. sale of lot to nbr/son of ex counsellor. Poss price reduction on conditions:-  fence professional asbo removal approval by PSC.

Being at a major "life transition" I am searching with nerve endings set on hypersensitive mode for footholds, anything secure.   One of last Sunday's readings hit the spot.  " I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless sort of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ ...You must give up your old way of life, you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God's way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth."                             Ephesians 4.17 I guess it spoke to me as by going out west I am turning my back on the Real Estate Competition along the eastern seaboard. Further, that my ideal for restoring the miners cottage is to recreate a small, simple space. Removing the wr...

Sunday morning billy boil along the creek road. Its fully overcast and foggy, there are signs spring is coming, so we're* just enjoying the chills. Be safe, happy and a bit wild.   * me, Hondo, blue wrens , frogs, casuarinas & the stones. Not sure about "the creek". Its kind of here, but its moving away all the time, so passing through.   This mornings first reading was about a fellow wanting God to take his life. He laid down to die, but an angel visited and nourished back to health. Father said, we all need support at times & we offer it to others.  The second reading encouraged us to be quiet, calm and loving towards others. Of course the reading was more negative: don't yell, don't abuse, don't harm etc.I don't think it threatened a good smiting, but it may have. Be cool. 

With my cookset on back I sped off down a trail Any trail, just feedin the stoke I follow the river north Suburban roads play out before the real trail begins Ruts, wrinkles & sprays of gravel  Evole an  state of arousal we mount a hump of road pulse quickening as we rise up, up eyelids involuntarily flutter I'm the wind  screw the throttle down hard to set the engine on throb mode the whole juggernaut pulsates up the crack of this sweaty arsed hill vibrations rise from deep in the gut,  grip the bars firmly as we roll ov er  the world set spinning as we run down from the climax wind cool on your chest where  ecstacy rises the exhaust note lowers to a  low  chuckling rumble  satisfied. its enough to let her roll down find her own way ahead

Searching the web for information about Miners Cottage restorations I found a blog by Gary Vines: "' a personal blog, mostly about archaeology and history ".  Vines covers a project about 90 year old   prospecting huts in Clydesdale in regional Victoria .  Apparently  these early era constructions were " composed of various [found] materials - stone, wattle and daub". Also used was corrugated iron the great Australian traditional roofing. Well my  cottage has none of the former exotic materials, but is capped with corrugated iron which will be cleaned & left in place where possible.   He lauds the restrorers' philosophy: " to do as much as necessary but as little as possible"; for example, using a l inseed oil preparation for finishing all the timber work .  I love the smell of linseed oil & the fact that its a renewable vegetable based oil is a great bonus.  Modern comforts like water and power were connected, but th...

In the last week two YouTube videos struck a chord that resonated within me. Lean Into The Wind posted " Get Out of Your Town " urging the viewer to take off on their motorcycle for the weekend or longer. He'd just been through a tough time watching his daughter survive two surgeries on her heart.  Then Dry Creek Wrangler posted Life is Hard  . As a fellow that enjoys people but is easily overloaded, he suggeseted heading up country a while and  resting . He was very clear on the fact that the key aim be to rest. He counselled against filling these break outs with entertainment. Just rest, let your body, mind or emotions rest & replenish themselves. A good while back a proponent of "Micro Adventures" suggested having a pack ready to go for overnight & weekend adventures. He urged to do anything, just get out. Sleep in a tree was one thing I recall. Well this is a bit fancy, but the idea of being pack-ready was good. So today I prepared my cookset in a ...

 head banger rides off in a chopper. It appears that badass killer of dissidents Bangladeshi's "iron leader" has left on her chopper before the law catches up with her. Badass.   hey you fat cats on gas, shot just got real. News in from Old Californ-i-yay is that "big batteries" are seeing those good people power through the night on solar powered juice.  So good & great is this energy supply that people are turning off fossil fuel gas. Profits from gas sales are set to expire & fat cats worldwide are nervous as when they shit razorblades. No doubt the Aistralian Government Corporate Australia Coalition will be trying to head this off at the pass. But it won't succeed because the green energy people are hardened to their bs & this revolution is being driven by families & intelligent investors. Get fucked! 

“ Helping others without any reason and giving without the expectation of receiving anything in return". Roy T. Bennett In response to my daughter's  job application and profile  more than one employer out west was impressed. Its not rocket science, among other attribites he was the 2022 NSW Pony Club Volunteer of the Year. I'd put her on the payroll on that alone, buy a few mealy mouths offered only lowly work, for long hours & low pay.   One brave heart was impressed too. He called her up and reassured her she could have any job she wanted on the local Council work team. Then he invited her to visit for a chat and look about.  Being conscientious on all that she does Mia drove the five hours then presented for a job interview. On the day it turned out Craig not only told her she had a position, he wanted to get to know her & then run through the types of work they offered in order to fit in with Mia's wishes.  When she returned home Mia was chuffe...

AUG : Prepare House:  ??? Joes intentions???  Pack away & secure. Rates. Tidy boats, sell cat.  Prepare Boat :  Buy, fit auto bilge pump.  Preparation Transport : Repair Land Rover. Service Trailer, tie down points Buy cat carriers, vax cats  Preparation Mowing : Cut to finish Complete olives Veda. Advise customers.  House Ownership : Liaise Super Liaise Lawyer; pay fees . SEP Wk 1 : House settlement. WK 2 : House sitting PH with pets  Begin rebuilding house. OK, that's the stock standard Jobs List out of the way. Easy hey, just work at each one to completion then tick it off?  Well no its not easy, beyond the significant physical turmoil is the emotional adjustment to not living with Joe, the strain of maintaining my boat at Avalon, juggling the pets welfare including managing one cat with contagious leukaemia, and finally getting myself through a major life change. I am really conscious that the drawcard of the move out west...

"Bring on the nonsense": Ian   Roussel,  Full Custom Garage. I do like Mr Roussel's attitude to creative engineering. He has fun and stretches the limits of his creativity and skills in each build. He also tries really hard to be significantly different and is spurred on to have people say his creations are silly, or weird or crazy.  I i magine if someone criticized any of his builds he would smile ever more broadly and say: "Yeah Man! That's just what I was going for".  Not a bad attitude when you live on a planet that's being actively destroyed by its (supposedly) most intelligent inhabitants.