Welcome to my blog!

 

 

𝕴 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖇𝖚𝖇𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖆𝖎𝖓𝖑𝖞 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖒𝖞 𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖆𝖎𝖓𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖇𝖚𝖙 𝖎𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖞𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊 𝖕𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖎𝖑 𝖒𝖊 𝖆𝖙 𝖗𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖇𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖓𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓[𝕬𝕿]𝖒𝖆𝖎𝖑.𝖈𝖔𝖒

 

I had to add this little preamble because something has gone wrong with the software. For some reason the side panel does not display unless I add this fixed "Welcome" post to the top. The mysteries of computers and computer software. Perhaps I should stick to playing my accordion. Last night a neighbour hammered on the door. It was already past midnight! Luckily, I was still awake and playing my accordion — I'm only joking; we live on seven acres and our only neighbour is the river.

 

Away with the PIXIE

 

PIXIE at 17 Braidwood Street, Nelligen

 

For many years I've been trying to get away to Far North Queensland where the weather is warm and the crocodiles are friendly. While with every year the urge has become more urgent, it is no longer to get somewhere where the weather is warm and the crocodiles are friendly, but somewhere where I won't have to do much grasscutting.

Not only has it been difficult to find a buyer for "Riverbend", it' has also been difficult to find the right floorplan to accommodate my extra-large collection of books. The floorplan shown below would be an ideal one:

 

 

There is a house in the village across the river — and just across the recently sold old church — which not only has the right floorplan with plenty of space for my books — in fact, twice as much space as at present — but which would also allow me to stay close to my old neighbour, the river, not from my doorstep but from a great height.

 

Floorplan of PIXIE with the book storage marked in green

 

Unfortunately, it is not for sale. Not yet, but I am waiting for it. It was for sale in August 2010 when it sold for $660,000, and again in August 2021 when it sold for $815,000. In 2010 I was still dreaming of going north for the warm weather and the friendly crocodiles; by 2021 I had already begun to adjust myself to go almost 'anywhere' as long as there wasn't much grass to cut, but somehow I wasn't quite ready yet to commit myself to a second property while "Riverbend" was still unsold.

Today I would be ready to price "Riverbend" well below market value for a quick sale, if "PIXIE" became available, even in the unlikely event of it now being put up for sale at twice the price, because — and here's an interesting fact for those who keep banging on about real estate being an unbeatable investment — the $815,000 I didn't spent in 2021 but left invested in shares have since then also more than doubled in value.

And so I keep checking realestate.com.au in the hope that it may come up for sale, in which case I would, as they say, "be away with the PIXIE".

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

P.S. But not today! The share market giveth, and the share market taketh away, and today it took away all the gains it had given yesterday, perhaps as a belated reaction to Trump's latest folly in the Middle East.

 

Miriam Makeba brought back a myriad of memories

 

 

I've always gone to sleep with the radio on. It used to give me a sense of continuity and familiarity no matter where in the world I found myself. Howling desert winds, the noise of an unfamiliar city, or the crunching of gears of heavy dumptrucks labouring up a hill: it was all drowned out by my radio always tuned to Radio Australia or BBC World Service or my own cassette recordings.

There's nothing to be drowned out at "Riverbend" except for the sound of silence but the radio and the habit have stayed with me ever since. Last night the silence was drowned out by the sound of Miriam Makeba which brought back a myriad of memories of my time in South-West Africa (today's Namibia) and of my flat mate Karl-Heinz Herzberg who played Miriam Makeba songs all night long to drown out the howling desert winds. It was either Miriam Makiba or Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By". Karl-Heinz, if you read this in Swakopmund, this is for you! (and here and here and here and here are some more memories)

 

 

Alles van die beste en groete uit "Riverbend".

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future

 

1 Runnyford Road, Nelligen

 

The old church up on the hill has been sold again, the fourth time since it first went into private hands in 1997 and was restored to its former glory, after which it was used as a sort of glorified art gallery. The next owner, a nice lady who bought it in 2012 for $450,000, added a mezzanine floor as a bedroom, and then lived in it.

She used the vast open space for some memorable parties, some of which we attended, including a wonderful Christmas party celebrated appropriately in a former church. And there should have been many more memorable parties, but seven years later she thought the real estate market had topped and she should cash in. She found buyers at $740,000 who then rented it back to her for an undisclosed rent.

 

 

Smart move? It depends! It depends on the real estate market not going higher and the new owners not selling up again, which they just did, for $1,200,000. The nice lady not just lost her rental but also the extra $460,000 she would've made had she stayed put and sold up later.

It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, and I really need to question whether President Trump's mental capacity extends beyond kindergarten level

 

 

As the war in the Middle East heats up, the US President says this latest war is not really a war, and that despite two other Middle Eastern wars having cost trillions of dollars, led to thousands of deaths and ultimately achieved nothing, this one will be settled, like the one in the Ukraine, within twenty-four hours.

In the meantime, the Greens in Australia have proposed a national day of mourning following the death of the "Supreme Leader" while the Australian Prime Minister has announced he stands fully behind the United States’ decision to invade (insert Middle Eastern country name here), which was necessary due to (CUT AND PASTE REASON FROM WHITE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE HERE – DON’T MENTION THE OIL).

I got out of bed this morning, expecting the share market to get a real hammering, but, after a few hesitant moments when BHP dropped as low as $57.08, it roared ahead, closing the day at $59.25, up 84 cents. Woodside, predictably, was up 6% on fears that oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz will be stopped if the Iranian Navy gets its way.

Of course, it's all about money. And what backs money? The 17th century English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, had an answer. Violence! The power of the state is secured through its monopoly on violence. When the state issues money – that money is secured by the state's ability to wage war. Or as Comedian Denis Leary famously explained, "Because we’ve got the bombs."

 

 

End of lesson!

 

Googlemap Riverbend