I have a confession to make

 

For more about Schrankenwärter Laumann, click here.

 

I confess that there are days when I feel like Schrankenwärter Laumann and I need to remind myself of what one of my ex-colleagues from my New Guinea days keeps telling me, "Peter, you've done enough for at least two lifetimes."

Schrankenwärter Laumann's weekly highlight is Tuesdays when he checks the readiness of his signalling horn (2:32); mine is on Thursdays when I wheel out the garbage bin for next morning's collection, which takes care of two days of the week as I wheel it back in again on Fridays.

As for the rest of the week, I read books on Sundays, and also on Wednesdays and Saturdays and Tuesdays and Mondays. Ocassionally, I break my schedule and ponder what the hell made me retire so early instead of working on challenging overseas contracts for another ten, fifteen, even twenty years - enough years for at least a third lifetime!

No more navel-gazing! Today is Thursday when I wheel out the garbage bin for Friday morning's collection, after which I wheel it back in again.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

It'll probably outlast me again!

 

 

Australia in the 1960s was a country of teedrinkers. If you wanted coffee, you had two choices: International Roast or none. International Roast came in a huge tin which, in Barton Hosue where I was living, was so rarely opened it outlasted the two years I lived in that boarding-house.

On the rare occasion when I feel like a cup of coffee, I still look for the old International Roast, which usually comes in a user-friendly 100g-tin for six dollars. Today I found a big 500g-tin for fifteen dollars. That's five times the contents for only two-and-a-half times the price! Given that the value of my share portfolio has been dropping like a stone ever since BHP's 52-week high of $65.98 on the 17th of June — they are trading at $57.25 as I type while enjoying my first cup of International Roast — I couldn't afford to pass up this money-saving bargain, and so I took the big 500g-tin, even though it'll probably outlast me once again!

On that happy note I shall fill a thermos with some more International Roast and go to "Melbourne" for a quiet afternoon among the gum trees.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Cogito ergo sum

 

I have called my little cabin "Melbourne", so that, if someone asks for me, Padma won't have to tell a lie when she tells them "He's gone to Melbourne" to make them go away.

 

It's important to have a place to shut out the world and all its demands. A place to collect your thoughts, a place where you can think, relax, be honest with yourself; feel tranquil when needed, and stimulated when not. Somewhere, however small, that gives you a sense of solitude and is a sanctuary for your private thoughts, and where visitors need not be welcomed.

Solitude means being alone without feeling lonely. We all need periods of solitude. Periods of time to think. Thinking really means talking to your self. It involves both the speaker (I) and the listener (me).

Descartes, the 17th-century rationalist and father of modern philosophy, famously said cogito ergo sum, which means I think therefore I am. He believed thinking starts with the eye and came up with his immortal line when he was alone in bed. He must have really liked his own company.

 

To explore this famous thought experiment further, go the to wikipedia page

 

I did a lot of talking to my self last night in my own special place, "Melbourne", far away from the rest of the world. I thought I might spend the rest of the night there, but then there was a knock on the door, and 'she-who-must-be-obeyed' said that dinner was ready.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Lunch with a view

 

View of the Bay from the dining room at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club

 

A day in town is never complete with a visit to Vinnies, and so, after a lunch of Chinese food at the Soldiers' Club, I checked through Vinnies' book section for any hidden treasures.

 

 

I found a nice copy of Albert Camus' "The Plague" and an interesting history of George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh, titled "The Same Man".

On the lighter side, I picked up Jonas Jonasson's "The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared" - which was also made into a charming movie - click here - and Paul Hogan's "Australia According to Hoges". I wasn't sure about "Philosophy Made Simple" by Robert Hellenga and "This Book Made Me Think Of You" by Libby Page, but at two dollars each, I can't go much wrong, can I?

All I need now is plenty of time to read them all.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Riverside Living in the Heart of the Bay

 

For the full advertisement, click here

 

Sometimes life moves in circles: before I bought "Riverbend" at the end of 1993, I had bought a small riverside unit in the Bay as my pied-à-terre when I came down to the coast from Canberra.

 

An almost forgotten photo of my Unit 4 after I had rescued it from some terrible tenants and tried to rent it out as a furnished holiday-rental, but that was a mug's game too, with the income barely covering the body corporate levies and council rates. I sold it in 2003 for $365,000 at what was then the height of the market. The next owner sold it again in 2008 for $310,000, and it was last sold in 2018 for $430,000. Barely a raving financial success.

 

Then, after a sudden rush of blood to the head, I found myself to be the owner of "Riverbend", and I no longer needed the little riverside unit. I kept it as a rental but that was a mug's game, which I gave away in 2003 by selling it for $365,000. Even though the capital gains had barely kept up with inflation, I was presented with a tax bill of $55,640. Not much of an investment, but, of course, it had always been a lifestyle choice.

 

My previously owned Unit 4 is two doors to the right of the BLACKSHAW pointer

 

That was Unit 4 at 33 Clyde Street - click here - so when Unit 2 recently came up for sale, I was interested to have a look. Its current owners had bought it in 2021 for $531,000, and it is now for sale at between $650,000 - $665,000 (Why do agents advertise a price RANGE; do they really expect someone to pay more than the advertised bottom price?)

 

 

When I inspected it today, I was impressed with the improvements to both the inside of the unit and the maintenance of the whole 15-unit complex, and said that I would be interested in buying it for $600,000.

Something may come of it, or nothing may come of it. If I can buy it for $600,000, I'm back to where I started in 1992 when I bought the same unit two doors down as my coastal pied-à-terre. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you're interested in some riverside living in the heart of the Bay, you should contact Jessica Fisher at BLACKSHAW.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

P.S. It's early Monday morning, just after 9 o'clock, and BLACKSHAW phoned: no, the owners won't accept $600,000! I'm sort of relieved as I always tend to get a bit carried away on the day (and I won't even tell you about my wedding day!) Anyway, I'm not quite ready yet to swap 10,000 of my BHP shares for yet another excursion into real estate. In trying to solve the unaffordable housing problem by removing tax-breaks on those that provide the housing, the Labor government's changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax have put a cloud over real estate as a form of investment. The downward correction in the real estate market could run for another six to twelve months, after which house prices will eventually stop falling and slower rises will resume. The owners of Unit 2 may well rue the day they rejected my offer.