Return to Perth

Susan and I decided to say 'goodbye' to 14 Ward Grove, Pascoe Vale South by sharing the moment with friends. Although the house was full of packed boxes, we invited people over to say farewell...and take a momento. We both made bold decisions about art and craft that had been part of our lives for years. For example, I'd had a Gustav Klimt print hanging on various bedroom walls since the 1970s. A tea pot I'd bought from a ceramist in Canberra last century. A Boda vase that I'd been given. There were smaller pieces from ceramic pots to glassware, vases, both antique and modern, knick knacks from all over the world, and even hats. And in contemplating a new home, we needed to leave some space for new acquisitions. This was a clean out where we knew each piece was going to bring pleasure to someone else and so it was much easier to let it go. Debora, Glenda, Jesse, Murray & Loretta Kath, Susan & Julie Gemma, Pam, Dale & David

How do you sort out a house you've been in for 24 years? I should confess upfront that Susan and I are not Kondo afficiondos nor did we watch all the episodes of Swedish Death Cleaning series so we had a lot of stuff to sort through. For what seemed like months, I was making twice weekly visits to St Vinnies to drop off everything from clothes to kitchenware. We hired a 12 metre skip and recruited our wonderful neighbour Mike to smash up furntiture that was no good to anyone.  I even threw out Livia, the polystyrene statue that had starred in a production of "Women Beware Women" back in the 1980s. Poor thing. Her head had falled off a number of times only be stuck back on with jewel encrusted gaffer tape.But being outside for nearly twenty years meant that she had lost her charm.  Mike, our helpful neighbour Goodbye to Livia Another cultural challenge was books. Susan is a re-reader of books and I always claim that I'm going to so between us, we had 16 or was it 17 fu...

In order to fund our return to Perth, we had to sell our remaining contact with the city - our parents's unit in Claremont. After Susan and I left home, Alan and Betty downsized into a modest unit close(ish) to their beloved Cottesloe Beach. For years, we all squeezed into the place to spend summer Christmases with them and catch up with friends at Betty's famous backyard parties. Even our current cat, Indigo, spent her first Christmas at Anstey St.  Susan, Sebastian & Betty, Christmas 2006 at Anstey St Since Betty's death in 2008 we had been renting the unit out via Shellabears, the real estate company that had sold it to the parents in the first place, so we turned to them (after some due diligence) and saw the full impact of the ferocious Perth property market: - Saturday opening - First offer in by Sunday - Shellebears pondering whether it was even worth doing another opening, but did so on Wednesday - 6 offers in by Thursday - sold by Friday. I wondered whether I...

In July 2024, on my return from a (wonderful) couple of months in Europe, I called into Perth to check the validity of my spreadsheets. Was it possible to buy a home with all the requirements that Susan and I needed for a home: - a pool - 3 to 4 bedrooms (so Sebastian & our Eastern States friends could come to visit)  - 2 living areas (because we have such different tastes in television) - single story (Susan in particular is over stairs) - close to a good beach...and to Perth friends. I enlisted my real estate researcher friend Stephanie and we drove all over the city looking at suburbs - north as far as Gwelup and south as far as Hamilton Hill. What had looked good on paper was starting to look dodgy because the Perth real estate market took off in 2024. By the end of the year prices had increased by 25% while the Melbourne market had sunk by 5%. What we could afford was looking further and further away from ideal locations. However, traipsing around the town with Stephanie w...

This is a blog I should have started months, or even years ago. The original idea of a blog was a daily or regular commentary on the world but instead you are going to get a time stream compressed into a few weeks. It's the story about why I am writing to you from from Perth, Western Australia. Once upon a time (i.e. in 2023), I woke up one morning and decided I wanted a swimming pool before I died. Clearly, that wasn't going to be an option in Melbourne (too cold, weather too erratic and housing too expense) so suddenly the idea of returning to my town of origin, Perth, surfaced. I mentioned this to my sister Susan (with whom I shared the Pink House in Pascoe Vale South), she mused for about a minute and decided that she liked the idea. She was over Melbourne winters, sitting upstairs in front of her computer in fluffy socks, a jumper and a hoody with the cat trying to take over the oil heater. The next step was a spreadsheet. Was it even feasible to make the move? We knew tha...