Earthquake

I was having my coffee when things started to rattle. Over the space of what seemed to be almost a minute, it built up and culminated in quite a shake before fading away.    The TV news told us that an earthquake had occurred, with an epicentre near Mansfield and certainly stronger than the mild tremors that we very occasionally feel.    I texted a colleague who happens to be at Mt Buller, who informed me that he had certainly felt it but had no damage.   A (on the other side of Melbourne) rang to tell us that her power was off so she couldn’t make coffee.   So far as we’re concerned, my first thought was the underpinning that we had done a couple of years ago; it had done its job and our house had no cracks or other ill effects.   A couple of pictures on the wall were slightly dislocated, but that seems to have been all.

Building insurance

I always get a shock when the renewal arrives for the house insurance.   I know that the cost of any building work has risen in recent years, and I suppose there’s an element of cross-subsidisation for those affected by natural disasters, but, well, it just seems a lot of money. The renewal notice says it’s increased 9.2% from last year.

I obtained a few other on-line quotes and found that there was in fact quite a range of prices.    The renewal price was at the lower end of the range, but was more than the lowest.  As against that, the lowest was from a company that advertises as being “budget”.  I looked for reviews on the  internet, but they weren’t very helpful.  It seems that the only people who post reviews of products such as insurance are those who have a grudge to air (compared with accommodation reviews where there’s almost always a good range of opinions on sites such as TripAdvisor).   Just the same, the company with the lowest quote seemed to get even more negative reviews that the others.

In the end, I decided to renew and stay with the same company.  Hopefully, if we do make a claim, then “loyalty” might count for something, although perhaps this is just wishful thinking!

 

Citrus

It seems to have been a good year for the citrus trees. Although our lemon tree hasn’t performed very well (perhaps as a result of the heavy pruning a few months ago – lots of leaves but not much fruit), we’ve had fruit both from the potted lemon and mandarin that are in our courtyard.     And we’ve been kindly given some home grown oranges and lemons, too.

We’ve been given some oranges and lemons

Mandarins

The potted lemon has come good for the first time ever

The possums have been getting to some of the lemons before us.

Curtains

We’ve lived here for decades, but it seems there’s always scope to do a little more around the place. So – new curtains!

 

Offer to buy “off-market”

We get lots of “stuff” from estate agents, all of whom would like to sell the house: flyers in the letterbox, emails, phone calls to “keep in touch”, and so on. I know this is usual; the challenge for most agents is to get the listing.

Less common are the “plain” letters: “we’re a couple and we’d like to buy your house, without involving an agent”.    We got one of these recently: “My partner and I are actively looking for a family home in the area having recently sold our home”.  It went on for a few paragraphs, and ended with an offer to meet over coffee.

Well, it didn’t actually state that the “couple” concerned were going to live in the house.   And, strictly speaking, would it matter?   But the email address given led to a property development company (easily googled).   I guess that if a transaction eventuated, it could be said that the hint was there from the outset.

At Bunnings

We all go to Bunnings, of course.  But often the issue is finding what you need.  We were out there recently, seeking a slightly unusual item – a device to go at the bottom of an external gate, to stop leaves from being blown under it. We asked a couple of staff, both of whom were helpful.  But they both sent us to  the same aisle, where a wide variety of draught stoppers for all types of doors were available – but not what we wanted.  So we resorted to wandering around and in a completely different section, another staff member pointed us in the correct direction.

So, the issue was “language”.    We didn’t know the proper name of the item we wanted, and our attempts to describe it resulted in a mis-match!   Even though we think we all speak the same language, there’s no easy way to overcome a lack of technical knowledge.   Maybe next time, we’ll take a photo of what we want with us.

 

On line surveys

We bought a new appliance, but before it was even delivered, we got the “client satisfaction” survey – starting with the inevitable “would you recommend us to a friend?” (the one-liner used to obtain the “net promoter score” – seen as all important in at least some quarters).    I don’t like surveys at the best of times, but it’s ridiculous for the computerised survey to arrive even before the appliance did.

One part of me was tempted to respond negatively, for this reason.  However, on reflection, I’m allowing the matter to pass.  Perhaps that my inertia will itself somehow be reflected in the statistics?

In the meantime, the appliance was in fact delivered, as scheduled, and all seems to be OK with it.

 

Lemon tree

I earlier expressed a little apprehension about the severe pruning that I inflicted on our lemon tree. But, yes, come spring, and indeed there are sprouts everywhere. However, there aren’t too many flowers so perhaps this year we’re going to see lots of leaves and not so many lemons.

Mowing

I temporarily relieved the appearance of the lawn by hand-mowing, but I held off doing it again when the prospect of the man with the machine came into sight.

Just the same, by the time he arrived, the grass was very long.

 

 

But he came, and all is back to “normal” – at least so far as the lawn is concerned.

 

Mowing

It’s spring, and the man who mows our lawns isn’t allowed to come because to the restrictions.  So, out with the hand mower, from a dusty corner of the shed.  It needed a bit of lubricating oil and even so my initial efforts weren’t impressive but I adjusted  the blade so as to give a closer cut.   The result is OK  but it’s not as good a job as the professional does with his machine.

So, it will be back to using the professional as soon as he’s allowed to come.