Steepness is all a point of view....

On the way back from the airport, we went to see the land. Daile hadn’t seen what she’d put her name to and we both felt that if we were going to have a row about my unfortunate choice of land site, we should get it over with whilst we were still jet lagged…! It WAS a little steeper than I’d remembered admittedly, but on the whole, she liked it….at least that’s what she’s saying….so that’s good eh? Matilda and Phoebe were a bit confused. Phoebe seemed to have been under the impression that I’d built the house already…and wondered where it was! Matilda initially said that she didn’t like it….and then changed her mind when it was pointed out that it is an excellent site for a ‘Flying Fox’! (Death slide!)….. Sorted!

Here’s a picture of the little poppet on the news of the fun times ahead for her,

and another of the new development immediately below us, which is pretty much what I’d expected I guess….and looks like quite a nice house, although they’ve not left themselves any garden to speak of. Our site is about four times the size of this, so whilst our house should be a little bigger, there’s oodles of space left for all the gardening that Daile wants to do.

Today we went to open a bank account but were frustrated by the fact that in Australia, all accounts attract an ongoing maintenance fee, and many also charge for the transactions. The structure of the contract that you enter into is complex (of course) so its difficult to make a comparison. However the writing seems to be on the wall, as apparently the fees that banks charge is becoming a competitive issue, much as it did in the UK. Ozzie banks make 3.5 billion dollars out of fees….which is a lot lot lot!
http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=264471
On top of this, Daile was disgusted to find that as a ‘foreigner’ its easier for me to open an account that it is for her! My passport alone is all I need, whereas she needs other things like proof of address, driving licence, etc. I suggested that it might be because Australians come from unreliable stock…if you know what I mean, and told the joke about the Englishman who was asked about whether he had a criminal record by a passport official, to which he replied ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was still required!’…. It was like a comedian dying on stage! They both looked at me as if I’d just loosed off a smelly fart or something! (I TOLD you I’d offend them with next to no effort didn’t I?)

It’s interesting that even when I’m not working, I feel a sense of exhilaration at the prospect of Saturday being the next day! Today we're having a little get together with Daile's sister Carlene, (pronounced 'care-lean') and one or two 'mates'...(that's what Australians call freinds...but also what they call people who are complete strangers, as if to feign an easy going happy go lucky attitude - as in G'day 'mate'....how'y'going?) One lad that's coming is 'Johny Jetwash'. Ha ha... another is 'Rudy Judy'. At some point they must have had to earn these titles, and i'm buggered if I know how! They're all a good laugh anyhow, and i'm looking forward to it. I'll see if I can get a picture for ya.

'Laters...'