Apparently this is our house...

... it looks like our house. The proximity to the beach is about right and I don't know many other people with such an awkward 90 degree-angled driveway. And the sign is on our front lawn so it must be our house. But what confused me were the following words:

• Layout allows easy movement between the formal living, three double bedrooms and bathroom off the main.
• The dining area opens onto the generous kitchen that extends to a covered outdoor area.
• If you want to be acquainted with the long days of beachside living, this is your chance.

What the....?

I think what they might actually mean is

• House quite small so all rooms are quite close together.
• There is a separate lounge-room so you don't have to try and squeeze your sofa into the dining/kitchen area.
• If you're lucky you might get a double bed into each of the three bedrooms, although you won't get much else in the third room so I wouldn't bother.
• The bathroom has a door leading to the main bedroom. Don't be fooled into thinking this is an ensuite. It isn't, and in fact can get very confusing when people come to stay or if there are more than two people living there. In fact, unless there are only two of you I fail to see the point of this additional door.
  
• The dining area and kitchen are basically in one big room with patio doors. You may find that although the kitchen looks big, it is actually quite small and poorly designed, with lots of wasted space, awkward corner cupboards and most of the cupboards squeezed into the corner where the stove is so that if one person is cooking you can forget about getting much else done, such as putting the dishes away or grabbing a glass of water. And don't even get me started on the stove; I have three words: rip it out.
  
• You will enjoy a reasonable amount of shade from the covered outdoor area but don't expect to stay dry in rain as it leaks really badly. And it flaps around in high winds. In fact, you may as well just replace the whole thing.
  
• Er... really not sure about the "long days" business. The days aren't any longer because you live at the beach, in fact they probably seem shorter because it's so nice but to be fair, if you can afford to buy this house you're probably either rich and retired, in which case the days may be very long, or you work all the hours God sends to pay off your mortgage, in which case the days you get to spend at the house will probably seem very short.

So if anyone fancies buying a beach house and renting it out to us, come along to the auction on 21st July and bring a spare $600,000. I'll be the one in the bed, clutching my head and moaning "Get out of my house and leave me in peace, you evil, evil people" as the boys from work are treating me to a Buckette's party the night before - how nice of them. Thank God the new Harry Potter book is released that day. It may be my only salvation - if I can get my eyes to work.

Caveat: I'm not dissing the house. It's a very nice house and we would be very happy to stay here a while longer. A little overpriced perhaps, but everything around here is. I just find real estate agent speak quite amusing and the positive spin they've given this property is very impressive.

Poetry: Angst of a poet

Last night as I was in my bed,
I wrote a haiku in my head.
This morning when I woke back up,
I found the haiku thought had fled.

I thought I was a decent poet,
I thought I'd make a laureate,
But when it all came down and to it,
I found that I had clean forget.

Running with soup

What a day! What a [insert chosen expletive, descriptive word or noise here. I'm going with Ngrnganggh!! which I think is similar to a Marge Simpson frustrated growl] day!

It started quite nicely. I achieved my objective of getting out of bed before 7am for the first time in so long I can't remember when. I then went for a run/walk/photographic mish. Note to self: Running with a camera does not constitute effective morning exercise on account of the fact that one sees the world from an entirely different perspective when one has a camera, and becomes fascinated by the merest thing that one would not normally spare a second glance. It results in something akin to this: run for 100 metres; spot something interesting; investigate further and take photo; change exposure and take another photo; experiment with flash and take another photo; walk for 20 metres whilst reviewing and critiquing photos; run for 50-100 metres; spot something interesting; and so on.

On my return run/walk/photo mish I intended to do some shoulder rows and chest presses using the funky machines in the new grown-ups' play gym the council recently installed in our local park but thanks to the camera I instead became distracted by rainbow lorrikeets and blue-faced honeyeaters. Then I got chatting to a woman from Dubbo who was house-sitting for her sister. I've always wondered what a place called Dubbo would be like but it doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd want to visit in order to find out. It sounds like a place often mentioned but never visited on Neighbours or Home & Away, or the nickname of the local bevan (chav/hoon/scally/bogan). Anyway, she was very nice and obviously pleased to be in Buddina and not Dubbo. All in all it was a pleasant start to the day.

Grown-ups play gym. Just like the real gym but free.

It was when I got home that things began to go horribly wrong. The following actual email thread I sent to work over the next few hours pretty much sums it up:

From: "Lindsey Buckle"
To: "Dion", "Daniel", "Elaine", "Greg", "Linda", "Lindsay", "Matthew", "Peter", "Richard"
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 8:36 AM
Subject: Averting disaster - will be in late, if at all
Hello team,

I returned home from a run this morning to discover a terrible leak and a slight flood, mainly outside the house but also inside. I have had to switch the water off at the mains and currently have no way of showering, brushing my teeth etc. etc. I'm waiting for the plumber to arrive and have no idea at this stage when I'll make it into work, if at all.

I'll keep you informed.

Have full electricity so if anyone can think of anything I can be getting on with at home I'd be happy to oblige. Currently all I can think of is how smelly I am and what damage has been done. Bugger.

Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 8:44 AM >>>
UPDATE

Plumber arriving in approximately 30-45 mins. Depending on how long it takes him to do the job and get the water back on, I am hoping to be at work around 11am.

Hopefully see you then,
Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 10:14 AM >>>
UPDATE

Plumber been and gone. Burst pipe. All good ('cept for flood on toilet floor I have to clean up). Water back on - yay! Will be in at 12. (Not enough time to make the 10.30 bus unforch!).

Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 1:27 PM >>>
UPDATE

I think I might be having the worst day ever. After grappling for about 15 minutes with the garage door, which refused to let me lock it and which I'd had to open for the plumber who didn't end up using it anyway, I legged it to the bus stop and then realised I'd left my bag containing money, keys, phone and bus pass at home. Legged it home again, remembering that there was a door I hadn't checked when I left home because it never used to unlock but has recently started to. Halleluliah it was unlocked so I raced back to the bus stop, this time with bag. Bus wasn't there but another turned up and told me it was only 34 past - mine due at 35. After 20 minutes of waiting I figured I'd missed it and took a bus down Nicklin Way to get a different bus. That one didn't turn up either so I called the bus company and they explained the first one had been 30 minutes late and the second one doesn't go that way any more - had a route change three weeks ago, apparently. Was well advertised, apparently. By this time I was on a bus back to Kawana Waters arguing over the phone with the guy at Sunbus who tried to tell me the bus drivers don't use a centralised system yet so just because one guy said it was 34 past doesn't mean it was, and whoever told me that Sunbus will pay for a taxi for you if they've screwed up was wrong and by the way, if I'd continued south I could have got the next 607 from Caloundra.

Anyway, end result is I am MAJORLY stressed out and probably not going to get to work before 2pm anyway and have an appointment at 5.45pm so am questioning the worth. Do you think this much stress constitutes sick leave? Because I do actually feel like I could vomit right now.

Tomorrow has to be a better day and I hope to see you all then. Probably best you don't mention this to me... I might breathe fire at you.

Lindsey.

Running with soup? I hear you ask. Yes, today was not the best day to be running for the bus as I had a tub of soup for my lunch. Turned out okay but I was paranoid nonetheless.

Anyway, you know they say every cloud has a silver lining and everything happens for a reason etc. etc? Well, I've figured it out. After returning home I decided to sit outside and have some lunch and discovered that the patio door was unlocked, and not even shut properly. So, had I not forgotten my bag then I would have left the house with two doors unlocked. Had the bus company not completely screwed up my entire day I would have left the house with one door unlocked. Still, I need a car.

Am now completely exhausted after all the disaster averting, route reorganising and generally floundering around on buses not really getting anywhere. I think I need a nana nap.

When the going gets tough.... play with your photographs

The view from the surf club where our wedding reception will be, across the bay towards Point Cartwright, the headland where we will exchange our vows.

Okay, so I've been a wee bit quiet of late. That's because I've been stressed with a capital S-T-R-E and double S!!! Most of you will have heard the incredibly unfortunate news that not only are our landlords a bit dubious about us sharing our home with some beautiful pussies (cats for the filthy minded of you) but they're also not too sure about actually keeping the house and have put it on the market. Our lease ends two weeks before the wedding. They only need to give us two week's notice to move out on that date. This is not good news.

After two or three intense weeks of house-hunting, for a house to purchase nonetheless, and vacating our own home every Saturday morning between 11 and 11.30pm so that the real estate agents can let randoms into our home to do what they will without any protection for us from the law or insurance because technically it's not breaking and entering and we have given our permission (yeh! right!!), followed by an angst-ridden loooong weekend (bank holiday, sweetie, 'cept they call it a public holiday here... don't know why. Ask anyone who works in a shop and they'll tell you it's the banks, not the public that get the holiday) wherein we put in an offer on a house we loved but which was massively over-priced and entered negotiations only to be told, after more than 24 hours of waiting for a response to our final offer, that the seller wouldn't budge from his first, rather ungenerous counter-offer, after all that we've come to the conclusion that there is nothing on the market that we want to buy. We were about to reconsider what we might want to buy, reluctantly as one does not enter into debt of almost half a million dollars simply because they wish to move before their wedding because their landlords have the sensitivity and good-timing of a nuclear war, when we heard the rather good news that we MAY be permitted to stay here until a few weeks after the wedding. It's not in writing yet so nothing is guaranteed but purleease everyone cross their fingers, toes, arms, legs and roads for us.

So, other than getting completely distracted by Facebook and getting back to organising the wedding (we now have suits for the boys, shoes for the bride and are well on the way to a veil), I have decided to create a few albums of some of my favourite photos to share with you all.

Firstly, I created an album of shots taken in my garden. I love getting out there and taking photos of birds, flowers and insects. Usually I'm out there doing something else, like gathering fruit from the veggie garden, or hanging the washing out, and I'll see something that will make me run indoors and grab the camera. I then generally spend about half an hour to an hour wandering around taking photographs of things, entirely distracted from the task at hand. You can see this album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/MyGarden.

The second album I created consists of photographs of Buddina Beach where we have lived for the past four years. I have always loved, and been inspired by this beach but I'm feeling particularly nostalgic about it now that I know we may be leaving to live elsewhere in a few weeks. This album is at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/OurBeach.

Lastly, I created an album of Point Cartwright, the headland 3 kilometres north of our home and where we will be getting married in 7 weeks. Obviously this is a very special place for both Toby and I. We have had some great times up there, it is a beautiful spot with a positive energy. Anyone who ever visits me on the Sunshine Coast will be treated to a tour of Point Cartwright and I'm confident you'll all fall in love with the place. Check out the album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/PointCartwright.

I have commented on most of the photographs so if you have the time, click on each one and read about its background. Each of these albums will be constantly updated when I take relevant photographs that I'm particularly pleased with, either because they're good pictures or because they hold special memories for me. Save these links as favourites and check back on occasion or subscribe to the RSS feed on the bottom right of the album page.

I've discovered Facebook...

.. and it may be about to take over my life.

It all started quite innocently. A young chap, whom I used to reside with, sent me an invite. At first I ignored it. I have tried the odd social networking site before but they turned out to be just that - odd! After a while I grew curious, or perhaps just bored, and as it is my job (kind of) to keep abreast of web and internet technologies I decided I should really investigate this further so I signed up with my spam email account.

It was okay. I managed to converse a little with said chap, and look at some photos of him and then I got Facebook to check my address book and discovered another old London pal was on there. This particular girl has been incredibly difficult to keep in touch with since I left the UK. We've chatted on occasion over MSN but the time difference has keep that to a minimum and she NEVER answers her emails. So obviously, I was quite pleased to re-establish contact. Her comment so glad you are on facebook, I live on here! hehe disturbed me somewhat. What on earth could she possibly be doing on there? I wondered.

Then I forgot about it for a week or so until Friday came around again. With the Rugby Super 14s done and dusted I was at a loss of what to do, given that Friday afternoons were generally spent planning my team and making trades, so I ventured back into the world of Facebook again. What a surprise when I discovered that some of my York Uni and London buddies had added me as their friends. How did they find me? But how wonderful! I spent the afternoon trying to figure out how the whole thing worked, reading their banter and checking out their photographs. I invited a couple of people from work and we had fun writing on one another's walls, although admittedly that wore thin pretty quickly.

Then I forgot about Facebook again. Until the following Friday at which time I decided to get Facebook to check my address books again. This is a kind of creepy, yet cool feature, whereby you stick in your email address, be it Yahoo, GMail or Hotmail, and your password, and armed with this information, Facebook trundles off, logs in and looks for email addresses in your address book that match any it has in its own database. If it finds any matches, it lets you know and you can add those people to your list of friends. I've done this a few times now and each time, Facebook has found more people that have joined up. You can invite people too but so far I have refrained from doing this (unless people have specifically requested) just to avoid being too much of a pain.

My facebook profile

So, my network is growing and I'm in touch with a lot of old friends from the UK who I never get around to emailing. It's great. People ask me what's the point of Facebook, and I admit that I wondered that myself, but one thing I really like is that when I log in it gives me a summary of recent events, such as "So-and-so and Mr Bloggs are now friends", "You have one friend request", "You have 1 message in your inbox", "Thingumyjig has added photos" "Whosit has tagged you in 2 photos" etc. etc. etc. Basically it's a one-stop shop for communication. Somehow it seems easier than emailing people and remembering a multitude of photo sites and blog addresses. That said, obviously I'm still blogging and I'm still uploading photos to my Picasa site.

And in other news...
Some of you may have noticed that the link to my photos hasn't been working properly. I am investigating this and in the meantime I have replaced the link with one to my Picasa album. It doesn't have all the photos up there but there are some recent ones for your perusal.

Oh yes, I knew there was something else.... for those of you who don't know I am now the proud owner of a beautiful diamond engagement ring (thank you, Toby, photo to follow) so I guess this makes it all official (good thing given the wedding is only 8 weeks away) and our landlords are selling our house from under our feet (great timing, you [insert appropriate expletives here]).