Homing In

House Hunting – Step 1 

Not exactly complaining but

a bit modern for an aging crusty like me

Madame Patsy has been the most enthusiastic at enticing me out to view my potential Chez Moi, and so we head off to view four very different options. We set out and come back to just around the corner from where I’m presently staying, and, granted, this is prime location so more expensive, but the villa, which would be a fairly good find back in the UAE, has small rooms, an uninteresting garden, tiny, murky, pool and in serious need of a lick of paint. Now I’ve said my maximum is 50,000, but all four of these places she has quoted at the same 60,00 Rupees a month (1,300 Stirling), which sounds a bit of a coincidence to me. Driving twenty five minutes out of town we arrive at plot two, which is more in the country, but the owner, who worked in a bank for forty years, lives next door with his five yapping dogs, so it’s a bit of a Mosque situation. He’s desperate to find someone as he’s saying he’ll do this, that and the other, just to find a taker. And I can tell it used to be a prime rate holiday let but has, like everywhere else, been hit by the recession. In fact, the woman who owned the first property was gagging to find a punter as well! The ball, I believe, is definitely in the punter’s court for now. So number two was better but we can surely aspire to greater things.

Feel my destiny is to move out of town

so want vistas more along this line

Twenty minutes on and the third spot has a lovely veranda, and, of course, this is the spot where you spend most of your time. The interior is also great, but the garden is lacking a bit of je ne ce quoi. So, as dusk nears, we move on to the last option for the day and hmmm, this is really rather spot on. The sun is setting over a fantastic garden, with big drooping trees, just waiting for the double hammock to be strung up. A beautiful pool area with thatched outhouse mini kitchen/bar/bbq is complimented by three different verandahs, each accommodating different times of day, and there is a nice sized sitting room. The only downside is only one bathroom to go with three smallish bedrooms. But then you don’t live in a bathroom and this lacking is actually a bargaining chip! Along with everything else is that this was a sugar cane plantation manager’s house so, despite being four hundred yards from the edge of town, a largish supermarket, and even church, if that’s your cup of tea, there is no sound beyond the birds and other naturalness. More places to see from other agents but this might be very difficult to better. Just need to work on the price I feel.  

Surely it can’t get better!

Will it...

The next morning Terrie, who I like and communicate well with, despite recognizing that all Estate Agents can potentially make a Piranha’s gills turn to jelly, takes me off to view one property. We both accept that I’ve pretty well made up my mind, but you never know, so let’s have an adventure at least. Ironically we’re going to Goodlands, around fifteen to twenty minutes away, which is where the last house I saw last night is located. Goodlands is most certainly not a tourist hot spot but hustle bustle local, with one road leading through it, which is pretty chaotic at the best of times and manic during rush hour periods. In three or so months the bypass will be completed, so zoom, around it you go. The place yesterday is the far end of the town, and maybe four hundred yards away from this pending road, which would be great, as it’d cut travel time to Grand Baie down to no more than fifteen minutes.  

Or won't it... Become my first year's home in Paradise?

Anyway we get around the town and seem to be getting closer and closer to yesterday’s venue, and I’m thinking ‘Oh shit, I’ve done it again, as this is the same place’! Yesterday Terrie took me to the first place I saw with Madame Patsy and it was all a wee bit embarrassing, what with the house owner gagging for a tenant and already knowing I wasn’t interested. Anyway, as it is, we in fact turned off a hundred yards earlier, though onto the same plantation. The plantation closed down a few years back but, as with estates around the world, such, in fact, where I spent the first nine years of my life, when my Dad was the Estate Manager for Sir Michael, limp wrist, Duff, who owned a mere seventy two thousand acres, be it sixty two was mountainous Snowdonia, in North Wales, provided housing for everyone from the gaffer to the farm workers. Now these dwellings tend to have been sold off, but they are out on what was the old estate, and usually, as in this case, vintage country dwellings. Well engrained with beautiful surroundings and total P & Q (peace and quiet).

So there we are, visiting a house a mere two hundred yards from yesterday’s deliciousness. But this time the villa is, incredibly, even more magnificent! A wee bit more pricewise, but stunning garden, bigger, lighter, airier rooms, etc etc etc. I’ve got to do it if I can get it as, shit, you only live once and I have to have this experience one time in my life. We’ll see, as apparently another couple are returning tomorrow for a second viewing, but is this just agent pressure or the truth. Whatever, we’ll find out on Monday. The only thing apparently in my favour is that the old dear who owns it likes the idea of a single person, so not introducing screaming bambinos, or whatever, to a tranquility zone Could be a long weekend waiting? No of course not as we’ve got golf, Aston villa versus Chelsea, ‘Cummon you blues’ and all other unknown quantities pending. 

Enter the Novice Nerd

I've said before that I tend to be rather excessive and so it seems to be proving now as I enter the world of modern day technology. My mobile is for phoning and texting, as I accept that you need to be in touch, though it's primary use as it's there in my pocket, is for checking the time, so making a watch, which I don't like wearing anyway, redundant. My view might change, as it has with everything else I'm going to indulge myself in, while I warble on here, but I presently do hope I don't feel the necessity to get myself a gooseberry, as surely the vast majority of us don't need that depth of instant communication. Viewing the markets, not that I do, checking the latest porn attachment, that a certain Aussie might forward, and seeing Chelsea's line up for today's game can wait till I get home and get on the Internet. Ok, I accept a financial trader warrants it on the first account, a certain Aussie, hopelessly addicted to porn, on the second and I guess someone, I don't exactly know who, might on the third. But such as 'you're house is on fire' or 'can you come in to the office urgently' tips the balance in my eyes to warrant instant communication, so making a phone necessary.But now I've taken on techno stuff with a vengeance only time will tell!

If my ramblings are tolerated by anyone who passes by

then I can puff away contentedly

Three months ago I committed to Facebook, but then got bored with it after a day or two, returning to my view that this is just the ultimate in trivia, as I read stunning insights into life such as 'I'm bored, maybe I'll make a cup of tea' or 'OMG, LOL',  and so I forgot about it until this last ten days or so. The rebirth is really to do with situation, free communication and a new life scenario, giving me the time to do something I've tentatively tried in the past, without ever feeling I'd achieved what I was wanting to. Now with an 'all for one and one for all' cavalier  attitude I've embraced not only Facebook but I'm writing this and have set up Skype. I should have appreciated the last years ago, as if folk have got a reasonable connection, it's amazingly clear, you can even see each other, and most important its"freeee" But then again it has not been the time until now, as the life I was living was a ticking along type life with very little to report, and so, such as checking in with my Mum was as far as communication went and she doesn't have a computer.

If not... Then all is bared!

Actually a very important aspect aiding me has been that since Jonathan cleaned out my laptop, revamping it with all these lovely programs, everything seems much easier to use. So the positive aspect of Skype is self evident, and Facebook is a great laugh at the moment as, for example, after ten years incommunicado, I track down my old school mate Spiky,  despite his low profile since he scandalized the British press and public with his, and his mate's, interoffice emailing along the lines of 'Corrr, look at the tits on that one'! Haha, I just love that, well worth the ten year wait. Or this morning when I, getting up at four thirty, go on line to find Tony and Jacky in Cyprus,  at three thirty, as they were about to head off to bed.

Wending one's way towards the Anahita

The big one is me starting this, my first blog. As I sort of said before I have tried to write in the past, but never felt enthused by what I'd put down. Here, though, not only do I have the time, but there is a whole new world of experience to try and relate, while the passion of whatever it is is still bubbling away. And if I'm going to push myself to continue then I reckon I need to bite the bullet and publish what I say, opening myself up to response and criticism. So if and when the comments start coming in saying 'What a load of bollocks, you self centred, silly little man' then I'll know I'm not up to it. Likewise if someone says 'Hey, that's quite fun what you write' then I can feel mildly chuffed and be encouraged to continue... Only time will tell as so far no one has come across my secret ramblings!