Well they said it would be chilly today and they didn't lie. I lit the fire at lunchtime, having kept warm earlier in the day with some activity in the kitchen (tidying cupboards, getting rid of excess jam jars, cleaning the stove top thoroughly and the range hood as well)

This afternoon Heather and I went to see a house that was 'for sale by owner' in Oatlands. I am a little annoyed that she told the vendor I was on the market for a house, but as it turned out he is a friend of mine so it was interesting and congenial. It is a sweet little 1840s cottage that was renovated to become a school in the 1870s and then reverted back to being a house. The previous owner had lived there 67 years and raised nine children in it, so it must have been jampacked when they were all at home.

Basically it is one long room at the back with a coved board and batten ceiling and baltic pine lining. The room has been roughly subdivided into three with very obvious partition walls, and there are two rooms at the front. Bathroom is out the back in a lean to that is actually detached, but connected with a laserlight ceiling (brrr). It is in a shed that comprises bathroom, laundry and workshop, each with its own door. A rather fantastical and but very functional chook shed provides a number of doors for egg collection as well as a human door for cleaning it out, and the back yard is largish but not too large. On a corner block that backs onto Council's Depot it is nice and private, the neighbouring house having a large shed down the boundary that is built right up to the fence line. Since most of the serious work (repointing brickwork, installation of french drain to address rising damp etc) is done it would require some titivating, a kitchen and bathroom and a complete rebuild of the back wall (which is timber, rotted out at the base and needs some french doors into the rear courtyard once you knock through the partitions).

I am not looking forward to going out to clean the bank tonight as it has come down very chilly indeed right now, but at least they have got rid of the endless piles of pamphlets that were a cleaner's nightmare as each had to be picked up, straightened, dusted under and replaced.

The price is very reasonable - albeit beyond my budget. $168,000 if anyone is interested.