......for my absence as a correspondent this week. It has been incredibly busy and exciting.
Top of the list is the fact that we have sold our town house in Adelaide Street. I'm sort of sad and excited, all at the same time. It happened on Tuesday evening after an unexpected inspection during the day. Just after I got home the agent visited and the papers were signed after a phone call to the buyer. Rene and I sat down to a quick meal then left for the airport to pick up our Dutch visitors. Settlement date is September 21. We are not sure if we'll buy or build, but it'll probably be 'build' since we want modern and two floors on a smallish block of land (little garden to worry about). I'll keep you posted.
By coincidence the very next day saw a letter arrive from our apartment developers saying construction was six weeks ahead of schedule with building finishing late October and settlement late November, so we may eventually end up living in it until the new house is built. I'll do a commute from the Sunshine Coast to work for three days a week. It'll only be for six months, it's very 'doable'.
Our Dutch visitors Geert and Rosemarie were just lovely. Over four nights and days we ate and drank copious amounts, walked and walked, did some driving and generally had a fun time. Rene is topped up on his Dutch and home news and I'm very happy that he feels very happy still about emigrating here to Oz.
On Wednesday night I shouted all four of us to dinner at Manx at Portside. Aspects of the meal were very good, but as a whole experience it was a little lacking, and expensive. I don't mind the money, I just mind when everything isn't as good as I'd like. Nevertheless, the service was good, the wine selected excellent and we enjoyed each others company, but elements of various dishes didn't all add up.
By contrast, Rene and I joined a group of 13 at a birthday dinner in West End and it was only $30 each and it was very good indeed. Yes it was an Asian banquet, but prawns, baked fish and beef dishes in abundance ensured we all dined well and extremely inexpensively.
I nearly forgot, on Friday night we all dined at an Asian fusion restaurant in The Valley. It had no name out front, or street number. It was recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide to Eastern Australia. The place was packed (so everybody who was anybody knew the location). Well, it was dark, each dining room was surrounded by sheer curtains, you sat flat on the carpeted floor leaning against bolsters that were fixed. After initially getting over the surprise of the whole place, the food turned out to be a sort of tapas Asian style, absolutely delicious. Memorable and fun. It's called Garuva.
An Aboriginal artist named Clifford Possum had a painting sold at auction this week for a record $2.4m and the buyer was the Australian National Gallery. Rene's new business centred art is coming together with an advertising agency finalising designs for logos, websites, stationery etc next week. Rene is off to Melbourne tomorrow for the rest of the week looking at art galleries and generally doing some networking. In about three weeks time he's heading off to the Centre (Alice Springs) to start making contacts ready to buy art.
The picture below is sort of how I'm feeling this weekend after days of socialising and rushing around. The burn off smoke that's been in the air around Brisbane these past two or so days hasn't made my cold feel any better. I'm hoping to shrug it off by early next week. A long, long uninterrupted sleep will help a lot. That's all for now, expecting another visitor soon (our second for the day). Hope you have a wonderful week.
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