Are we there yet?

I feel like asking this every time I check on the progress of our house, and the answer is, 'not quite yet'. Yes, we now have a garage door, we also have the solid timber floors installed upstairs, we even have the wet areas in three bathrooms and a laundry 'waterproofed', but it will still be a full two months before it's finished.

This coming week we have the balustrades finished, the kitchen should go in near the end of the week, and quite possibly some tiling may start - but I guess they want all the cabinets installed first. It does all look great, and both Rene and I are really pleased with the appearance of the timber floor. We wanted a light coloured and fairly uniform look for the timber rather than a more 'busy' mix that sometimes is used for flooring. (edit. the flickr pics are gone, click on these to see latest photos).

I already began this blog this afternoon, hadn't gone very far, a visitor arrived, I resumed after dinner. It's late. Rene and I have been enjoying a very busy few days recently, and I really want a good night's sleep tonight. On Friday we met with our bank manager, then drove to Brisbane, attended a seminar on collecting for pleasure and profit (Australia Business Arts Foundation) - at the University of Queensland Art Museum - went to dinner at a favourite Italian restaurant, then stayed overnight with our friends Di and Torquil. After a short night's sleep we had breakfast and headed back to the coast. Later in the afternoon we left at 5pm for a dinner party at Golden Beach Caloundra. We got home at 1:30am. After falling asleep for what was not a very long time, at 3:25am a group of new arrivals at the apartment block decided to have a swimming competition - I woke up, got up and explained (in rather restrained words) that it was somewhat inappropriate at this hour, and the two men and a woman acquiesced and retired to their apartment. I really desire a quiet, uninterrupted night's kip.

On Saturday there was a celebration of 20 years since Expo 88 opened. For six glorious months we forgot our cares and woes and indulged in a journey to every corner of the world every week for half a year without checking our luggage or buying traveller's cheques. I know my uncle and aunt visited from England and also two of my English cousins attended the exposition. Some pictures from two decades ago are here: http://media01.couriermail.com.au/multimedia/2008/05/080508_Expo88/Expo_88.html

Now, I should mention the Italian dinner on Friday night was a risotto made with spanner crab, white wine, finished with 16 black mussels, 3 tiger prawns and a serving of Tasmanian salmon. Stunning! Dinner last night began on the roof of our friend's apartment having nibbles and drinks while waiting for the cruise ship to come by all lit from bow to stern on its way from Brisbane to destinations in the South Pacific. We went downstairs to dinner and enjoyed great food, wine and company. One dinner guest there I hadn't seen in years, and her partner was a delightful French Tahitian man with a delicious accent that was brilliant to listen to. It was a brilliant night indeed.

Great news from Rene. His gallery in Nundah is to open on August 30 and is to be opened by the Honorary Dutch Consul to Queensland. The guest list is being worked on now and the invitations will go out in the next few weeks.

Rene's sister and her partner have just signed a contract on a delightful holiday home in Condette, North Western France, near Boulogne. I Google Earthed the village and found it was just 130km by road and ferry from the town of Deal, Kent, in England where I spent my first 7 years of life. It said it would only take 2.5 hours to travel between both centres. With my Australian perspective that seems like just down the road, but of course it requires taking the Folkstone/Boulogne ferry, which I guess would consume some time. I did that journey once when I was 14 and went with my Scottish school to Interlaken in Switzerland for a summer holiday. Great memories!

I need to sleep. Drop me a line if you can, even a comment on the blog or flickr. Hope your week will be terrific, mine's dominated by assisting in testing in schools and attending meetings. Oh well, at least there's always Rene to come home to. Ciao!