"My house, is a very, very, very nice house!"

This is "my place" in Rivervale, Western Australia... just 10 minutes from the city. It is the first time I've lived so close to the city and boy do you get used to it real quick! It is SO close to my work in Wembley as well... straight onto Orrong Road and through the 'Polly Pipe' (ie. the Graham Farmer Freeway) and off at Loftus St and I'm in Cambridge St where my music shop is... it take me just 10 minutes - maybe 15 in heavy traffic. On the downside I now don't listen to music or CD's in the car because I'm just in it long enough but it really is great being so close to everything and as I said, you get used to it real fast. For most of my life I have lived "South of the River" (it's a Perth thing!) and that meant travelling the Kwinana Freeway every morning... what a disaster that is now. And taking some 40 to 50 minutes is also a complete waste of time.

Over the road there's heaps of brand new 'moderne' houses being built where there was once a school. Everyone says (whoever "everyone" is!) that will be great for the price of my property which I guess is good... though doesn't help on a day to day basis - so what? What am I going to do? Oh well... at least I'm on the merry-go-round as far as being in the property market is concerned. I would hate to be trying to get in now... the prices in Perth are bullshit really - how can property in Perth be worth more and be more expensive than Melbourne?! I feel so sorry for young peope/couples trying to get into the market here.

My place is Art Deco style inside with beautiful ceilings and architraves. It was built in 1940 and I've been there since July 2004 and have been slowly but surely doing it up. It's the first time I've lived in an "old" place or had a go at the renovation thing but I gotta say - I'm loving it! I finished the bathroom and am about to launch into the kitchen... which I hope goes a bit more smoothly - it took over 6 months to finish the bathroom. The building boom here means 'tradies' are so hard to get (that and the fact that I was doing all the prep work myself... in my "spare time" (spare time? Now THAT'S a laugh!).

It is also very close to the Swan river... I'll show you a view later where Anke & I walk every morning - well, most mornings... she's better at it than I am - though I definitely need it more!

Later...