Working it out
Those of you with a keen interest in our cardiac well-being will be pleased to hear that Michael and I spent a tortuous constructive couple of hours in the gym yesterday, familiarising ourselves with some of the weight-training equipment under the watchful eye of the lovely Jacqui, who has designed individual training programmes for each of us. I fondly remember my days with Shane at the Active8 gym on Chandos Road, doing 'hovers' at the end of each session... Hovers, for those who don't regularly abuse their stomach muscles with this sort of thing, consist of maintaining a 'press-up' position for two minutes at a time - or 15 seconds at a time, if you're a lard-arse like me! I actually could do a couple of minutes when I was training with Shane last year, but twelve months off have taken their toll and I can't manage it any more. Meanwhile, the world of 'gym' has moved on and there are even more fiendish exercises now, utilising an inflatable ball... my transverse abdominal muscles (if that's the right term) are quivering at the mere thought, and not in a good way.
While we punish ourselves in the gym, it seems we're destined to punish ourselves with bad news about our property - again. This week's exercise in mild depression is the news that our 10 acres may be the only acreage in Coffs Harbour liable to land slippage! Our surveyor suggested that we might have colluvial soil on the plot and that we ought to have additional (expensive...) geo-physical surveys. Today was the date for the survey, and the geo-phys guys say that there have been 3 significant landslides on the property, and that we can't build our house where we wanted to build it and, by the way, this is the first time they've come across this geological problem in 15 years of surveying in the local area... Now admittedly the last landslippage on the property was approximately 10,000 years ago (roughly!), but even so, Coffs Harbour City Council won't like it. In practical terms what this means is that we will have to build on one side of the property or the other, not across the middle of the plot as originally intended. This means either being slap up against our neighbour, Adam, on one side, but with a good view, or being well away from Adam (my preferred option!) on the other side but lower down the slope and with less width of view of the ocean.
Christian, our architect, is coming over for Sunday lunch with the rest of his family so we'll break the news to him with some wine at hand! I do think, though, that good architecture can overcome problems like these. OK, so we can't build in the centre of the plot; we can still use that land for garden/orchard/grazing, and the chances are that we won't see a land slip there anyway (I know we're not blessed with good luck at the moment, but I still like to look on the bright side). If we build near to Adam's house we will have a brilliant view, and the architecture of the house will have to compensate for our proximity to another building. If we build on the other side, we may have to build upwards to maximise the view (and we'll still have a view, just not as wide), but we'll be a long way away from any other building and we'll save a packet on the cost of the driveway because we'll be that much nearer to the access road.
Swings and roundabouts, as usual.
Other news: Joan and Terry stayed with us for 7 nights and loved it up here. They say that they can now see why we chose to live up here rather than closer to the rest of the family. Joan didn't suffer from asthma at all during her visit, and Terry's gout was a lot better, despite eating some foods that would normally cause him trouble. I have photographic evidence of both of them getting their feet wet on the beach! Hopefully they'll come back and see us soon.
Ella, poor thing, has her first chest cold since she got here, probably because of the shocking downturn in temperatures. The other night it dropped to 10 degrees outside, and during the day it's often been only 20 degrees. Awful! You may laugh, but I've had a hot water bottle for the last two weeks...
While we punish ourselves in the gym, it seems we're destined to punish ourselves with bad news about our property - again. This week's exercise in mild depression is the news that our 10 acres may be the only acreage in Coffs Harbour liable to land slippage! Our surveyor suggested that we might have colluvial soil on the plot and that we ought to have additional (expensive...) geo-physical surveys. Today was the date for the survey, and the geo-phys guys say that there have been 3 significant landslides on the property, and that we can't build our house where we wanted to build it and, by the way, this is the first time they've come across this geological problem in 15 years of surveying in the local area... Now admittedly the last landslippage on the property was approximately 10,000 years ago (roughly!), but even so, Coffs Harbour City Council won't like it. In practical terms what this means is that we will have to build on one side of the property or the other, not across the middle of the plot as originally intended. This means either being slap up against our neighbour, Adam, on one side, but with a good view, or being well away from Adam (my preferred option!) on the other side but lower down the slope and with less width of view of the ocean.
Christian, our architect, is coming over for Sunday lunch with the rest of his family so we'll break the news to him with some wine at hand! I do think, though, that good architecture can overcome problems like these. OK, so we can't build in the centre of the plot; we can still use that land for garden/orchard/grazing, and the chances are that we won't see a land slip there anyway (I know we're not blessed with good luck at the moment, but I still like to look on the bright side). If we build near to Adam's house we will have a brilliant view, and the architecture of the house will have to compensate for our proximity to another building. If we build on the other side, we may have to build upwards to maximise the view (and we'll still have a view, just not as wide), but we'll be a long way away from any other building and we'll save a packet on the cost of the driveway because we'll be that much nearer to the access road.
Swings and roundabouts, as usual.
Other news: Joan and Terry stayed with us for 7 nights and loved it up here. They say that they can now see why we chose to live up here rather than closer to the rest of the family. Joan didn't suffer from asthma at all during her visit, and Terry's gout was a lot better, despite eating some foods that would normally cause him trouble. I have photographic evidence of both of them getting their feet wet on the beach! Hopefully they'll come back and see us soon.
Ella, poor thing, has her first chest cold since she got here, probably because of the shocking downturn in temperatures. The other night it dropped to 10 degrees outside, and during the day it's often been only 20 degrees. Awful! You may laugh, but I've had a hot water bottle for the last two weeks...
posted by Sara Bowen at 11:25 am
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