Blue cross that was the point. I did mean "things", as distinct from people, places, animals, [yes I know I brought the stallion into it], or activities.

Yesterday I actually had nothing I had to do "today". It was the first lovely day for some time. As a special indulgence I gave myself the afternoon off, & went for a drive up Tamborine Mountain.

I went up the "Goat Track" from Canungra at the southern end, so narrow it is one way traffic, with traffic lights top & bottom, had a cup of coffee, sitting in the glorious sun, bought a kilo of sugar I really don't need at the Fudge Shop. I then came came down the northern end.

I went alone, & if I drove a Holden/Ford/Toyota, it would not have been a pleasure, & I wouldn't have done it, but my car is special, it's a pleasure, just to sit in it. The pain in the knee, & the back just melt away, & I feel at home. As I pured up to my gate I would have loved to thank her for the great day, but even I know she can't hear.

I gave the wrong impression about the boat. I owned it for 19 years, cruised it for 7 years, lived on it for another 5, them spent 7 years bringing myself to part with her. All that beautiful mahogany, that I had varnished so often was hard to part with.

Belly, I bought my yacht, & lived on it in Sydney, because I could not afford to buy a house. It really was a cheapskates way of living near the city. It also wasn't bad having a water view in all 360 degrees around you, after a hard day at the factory.

I can imagine someone who had built or extensively renovated their own home would have similar feelings to those I have for this car, but they couldn't have driven it around Tamborine mountain, could they?

Hasbeen.. I know that section of road you write about.

I did build a house myself, with my wife very much doing her bit of the hard yacker too.

She mixed all the bricks while I pressed them, and she mixed all the concrete for the floor, while I barrowed it.

It was quite involved, and interesting, being a mudbrick house that required digging the hole to get the mud (backhoe task thankfully), jackhammering through solid sandstone for the septic tank, pressing the bricks, laying them, and doing all the rest.

Tons of soil and loam hand sifted through a screen for the bricks.

(Next time, rammed earth!)

I got tilers and cabinet makers in to finish off the inside, having by then got a full time paid job that promised more than mere income.

Sad to say, we lived in the completed house but a few months as the job required moving, so we sold it.

Strange emotions involved in spending four-five years building a house as money became available, just to sell it when it was ready to live in.

Them's the breaks.

I've been back to the area a few times, within sight of the Great Divide, just at the bottom of it in fact, and yes, the creek, the trees, the hills, all evoke not only strong thoughts of the beauty of the scenery, but also good memories of the time spent working out how to build a house from scratch, from books and old copies of Owner Builder.

We sold the house, and bought the worst house in a good street in the new town, and rejigged it to 'respectable' status, which has been another joint experience and assisted in really appreciating the house, and altering its character with our changes.

But I'd 'love' to start again, with a virgin block of ground, and build a smaller, insulated, no-maintenance, properly aligned passive solar modern home, with some character built in along with the ease-of-living.

Then again... I'd love to cycle across Europe with my wife too.

Dear Hasbeen,

I fully understand where you're coming from.
You've worked hard all your life and you
deserve to enjoy the things you love.
Your car sounds wonderful, especially the
things that you're able to enjoy while driving it.
Your yacht was your home, and your horse - well
he was a special friend.

The "thing," that gives me so much pleasure is
a musical instrument that I was given many years
ago. "Kankles," a Lithuanian string instrument
of ancient origin. In common Baltic it's called
"kanteles" derived from the verb "kantei", which
corresponds to the Latin "canere" or "cantare,"
to play, to sing, and is similar to the Latvian
"kokles", the Estonian "kaneles,"
and the Finnish "kanteles."

It's played by plucking
the strings, which are stretched over a flat wooden
soundbox, with either the fingers of the right hand
or a plectrum. It's very similiar to the zither.
Mine was hand-made out of the one piece of wood -
beautifully hand carved, and has the most soul-stirring
sound. It has an extremely calming effect both to play,
and listen to.

Hasbeen,

I like the idea of living on a boat... maybe a converted barge on the further reaches of the Thames....

I like that our little house is stuffed with books (not all of them in bookshelves)..I like the fact that my cat is sitting on my knee while I type this post...I like my garden, my chickens and my vegie patch...and most of all, I like and value the time we have reclaimed in our lives by not rushing about like mad things to keep up with everyone else.

Hasbeen

Nice to have a topic wherein we can be sympatico.

I once owned an MG Midget but with a 1250cc engine. Had a better power to weight ratio than the 'B's. But that was then...

Now I live in the Dandenong ranges, my home near the apex of a hill, I look across a valley filled with trees, there are roads, but I can't see or hear them. I could be out in the rural areas. None of my neighbours are so close they see into my home or garden, allowing me to feel a part of the natural world. My home is in desperate need of repair and looks more like a tree-house than what is accepted as a home in these days of McMansions. I love it, every morning I look out whether it is to sunshine or rain, I see king parrots, rosellas, tiny spine-bills, black yellow tailed cockatoos as well as the ubiquitous sulphur crested, the more-front-than-Myers maggies and the super alert kookaburras.

In the evening ringtail possums climb the posts of my verandah and brushies try to mug me for food - they never get any but they never give up. Koalas grunt alien moans, underscored by Tawny Frogmouths in the Mountain Ash and Messmates.

Peace.

PS

My only fave piece of machinery now is my Honda brush cutter because it is easy to start and makes me feel like one of the army grunts in Aliens.

Things i love,
Without a question my 1969, 450 Ducati single and it's friend a 1983 600 Pantah. Don't get to ride very often with kid's these days but the pure pleasure never changes.
Got a jet ski last year to have some family water fun and have been building a relationship with it, but with the NSW licence and Rego prejudice toward jet ski's it is going to go in favour of a hobie Cat.