I live in Melbourne, Australia with my parents, grandad (mother's father), uncle (father's brother), 19-year-old cousin and his black Labrador Jack as well as our pets (two dogs, one cat). The whole family lives on four large, joined blocks, separated by only one fence (to keep our dogs in our yard). The properties are shaped like a large L. Mum, Dad, and I live at the front of one side of the short leg of the L, Mum's father lives on the other in a granny flat. Our driveway comes out into a court that's off a main road. My uncle, cousin, and their dog live at the front of one side of the long leg of the L, my other grandad (Dad's father) lived on the other side until his death this year. We share all the land in between the four houses. It's about a 50 metre walk from my house down the yard to my uncle's house, it's all grass and trees and a bit like a park (except we have to mow it).
The land has been in the family for many years now, in fact my grandma's side of the family has been in the area for many generations. My grandma was born in the house across the road from the one she died in (she actually died in a hospital, but you know what I mean). It was built in 1919 as a settler's cottage and when my great-grandparents moved there the busy suburb we live in now was semi rural and the street I live in didn't exist (they divided up the estate that was there at the time and stuck a road through the middle of it in the 60s). My grandma inherited the cottage when her parents died, and now that she and my grandad are gone it's been passed down to my uncle. The land that the family lives on now was bought by my dad's mother's parents in the early 1950s for around 400 pounds and allowed their daughter and her new husband to build a house on one half of the block while they built on the other half. Grandma and Grandad lived in that house, unchanged, for the next 60ish years, until their deaths. Grandma's parents lived in the house next door until their deaths (before I was born) and then my uncle moved in and he's lived there ever since. My parents built our house in 1996 and we moved in Melbourne Cup Day 1996.
Over the last decade I've watched as the suburb has become busier and busier with more and more apartment blocks popping up, when I die I plan to be the final hold out still living in a single family dwelling. I wouldn't be surprised if all the surrounding houses have been turned into town houses or units by that time, but I'll be sitting here fiercely hanging onto my land and chasing away developers offering outrageous sums of money for something that money can't buy - memories. Some pictures of the yard on a hot summer's day.
I have a younger brother who lives in Canberra and is studying politics at ANU. Below are pictures of Poppy (pure, tri-colour Cavalier), Scout (pure Bichon), and Trinity (unknown blend, last kitten from my brother's cat's litter, who was a stray who occasionally ate at his house).
The land has been in the family for many years now, in fact my grandma's side of the family has been in the area for many generations. My grandma was born in the house across the road from the one she died in (she actually died in a hospital, but you know what I mean). It was built in 1919 as a settler's cottage and when my great-grandparents moved there the busy suburb we live in now was semi rural and the street I live in didn't exist (they divided up the estate that was there at the time and stuck a road through the middle of it in the 60s). My grandma inherited the cottage when her parents died, and now that she and my grandad are gone it's been passed down to my uncle. The land that the family lives on now was bought by my dad's mother's parents in the early 1950s for around 400 pounds and allowed their daughter and her new husband to build a house on one half of the block while they built on the other half. Grandma and Grandad lived in that house, unchanged, for the next 60ish years, until their deaths. Grandma's parents lived in the house next door until their deaths (before I was born) and then my uncle moved in and he's lived there ever since. My parents built our house in 1996 and we moved in Melbourne Cup Day 1996.
Over the last decade I've watched as the suburb has become busier and busier with more and more apartment blocks popping up, when I die I plan to be the final hold out still living in a single family dwelling. I wouldn't be surprised if all the surrounding houses have been turned into town houses or units by that time, but I'll be sitting here fiercely hanging onto my land and chasing away developers offering outrageous sums of money for something that money can't buy - memories. Some pictures of the yard on a hot summer's day.
I have a younger brother who lives in Canberra and is studying politics at ANU. Below are pictures of Poppy (pure, tri-colour Cavalier), Scout (pure Bichon), and Trinity (unknown blend, last kitten from my brother's cat's litter, who was a stray who occasionally ate at his house).
My favourite pastimes are cooking, reading, movies/tv, listening/singing along loudly to my favourite songs on my iPod, learning new things through internet research (Wikipedia is great), and crafting.
Until recently I worked from home typing up doctor's reports (a combination of two of my favourite things: typing and medical related things). A recent discovery of a tumour in my liver and subsequent surgery to have it removed made thinking about, hearing about, reading about, talking about, and watching anything to do with medical stuff traumatic for me. Every time I see a hospital show (like ER) all I can think of is my own experiences in hospital and the possibility of future surgery for further tumours (the doctors can't tell me if the tumour they couldn't get to without much more effort will continue to grow, or if another one entirely will appear). Constantly being reminded of my time in hospital (which was the complete opposite of fun) became very upsetting and I could no longer concentrate on my work, so I had to resign from the job that I really enjoyed. At the moment I'm currently not working and contemplating what I want to do next. Because of how much I read and the fact that I've been proof reading and editing my brother's thesis and essays for his honours in politics I've been considering looking into doing proof reading and/or editing as a career. I've worked in a number of offices and it didn't matter how much I enjoyed the work, I never quite fit in with the staff, so I'm hoping I can find something that I enjoy doing that I don't need to be in an office to do. For me it depends on how much (if any) studying is needed to get started (I never did well on exams).
I HATE drama! I won't put up with bullying or troll behaviour and if you turn into that kind of person I will block you and delete any offensive comments you make on my reviews (either directed at me or another person).
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