So. It's almost official (99.5%) that we are leaving Australia in January. First stop: Cuba.
For now we deal with the preparations and planning that go with leaving a home after two years and the prospect of spending the next year or more on the road.
One of those preparations is selling our stuff. We still have a couple of months left, so we can't quite get rid of everything, but we can certainly start. We started with our outdoor furnishings, the picnic table, bench, and four chairs. The furniture that our unbelievably snobby neighbour below us called "unaesthetic" (or, in her exact words, "...
it's ugly...especially the black chairs. I'm really into aesthetics.").
It's worth saying that many others didn't find it unpleasing. We had it sold within an hour after posting it on the
gumtree, and had about a dozen other inquiries for the set.
Anyway. Our
other downstairs neighbours, the ones who moved in several months ago but who we've never really talked to (except for passing head nods), noticed we were selling this. First it was the girl. While hanging up her laundry, she noticed I was taking pictures of the furniture. A few hours later, while Yvonne and I were sitting outside, her boyfriend came into the backyard.
"Hi there. We've never actually met. I'm (
insert random neoghbour name here). So...how long are you in Australia for? You're leaving in January? Oh, how interesting."
(note: above dialogue modified for dramatic purposes)
The backyard furniture has been gone now for two days. Let's see how long until they get their stuff out there.