The etiquette of Renting

Two Saturdays ago, I looked at half a dozen houses and applied for one.
It took until Tuesday afternoon for me to find out that I had not gotten it.

Last Saturday, I looked at another half a dozen and applied for 4.
The problem is that some are better than others.  As luck or more likely an application of Murphy's Law, the least favoured two have been approved.  The top of the list is at Tuesday afternoon still no word.

Electricity Pricing

I have rented a house.  Being the modern era, I need electricity.  Figured I would research electricity deals.

The end result was:

1. Origin was cheapest.
2. For my estimated usage, the total bill for the year is about $1.8 to $2k AUD 
3. There is only  couple of hundred dollars difference between the cheapest and the most expensive plans.

OK so onto the detail....

Initial research showed that standard costs were a charge per day just to be connected plus a cost per kWh.  Typically about $1/day plus 20c/kWh. 

I recall seeing a TV add where someone was offering a fixed price per month but I figured I have no idea how much power I will used and so I did not pursue those options.

I figured I could calculate my yearly usage as 365 x the connection per day charge plus 365 x the per kWh charge x amount of power used per day.

I had a look at the web site below to get an estimate of how much power a house uses
https://www.redenergy.com.au/living-energy/smart-homes/how-much-is-the-average-electricity-bill-in-australia

I chose that I expect that I would use 20kWh/day.

Next I went to the web and tried to find out how much it will cost. 
I looked at Origin, Enery Aust and AGL.
Then I though, before I go any further, I should get an idea of how much they are different from each other.  The cheapest things are shown in green below.
Cell B10 Shows energy Australia has the cheapest connection cost per day
Cell C4 shows origin has the cheapest usage cost per kWh
Cell G4 shows that for 20kWh of usage that the Origin plan is the cheapest overall.
Interestingly AGL are offering a $75 sign up credit but even if you subtract that off their prices, they are still more expensive than Origin.

Fire on Cockatoo Island

How does this happen?
It's an island. The grass is green. We've had small amounts of rain in Brisbane recently. No power lines. No places to have a BBQ. No nearby fires to drop embers. Surely gotta be deliberately lit and by someone with a boat.

Finding Accommodation

Pondered what to title this entry.

Finding a house?

But what if I settle on an apartment?

I decided to not call it finding a home because I think the sequence is to find the building and then to work out how to make it into a home. The depressing thing is in my view is that a home has more than one person in it. I wonder what a hermits house /home is called?

So what were the options?

Well I looked at a huge old house in Clewley St. I remember I'd come from looking at a few apartments in those 5 story blocks and they were tiny. The memory trigger was the feeling of relaxation I felt walking in.

I looked at several apartments in these new 5 story blocks and they were all very small.  very few had a decent verandah or living room.

Finally settled on a house on a small block.
filled in form and emailed.

The things about being single. 

A feeling of loneliness. Disconnect. 

Thinking OK what to do next. Consciously having to think about how to be amongst people. Who can I ring. I don't want to become a tag along pest. Who might be home. Who might be OK for a visit. 

Thinking I'd like to see that movie but on my own? What about eating? In a Cafe on my own. 

I guess the emphasis is that I'm continually reminded I'm on my own. 

There's a huge difference between 0 and 1. Knowing there's one special person to come home to. 

Back when married, I could be out on my own and focused on the task at hand or enjoying nature in the moment. But now, with no one at home. No one special, my mind keeps coming back to that aloneness. The thought keeps creeping back and then I have to engage my conscious mind to enact a strategy to intervene in the depression. That takes energy. To be continuously monitoring my emotions and realising I'm wallowing in sadness and to begin some conscious thought process to counteract it.

So what do I do to stave off sadness:

Listen to an engaging podcast. 

Listen to familiar music. 

Watch an action flick. 

So for 24 11/12th years had a family to go home to. Community. But now an empty house. 

Sunday - Well a day of killing time. 

5:30 coffee from the shops at St Lucia Village. 

6:00 help with rowing coaching. Took some video of a bush fire. 

10:00 picked up some coffees at... For Chris and me. 

Proceeded to Chris's house at Graceville. Jump started Rihanna's car.  Needing people interaction, I volunteered to go with Chris to... Chris and I drove to... Picked up a couch, table and microwave. 

Feeling like I'd better not overstay my welcome, left. 

Pondered what to do and thought as there was no food at home that I could go to Mt Ommaney and buy a sumo salad. Did that. Went shopping. Mused that where in more emotionally secure times, I avoided shopping as much as possible. Now craving personal interaction, I enter clothing stores and smile when the shop assistant asks if they can help. Now I'm happy to buy a couple of shirts. 

Then tried the same at DFO but lots of empty shops. 

Remembered that I needed to lock the gate at the rowing club. Went and did that. Gate was already locked.

Discovered I had the glass tray from Chris's microwave behind the seats in the Ute. 

Decided to drive from Centenary rowing club to Chris's house via oxley shops. 

A brief stop at Chris's house and dropped off the plate and picked up the ladder rack for the ute.

Home.
cooked up a steak, mashed potato, onion, mushrooms, corn on the cob.