Still Damp

Another damp Monday morning, a fine mist shrouding the Sydney Tower and rain threatening from the Pacific. As I drove off to work I noted with amusement that the sofa that had previously been rescued has now been returned to its original position on the pavement outside our block. Presumably whoever offered it a home changed their mind when they realised how uncomfortable it was to actually sit on, even if they had decided to put up with the hideous floral fabric and the whiff of old man. Still, it was pretty decent of them to bring it back. The council are coming today to put both of them out of their misery.

At nursery this morning I bumped into Niamh Dawson’s mum, who immediately apologised for not having telephoned in relation to the roast dinner she’d promised to cook for us over the weekend.

“Sorry about that” she said. “We had some other friends come round, some Canadians. We weren’t expecting them but it was nice to see them”

I felt better about it until she added

“So we cooked up a roast for them instead”.

“Oh don’t worry about it” I replied, “I cooked up a joint of beef so all wasn’t lost”. What I really wanted to say was “and I met up with some Brits because they’re more reliable”.

“I’m sick of the weather” said Sally. “I heard on the radio it’s the most rain we’ve had in fifty years. Our flat is so bloody damp, even the sheets on the bed feel wet when we get in”

“Me too” I replied. “And my clothes feel sort of cold as well. Is it always like this in the winter?”

“Well it’s the humidity, that’s the problem. I used to live in England and the cold there was biting in the winter but it wasn’t a damp sort of cold, not in the house anyway. I’ve had enough of our flat with no heating, we’re moving out to one of my mother’s houses in Marrickville, it’s much bigger and she’s put reverse cycle air conditioning in so we can take the damp off”

It’s a bit of a theme this “I’m living in one of my parents’ properties” thing. The generation coming up for retirement lived in the days when property was much more affordable and took advantage of all sorts of tax incentives for higher rate tax payers to buy second and third properties in the city. The rules still apply but as they advantage higher earners, it does seem a case of the rich getting richer. More recently there have been some further incentives to sell their properties and invest the money tax-free into their pension savings. This has caused even more problems for the rental market than already existed because a significant number of rental properties then went on the market for sale and were no longer available for rent.

My colleague Allanah has a flat at Kirribilli, right next to the harbour bridge. The view from her sitting room is a line shot across the water to the opera house. The flat belongs to her parents and she lives there rent free because they’re based down in Canberra. The downside is having to vacate the place on December 30th every year so they can have their wild NYE party with the best view in the world. Can you imagine how much of a bummer that must be?

Christmas minus five days.