The Situation

In late April 2013 I returned to Australia after a 5-year circumnavigation of the world which is documented in the blog pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com.  After a short stay followed by a 3-month trip to North America I returned in September to face the prospect of bringing my run down and neglected property back up to standard. The property was in a bad state because there had been no major work on it for 30 years and it had been rented out to various tenants for the last 5 years.

I had returned to Perth determined to sell the property and move into a town house near Fremantle.  Such a move made plenty of sense, given that it would free me of the physical effort of maintaining a house and property, be easy to lock up and be secure for travel, and be close to the ocean, the Fremantle Sailing Club, and my sail boat Pachuca.  However, after considerable introspection I came to the realization that deep down inside, antiseptic city living just wasn't me, no matter how luxurious it may be.  I need the space and privacy of my 3/4 acre property as well as the spacious and strong garage that I had built with my bare hands in the 1990's, with its vast array of manual and electrical tools that I have assembled over the last 40 years.  Tools are the extension of a man and even though I will be 70 years of age soon and am supposed to conserve my energy, I need the physical outlet of maintaining the property and making things with my hands for the house and boat.

I begin this endeavour heavily conflicted, as they say.  After 5 years of wandering the world somewhat detached from life and free to engage in new friendships and adventures I feel apprehensive about plugging myself into a specific community. But I have to give it a good try, so this project will be as much occupational therapy as it will be home renovation and hopefully the outcome will be a settled life.  I'm a bit long in the tooth for an identity crisis, but there it is.

The current tenants will vacate the house on 26 September and I will be free to take possession a week later.  At that time I will begin to document the current state of the house, presenting a "before" picture to be contrasted to "after" pictures as progress is made on the renovation.