At last the time has come that we can move in.  By one way of looking at it, this is after a six-month delay: it has taken us that long to sell the house at 33 Blackbutt Circle.  However, by holding on, even in a market said to be going down, we have settled for a price only a little less than we asked.  $1.27M as you asked.

We had to leave all, or nearly all, the furniture in 33BBC in order to make it easier to sell, which in turn meant that we couldn’t move into 47 Park Street (well, we don’t have two sets of furniture).

So, when we eventually had the OK to move, it was a major exercise.  It was odd to see our home for more than 20 years become empty of furniture.

Bedrooms with no beds.

Our main bedroom with no furniture.

It was all a little sad, really.  Until, that is, we set foot in the new house.

Then it was wonderful.  The first day made us realise what a good decision it was, to move.  We sat under out covered balcony roof and could easily have been in a Cotswold village in England, complete with blackbirds chirping, the (relatively) long evening, and the perfect temperature (it is still very early summer here in NSW).  Yet we still have all the benefits of living in Australia (see the special section in The Economist from last week).

We even have a peacock in the back garden, courtesy of the builder, who came to visit on Saturday, bringing us a present.

Glenbrook is a lovely village, quiet but well-supplied with services such as doctors, a pharmacy, a (very small) supermarket, and several places to eat out.

We aim to grow old here.