Taking possession

I expect settlement took place smoothly enough. No problems were reported, and we drove to the coast, picked up the keys from the real estate office, and let ourselves in. The real estate agent had left a bottle of wine. I must try it someday. It was a bottle of red. I can’t understand the appeal by so many for cheap red wines.

I met someone at uni, as a student. We were playing Bridge and he offered a glass of red. I declined as most of my earlier experiences of reds were nasty. My memories of reds were rugged, throat scratching experiences. White wine is reliably easier on the taste buds. However, I was persuaded to try, mostly by mention of the guy’s wealthy parents providing him a wine allowance in addition to his living expenses. That was probably a boast, but he had spare cash, and spent it on quality wines. His father owned a small aircraft service.

Why is it that you have to spend a fortune to get a good red wine? That was the one and only time in my life I have ever drank a red that slipped down my throat with a silky richness. I love port and didn’t mind spending a few dollars on quality fortified wines. Good ports are easy to drink. Well, my friend’s bottle of red reminded me of that and it gave me a whole new impression of red wines. That was about 25 years ago and I have never come across a reasonably priced red that was as good. I have to wonder what his wine allowance was. In the mean time I’ll just stick to whites.

Most of the furniture had been removed from the house except for a few things here and there. An old cabinet had been left in a corner of the kitchen where the fridge used to be. It seemed to be covering a stain. A couple of very wobbly wardrobes were in one of the bedrooms, that we made use of. Some of these things were quite useful. Some weren’t so good. A very wobbly cabinet went straight into the garage. It was made of chipboard and water had got into it. Chipboard is fine when kept dry but starts swelling and falling apart when it gets a whiff of water. It’s horrible stuff. I don’t know why it’s still available as a building material.

We now had to get the upper unit ready for renting. There were a few things to repair, door stops to install, installing a letter box, and cleaning the place to make it presentable.