Water and land

We took the dogs to the beach today. I was surprised of how much the landscape has changed because of the strong winds. Megan spent most of the time in the waves. She played with a big pinecone and had eyes for nothing else. Instead of us throwing it onto the sand for her, we kept throwing it in the sea. That way she didn't get a stomach full of sand. She got quite wise about the waves. She waited for the right moment to swim to the cone and was able to avoid the waves falling on her, most of the time at least. It was excellent exercise for her.

Siru doesn't go after objects. Instead, she walks around and greets small dogs. She never gets wet on the beach, if not by accident.

Turbo thoroughly enjoyed himself on the beach. He wagged his tail and was friendly all round. He ran up and down the beach with Matias.

Turbo came in the car with us for the first time today. I thought he might find cars a bit too strange for his liking, but he didn't have any problems with traveling. We put him in the back of the car, but he preferred sitting next to (and being cuddled by) Matias.

Later on Matias and I went to DARG to take the dogs out. Turbo went for an enjoyable swim in the river with his friends Logie and Tiger. I think Matias needs wellies for his walks. He could then go and walk in the river with the dogs.

We haven't been looking at houses for several weeks now. You can either book a private viewing to go and see a particular house, or go to the open houses between 2 and 5 on Sundays. If you go to see the open houses, you can make a list of the houses you want to see by going through the adds in the Weekend Argus. The other option is to just drive around and follow the estate agents' signs without any idea of where you'll end up. That way you get a wider picture of what's available in all the price ranges.

Matias and I just drove around today. We followed some signs down a road we had never driven before. We ended up coming to an impressive gate and a house that looked like a hunting lodge. It looked quite wonderful, but I thought about turning around there and then, as I could straight away see we wouldn't be able to afford it. I changed my mind when I saw a familiar estate agent coming out of the front door.

Matias and I followed her in, and straight out again through the house. What we saw was my idea of paradise: a terrace with a beautiful darkish blue pool surrounded by lush palm trees, lawns rolling down to a river, a wooden bridge crossing the river, bamboos clicking in the wind, horses on a paddock on the hill across the river, african trees, and the magnificent green mountains. All this (except for the mountain) on the 2 acres of land belonging to the property. I didn't even need to have a closer look at the house. I knew this is where I want to live.

The house turned out to impress me as much as the grounds. Unfortunately, the price tag was quite impressive, too, especially with the Rand being strong and our funds not being in Rands.

Matias and I drove home and convinced Heikki to come and have a look at the house with us. (He generally needs quite a bit convincing, as I keep finding a lot of wonderful houses). Heikki liked the house, too. I don't think we'll be able to buy it, though, as we haven't yet sold ours, we wouldn't have enough money without a considerable mortgage, and we didn't seem to be the only ones wanting this particular piece of paradise.

I spent the rest of the day with a calculator and a currency converter. Matias and India had a good soak in a paddling pool in the laundry-yard. It rained.