Our home assessment, unbeknown to me, unbeknown also an opportunity to talk frankly about Hs history. Initially I was saddened, then i became quite upset. Knowing some of the father's behaviours, drug dependence & personality, i took safety in keeping the family at arms length. As snippets of the unfolding tragedy were fed through the grapevine, i just shook my head & pushed it aside. I knew the department was involved & felt somewhat confident that young H was safe. But yesterday's information really hammered home how much little H had been through. What I, as a grown man, was protecting myself from, he was living it first hand. And it must be stressed, the department was less than effective as times & exposed H to emotional- mental & physical harm from his mother. Right after hearing this I felt heartened that H was surviving well, but later as it sunk in, I felt very upset, guilty I hadn't bee...
i go out to gather firewood from the pile and overhead a sky full of sparkling ancient orbs exuding timelessness. but inside an 11 year old squirt struggles with his illogical brain and oppositional heart to settle into what he must know is a secure and calm home. is a minute by minute focus far removed from the life of the stars.
Thursday brought seemingly bad news. Council wanted to rescind the contract on the cottage due to a complaint against "fibrous asbestos". There was no doubt, the neighbour that missed out at auction was set to spoil. My enraged Conveyancing man hatched a plan to offer a reduced price to salvage the deal, with me paying for remedial work to be carried out. Late Friday evening I received word that Council intend to proceed on these grounds. I will argue, after the lowest sale price is set, that the property contains only a modest quantity of "non-fibrous asbestos" as do thousands of houses across the state. I get a reduction in the sale price and have to renovate the property. Bingo!