weekend

[hnpcc]

It was a nice weekend. The weather has warmed up into summer temperatures, so Saturday was actually quite hot (33oC at about 1pm, don't know if it went higher than that.) I actually managed to make a start on the stats assignment, finally. It's due soonish. I'm not that motivated.

As I was heading out to buy some generally grocery type things I saw a large crowd gathering down the street. I'd forgotten that the place down the road, which has been in the process of being renovated for the last year and a bit, was being auctioned. So I went down. There were about 90 people there, huddling under the shade. About 3 bidders, some support, some checking out the property market and the rest (ooh, about 80 odd of us) locals who were all there to perve. This was the house featured in the property section of the local paper a fortnight ago, so there was a lot of interest. Particularly when they had the "expected to go at around $467,000" tag on it. I personally thought they might be lucky, given that it was renovated, painted, gardened etc.

The auction finally got underway about 15 mins late. The bidding began at $400,000. It moved quickly up in $10K lots to $500K. And stalled. The auctioneer went inside to confer with the vendors.

"We're not at the reserve price yet... I'll take bids of $5000.."

The bidding moved to $505K.

And stalled.

"Do I have $510? Your bid madam, do I have $510? I'll just consult with the vendors..."

15 minutes later, with about 2/3 of the crowd going "Half a million?!?![1]", he came back out.

"We haven't reached the reserve - your bid madam, the bidding stands at $505. Do I have any advance on $505? A beautiful property, fully renovated, nothing to do. Move right in. Any advances on $505? Against you, sirs. Going once. Going twice. Finally - do I have any advance on $505?"

A long pause. No one moved in case they accidentally bid higher and it was the reserve price. [ Well, no one apart from the two year old who was busily stuffing the promotional leaflets she'd picked up into the letterbox. Fortunately the auctioneer didn't think she was seriously bidding.]

"The reserve has not been reached, ladies and gentlemen, as the highest bidder madam you have the right to negotiate if you'd like to come this way. If you'd like to hear the results of the auction please wait until the highest bidder has consulted with the vendors. Thank you."

I didn't wait, I went home and then to the StarGate convention that Dean was being security at. I couldn't believe it. $500K?!?!?! Was that near the advertised price or what! On Sunday I looked up the results of the auction. The reserve price was actually $537,500. In their dreams. I also think the auctioneers are going to be answering a few interesting questions about the discrepancy in their advertised price ($467K) and the actual reserve. Interesting.

The SG con went well. All guests (1 SG actor, 1 Eygptologist, 1 Astronomer, 2 authors) seemed to enjoy themselves. Most of the con attendees were from outside the usual crowd, which was nice. I corrected the SG trivia quizzes - with answers provided of course, as I've never actually watched the show[2] - and did general run around jobs. And caught up with people I hadn't seen for a while. And played with the baby. :-) The con finished really late, not least because the signing (by the actor) went for four hours, throwing the schedule right out. I left after helping pack up, at about 10.30pm. Dean, who'd gotten there at 7am to help set up, left half an hour earlier. The baby gurgled and whinged a little toward the end.

It was 22oC at 11pm as I drove past the temperature clock.

Sunday was very quiet. Both of us were a bit stuffed after the con and the heat. We went up to Dean's hometown for breakfast and to say hi to his parents and nana. His nana currently has two black eyes, stitches across one eyebrow and bruises all down her face. Apparently she had a fall on Friday and cut her head open. She was at the hospital from 8.30am until 4.30pm while they checked her out. Not good. She's getting less steady on her feet by the month it seems. Sooner or later the fall will be a bad one.

Sunday afternoon I played soccer. We won, 9-4. We only had 5 (it's indoor) so no subs and the Pits were stinking hot, the courts being upstairs with glassed sides and no air-conditioning. Lee, Chris and Claire scored 1 goal each. I - being the goalkeeper for most of the match - scored nothing (although I did come very close. I only pulled back because I would have kicked their goalkeeper quite hard in the groin had I kept going with where I was aiming and I'm nice and try not to hurt the other team's goalkeeper. Not that this ever stops the other team trying to hurt me.) Marcus got irritated by how one of the opposition was playing against him (a lot of shoving, shirt pulling and holding going on) and so went ballistic and scored 6, with another about 10 close misses and/or saves. I don't think she actually realised that pissing him off was aiding our scoreline either. Towards the end we were all buggered and just passing in Marcus' rough direction for attack. We did still run in defence though, we weren't that lazy... :-) The opposition also had the ref playing for them, which probably would have worked better if they knew how he played. He's not bad and he can ref and play at the same time. He's also honest enough to call his own faults so it didn't really worry us. And we won by heaps which always helps... :) Only one injury - Lee got kicked in the hand (by the ref) while playing goalie for a bit.

So all in all a quiet weekend. I really need to finish this stats assignment though... it's hard when the weather's nice!

[1] Particularly the bloke in stubbies, singlet and holding a tinnie in one hand and a cig in the other. Obviously there to promote the suburb as a quality place to live. He couldn't believe the $500K. I don't think he really helped the auction much, given that half the street could hear him 'whispering' "Half a mil? Wha'does'e think this is, Kew or somethin'? Geez... half a mil..."

[2] Although I now know lots of trivia about it. Not what any of it means, of course, just that it is. My favourite is still that the SCG is in the same building as Norad. That's funny. I had mental images of all these military men being passed by hordes of drunken cricket fans doing a mexican wave and chanting "Aussie Aussie Aussie... Oi Oi Oi!".