Seeking Obscurity

from the Barossa Leader Newspaper - Nov 16th 2016

Yep ... I have retired from active ministry.
.... The interview was a nice diversion - and the interviewer a lovely gal who will go a long way as a journalist. It's early days for her, and sadly our interview isn’t actually reproduced terribly faithfully in the newspaper (note for example my “Graduate Diplomacy”!!)

Now we Foxes have purchased a new place to live ...
We thought (living in the 70s, as we do) that we’d just take our money and buy a nice house somewhere nice and convenient, and just move in and live a quiet suburban life in our declining years.
Great theory.
Times have changed, and a big bag of cash doesn’t get you anything a gentleman and his wife would consider as a suitable abode in a suitable locale - especially in any desirable seaside suburbs.
 Agents excitedly showed us single fronted flaking piles of faded decrepitude with views over derelict shipyards, petroleum tank complexes, and flood control channels - as picturesque as such places may be - particularly for an artist -  none tickled our fancy ... not even the one next door to the Harley Davidson riding empty beer bottle collectors.
We were glum chums for some time.
We even looked at real estate here in the sun soaked (and this year,generally soaked) Barossa where prices are cheaper and white ants hungrier.

The biggest trouble with Tanunda, aside from the fact that it’s my old parish where a wise pastor emeritus should never retire, is that to travel to the city (galleries, cafes, culture, etc) requires an expedition that makes the Burke and Wills trip fade into insignificance - and potentially risks ending up the same way as their trip. There is public transport, but one must check carefully which  particular year the bus runs, and then arrange the mortgage to pay for the ticket. 

The Biscay soil is another hazard - we looked at one house in Tanunda that stood out amongst its peers by having some wall space between the cracks.
So we are going to Nairne.
It is still a village even though it is so close to the freeway. The post office is a country post office with post boxes and friendly chat.
Mt Barker is a couple minutes away. My son and daughter in law are just around the corner with our grand-pup. 
The air is fresh, and the pace is slow.
On the other side of the main Woodside Road is a development called "Fox Hill" - obviously a desirable place to be.
We get the keys on December 8th, but don’t anticipate moving for a few weeks after that. Christmas gets in the way a bit, and the removalists will be, no doubt, heavily booked.
 We have something to look forward to ... the rest of our lives as a Christmas present.