Great Lengths

I admit it. I am not above resorting to trickery if the end justifies the means.

With one of our properties currently in the negotiation stage: insulting offer, counter, realistic offer, counter, waiting..., we are beginning to plan our next move.

Our reservations about investing here in Australia are growing. No doubt it would be a decent financial move, the economy seems fairly strong, the country has an unimaginable wealth of natural resources, and they are positioned to benefit from the growth of China which bodes well for the future. The land is glorious and sparsely populated. And the people? They are a joy.

It's the government I can't abide.

And like some Americans love to tell newcomers, and these Australians have said: Our country, love it or leave it. Or like it or lump it. Or something.

We're considering that advice. Because raising our daughters under the thumb of Big Brother or in the care of Mary Poppins who micromanages every aspect of your life and then perpetrates the lie that you are living in a free country and spouts all kind of nonsense about equality and a fair go when clearly the indiginous people are governed by an entirely different set of rules is intolerable. But try telling that to my high school loving eldest. Who cares about all that when you have friends you can hang out with six hours a day and take cool classes your Mom wouldn't teach you at home, like Japanese and graphics and engineering, and come out at the top of your class without really even trying? The middlest daughter is excited at the prospect of joining her sister down the mountain at high school next year, but is not completely averse to returning to home education. The youngest goes with the flow. For now.

So I thought, what if I made them an offer so sweet they couldn't refuse? A way to wean them off their increasing dependence on governmental institutions... How about a giant field trip! They fondly recall their Colonial American and Revolutionary War trip and mentioned just the other day how much they enjoyed going back through the scrapbook/diaries they made of the excursion.

Hmmmm. Think, think, think. A grand tour. I've got it! How about The Grand Tour, backpacking through Europe for a couple months with part of the proceeds of the sale?

Jorge thought it was a brilliant idea. Grice was skeptical at first, she wouldn't get to try out high school, but looking at the map of the world tacked to our wall, the only artwork we deemed necessary to drag along with us on this venture, she started thinking it might be pretty awesome to see Paris, and Rome, not London so much, or Great Britain in general, she's not really into castles, but maybe, yeah, England would be okay, and Spain, and Germany, oh, and Greece, we've got to go there too...! I've yet to propose it to Sarabelle. She may balk at first, but resistance is futile.