Category: Fixed Abode

Ever had a fridge you daren’t open? It hasn’t been cleaned out for a while and you can’t face those jars with the fetid contents you really don’t want to see, you shuffle around avoiding nasty things but then you open a mysterious plastic container to find a blue stilton that’s been there for two […]

The phone rang. “I’ve got wrinkly feet,” he said. “Try wearing wellies,” I said. “I do wear wellies,” he said. “Does it happen when the tide comes in?” I said. “Yes,” he said, “…..and when the tide goes out.” “Try standing above the high water mark.” “I don’t know anything about that, I am three […]

All across the Bali we hear the twitter of the birds, the tinkle of gently flowing water and the soft clicking of the water pump. Some people don’t like the noise but not to worry, the big game hunters from the village will soon put a stop to those pesky birds with their airsoft guns. […]

Rumour has it that Winston Churchill once said “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up at us, cats look down at us but pigs treat us as equals.” In fact we are not equal, pigs don’t sweat very much at all.   Last week we talked about insulation to help keep ourselves cool but insulation can […]

For many people who are acclimatised to life in a tropical climate an open building with well designed ventilation and extensive air circulation provides a comfortable living environment and the use of rotating roof ventilators, ceiling fans and a building design that catches the prevailing breezes can achieve this. Inevitably there comes a day, however, […]

There is good news for expatriates married to Indonesian citizens. On Thursday 28th October 2016 the constitutional court ruled that the need for a prenuptial agreement (which, of course, has to be made before marriage) to allow Indonesian citizens in mixed marriages to own property is unconstitutional. What this means as that Indonesians already married […]

The earth is big, really really big, it is humungously big, in fact it is the biggest thing we can actually touch. While we may be rather ambivalent towards planet earth, for electrons it is home. As we already know the electron was named after the Greek elektron which, of course, means amber. Amber? Yes, […]

I am rudely reminded that we haven’t talked about gas for a while, perhaps a nice strong cup of senna pod tea may rekindle the topic. The rude reminder came in the form of a pretty scary experience for a good friend of mine who had a near miss with a gas explosion in his kitchen. He […]

One of life’s great mysteries is “where does the rest go when I visit the rest room?” A good question and one we should all take a bit more notice of. For most of us it goes to a septic tank and, in many households, trying to find the exact location of the septic tank […]

Last issue’s article about the Indonesian Government’s tax amnesty attracted a lot of interest and raised many questions. This is important for anyone owning property so, if you will bear with me, I will go through it again adding new information that has come to light. As we should all know by now the Indonesian […]