DIY Heavan

In the early 1990s there was a recession. Property prices were really low and some people were getting made redundant. Quite a few people got their home repossessed by the mortgage company. I decided to purchase a one bedroom cottage for forty thousand pounds. My boyfriend, Gregory, bought a two bedroom flat. He was going to do a flat refurbishment and I was going to do a house extension.

I looked in the Yellow Pages at skip hire prices. There was a two skips for the price of one so I took advantage of that. The skip hire prices were quite low in the first place. I filled my skip with all the rubbish that that had come with my cottage. A waste lorry came to collect it all. I ordered two thousand bricks and twenty litres of mortar. It took me one month to build a second bedroom and a study.

The skip hire prices had made Gregory annoyed. I showed him the details of the lower skip hire prices. He got rid of the tatty kitchen and the pink bathroom suite. He put in a lovely pine kitchen and a white bathroom suite. His flat ended up looking quite smart and my cottage ended up looking really quaint.

Sadly we both got made redundant and we were worried about getting our homes repossessed by the mortgage company. I decided to let out my cottage and go off travelling. Gregory came to the same conclusion. He let out his flat and came travelling with me. We decided on a working holiday to Australia.

We got a cheap air fare from London to Sydney for six hundred pounds. I got a job as a waitress and Gregory got a job as a bar man. I loved the sight of the white sails of the opera house and the grey harbour bridge. We had a restriction on our working holiday visas that we could work for up to three months with each employer.

We got a train from Sydney to Brisbane. I got a job in a clothes shop and Gregory got work in a factory. At the weekends we liked to go down to the Gold Coast. We went to some loud discos and did much dancing until the early hours of the morning.

Our trip lasted for one year and we returned to a better economy. I got a job as a school secretary and Gregory got work as a warehouse manager. My tenant left and I moved back into my cottage. Gregory got his flat back and sold it. He purchased a three bedroom house. So now we are both happy living in England but have memories of our working holiday in Australia.