Family Beach House on Newport Beach.

5Calvert.JPG, originally uploaded by Pennie David.

The house in the middle of this photo was built by David's Grandfather in the 1920's. David along with 2 siblings and 2 cousins inherited it in 1971, most of the others were under 21 so the property was sold for $55,000, we did think of buying it ourselves but we'd only just arrived back in Australia with one American Dollar and no Australian Bank accounts. Last month the house on the left of this photo #7 sold for seventeen million dollars. It is right on Newport Beach and new and enormous with a walk in fridge.
Here are some reasons I keep telling myself for why we didn't buy #5 all those years ago.
1. The noise of the surf can be deafening.
2. You can feel salt everywhere, on the carpets, on the windows and on everything you touched.
3. It's timber and needs painting every two years and it's a massive job.
4. The children would never go to school if they lived on the beach.
And finally...
5. In summer you have friends you never knew you had and they all just 'POP' in around meal time.