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I spent most of yesterday making sums. And the more I think about it, the more that old wooden house and barn seem like a very good idea.
Most of the older brick houses (that I can easily afford) look as if they were designed by the same short person (around 7 years old, methinks!), with some minor changes outside. The rooms don’t flow logically and there are much too many doorways. And they all have brick stoves, root cellars, and outside toilets.
This one – believe it or not – does NOT have a cellar unless it’s somewhere hidden under all that rotten wood below the house. And I’m sure there might be a toilet outside somewhere, but it’s not in the photos. (Maybe it looks really bad!) The yard is big enough for me to grow some fruit and vegetables for my use and to process, sell and barter, but it’s not too big for one person to manage by herself. I can see it becoming a proper backyard farm.
Am I optimistic? Maybe? Crazy? Definitely! But I won’t starve or live in misery, as long as I can grow what I need to eat. I also think that it would make good material for a YouTube channel and blog and prove my critics wrong. (And pay me pocket money!)
I am sober enough to understand that it won’t be an easy process. I’ve never experienced snow before, or very cold winters, for that matter. I’ve done woodworking projects, but this would be massive. I plan to build a house!!! I’ve never kept chickens, dug swales, put up fences, or driven on the right-hand side of the road! My passport is brand new, and I have never even been out of Africa!
At the moment I live in a small apartment in the middle of a smallish city with my two cats. There is no place to plant anything, and my garden lives in pots outside my front door. Rustenburg is a mining town, and the air is horrible to breathe. Also, it is unsafe for a woman alone to go on walks, and even without a war, the streets are littered with potholes.
I am not intimidated by the idea of living in a small village. I grew up in one. My dad was the headmaster in a town with an elementary school, two churches, some shops where one could purchase basics, a hotel, and a gas station. It was surrounded by farmland. We weren’t poor, but we also didn’t have lots of money growing up, so my holidays and weekends away were mostly camping ones.
On top of all that, I hate shopping unless it is for books or stationery. Food shopping is necessary, but clothes and shoe shopping is sheer torture! I’ve looked at the town where that wooden house is. Yes, it’s small and primitive by most standards, but it is not far from bigger places. The train is cheap and convenient because I can spend the travel time writing and reading, but I also plan to buy myself a decent car. On that, I shall spend money, because I need something comfortable and practical, with 4-wheel drive. It has to be brand new, and reliable. What exactly, I don’t know yet.
I understand that most of my friends and family would rather want me to purchase a more “solid” house in a large town, but for me, the countryside is exactly what I am looking for. I live in Africa, and after 13 years of being stuck in an urban jungle, the wide open spaces call to me. I also need to be busy and creative, as that is how I deal with stress and depression. The moment I sit still and think, blackness falls over my soul.
Ps. I sent the advertisement to my lawyer friend in Kyiv. He agrees that this is a better fit, but he’s not at all convinced that I have all my ducks in a row about this decision. What he doesn’t know is that I don’t know where half my ducks even are! And I suspect one might be a pigeon!
