This One Or That?

  

Okay, here’s a question for you. How many pairs of shoes do you really need?

If you’re a man, chances are you might answer ‘one’, but even then that’s not a definite. However, if you’re a woman chances are the answer is less simple.

I remember last year the topic of shoes came up with a man I was chatting to and I said if what I chose to wear didn’t go with my knee-high boots, Ugg boots, sandals, flat closed-in shoes or runners I was in trouble. Apparently, I found out later, he thought I’d been stirring him about how many shoes I had. Truth was I hadn’t.

Yes, over the years I’ve had my fair share, but not so recently. Probably a good job since there are only so many shoes you can fit in a backpack. But the question is, which ones do I really need to take and which should I bin?

It’s a question that has taken me weeks, if not months, to find an answer to, primarily because it requires I answer two other questions first.

• What will I actually be doing on this new life-style?
• What clothes will I be wearing on a daily basis?

Unless I answer these two questions, it’s almost impossible to answer the shoe one. Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Plus, as a person who loves their clothes, and was taught the importance of protocol and etiquette, these two questions are actually quite hard to answer in themselves. For example will I be doing anything that requires a dress and heels, because none of the shoes I’ve currently picked have heels? Will I be doing anything that requires I dress smartly and sensibly, say short-term, casual employment? It’s taken for granted that I’ll be doing some forms of gardening, but will that include more extreme work on hobby farms too, or even in the outback? Believe me the list goes on in my head – partially because I have to significantly downsize my wardrobe anyway. Don’t get me started on what clothes to throw out or donate.

It’s hard to plan a wardrobe when you don’t really know what your life is going to entail, or what the weather is going to be like.

So, after all this thinking, what did I decide?

I decided, bugger it, I’ll only take the clothes I really love wearing. And if I end up looking like a rock chick or country hippy rather than a polite English lady, tough. I can always nip into Good Sammy’s if I really need to wear a dress.

And, in answer to the original question…

I need a pair of winter boots, sandals, Ugg boots and gardening boots (and/or runners, but then do I ever really exercise, maybe I should take my walking boots instead of runners especially taking in to account all the dog-walking I’ll probably be doing… or… maybe… AGH!

Our First House-sit

There's no doubt that Steve and I are getting impatient for our house-sitting adventure to start – by which I mean, actually house-sit as opposed to prepare for it. We've done so much groundwork and planning, clearing and sorting, discussing and thinking...

One of the main challenges to physically starting is getting the timing right. After all, there's no point in setting up a long list of houses to go and sit, if it means our house is empty while we sit them because we haven't yet sold it, but then neither do we want to sell our house and have nowhere to stay.

It's a transition that would be easier, I guess, if we were renting out our house (instead of selling it) or had local family to go and stay indefinitely with, but since we don't, our first house-sitting job starts this week and we still have our own house and dog to sit!

Of course, we also have the added advantage of there being two of us (most house-sitters sit on their own).

So what does that mean?

It means, Steve gets to start the actual physical house-sitting part of our new adventure first and by himself, while I get to prove how capable and independent I am living on my own! I also get to remember (for the first time in thirty years) how to exist without a car!

Hmm? Why is it that I have this funny feeling that the next few weeks are going to be filled with all kinds of smiles and learning curves?

Buy, Rent, Sell

Yet another Home Open this weekend. We've had so many now, I've lost count – not that I was really counting in the first place.

There've been plenty of reports in the News recently about how slow the current housing market is, and how the prices have dropped. There's even been chat amongst neighbours about other homeowners who can't sell their houses for the same price they paid in the boom eight years ago!

All of which has led to discussions at home about whether we should consider renting instead of selling. It's something we considered for a little while, after all, many house-sitters choose to rent out their house so that they have somewhere to move back to or some form of security, to say nothing of an extra income or the mortgage being paid off.

But there are advantages to selling too, especially when you consider that our change to the house-sitting lifestyle is to make our life more relaxed and simplified, something that doesn't seem supported by taking on renters. In other words, renting out the house (even through an agent) gives us something else to think about – hence the reason to keep our house on the market. To say nothing of the fact that, wouldn't it be great if, during our travels, we saw our dream house and could spontaneously buy it cash!

Therefore, with tomorrow being Sunday – the perfect day for a Home Open – we're planning another trip to the local coffee shop and park (so as to avoid the hoards of home buyers who will be flooding eagerly to see our house), before coming back to a stack of amazing offers for the house.

I'm not quite sure who enjoys the trips to the park most: Steve taking his photos, me having my coffee or Rockee meeting other dogs.

What do you mean nobody is buying houses?
We don't have to follow the trend… we're going on an exciting and life-changing adventure and creating our own future!

Are We Homeless?

As a writer I've always loved playing with words, and the subtle differences between one word and another. In fact, it might even be part of the reason why I love being a writer.

I like the fact that completely different pictures can be painted by simply changing a word. For example, consider the difference between a person who: 'strode', 'strolled', 'scampered', 'staggered'. The word 'walked' could just as easily have been used, but the picture wouldn't have been the same.

It's not just that, though, to me words have their own energy too. Sometimes everybody feels the same energy in a word, but sometimes it's an energy that only you feel, perhaps triggered by a personal thought, emotion or event from your past. One person might, for example, consider a specific word a compliment whilst another might consider it an insult, simply because the energy and emotion they individually associate with it is different.

'Homeless' can be one of those words. This word comes to mind because it's also a word that has been mentioned in our hearing range many times over the last few months.

So, what does 'homeless' mean?

To many it instantly conjures up the picture of a dirty, sad person, dressed in rags and curled up on a street corner begging and scrounging for the basic necessities of life.

But, think about it – is that really what the word means, or is it simply an individual connotation of what the word means?

Doesn't 'homeless' simply mean somebody who doesn't have what we consider a regular, conventional place to live, not necessarily somebody who is penniless as well?

• Isn't a person who chooses to live under a palm tree on an island paradise homeless?
• Isn't a grandparent invited to spend four months of every of year split between each of their three children homeless?
• Isn't a person travelling around the world's youth hostels homeless?

Yet, do any of these lifestyles bring up the same emotions and reactions as the hungry, grubby person sleeping in a cardboard box? I doubt it. After all, these three people aren't assumed to be desperately short of money and dependant on others, only that they have chosen to live a less conventional lifestyle which doesn't involve a standard home – just like us!

Yes, it's true we won't have a traditional home, but to us that doesn't mean we won't have a home, or that we're reliant on others to survive. Instead we're in a situation that offers up great opportunities, inspires new ways to think, the odd challenge or two to solve even, but it's still a great adventure, full of freedom and unpredictability.

But…
if I want to be truly honest, I always liked the idea of being a nomad, (independent, spontaneous, travelling wherever appeals) and that's exactly what we'll be – nomadic, not homeless.

Now, 'nomad', does that conjure up a different picture from 'homeless'?