"A series of short pieces, where I'll be sharing my thoughts and experiences when comparing the virtues, vices and stresses of traditional to present-day living.
Examining our attitudes to the very basic things humans have done and will continue to-do, (must do) in order to survive the experience that we commonly call, Life-on- Earth."
Elisabeth Young
#1 SHELTER
For having spent more than 6 years living traditionally in a small village in the Jamaican countryside, I reckon I learned to appreciate the pros and cons of both traditional living as well as those of present day living. It wasn't uncommon there to see the local men moving house, literally lifting the house off its stilts and loading it onto a truck and on to another location.
This was not an unusual occurrence. There, a house was for shelter. No one considered it an investment, asset or nest egg. A house there was a place in which people lived. And very often, in fact more often than not, you built your own house, from the materials at your disposal. Across the way one family - a large family of adults - managed to live in a two roomed wooden house. There was no bathroom, no kitchen, no toilet - just the two rooms. And we children did wonder how they managed to all fit in, but manage they did. The way it worked, as you could afford to you add another room to the house. You didn't sell and buy a bigger one, you built on the one you already built (or had built).
Here in present day UK, though we already have roofs over our heads (you cannot become a homeowner if you are homeless), we strive towards owning our own homes, not always because there isn't enough space for us all, but because this is how we live in the present day - we become home owners (whether we can afford a house or not), with the assistance of the bank. In actual fact we are not home owners. We are mortgagees. Unless we bought them outright, we don't own our homes.
I don't recall any incidences of homeownership related stress in all of Cave Valley, but increasingly on a daily basis what with the economic situation being what it is (all those retirement homes that were being built in Spain with future British ex pat pensioners in mind, until those future pensioners' pensions depreciated and house prices fell in the UK fell) we hear more and more present day mortgagee hard luck stories - so many impacting consequences, so much stress.
What price peace of mind -
living traditionally or living presently?
living traditionally or living presently?
ELIZABETH YOUNG
English :
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