Oh, If Only we Had…
By theprofessionalhobo ~ December 19th, 2007. Filed under: Uncategorized.
Just before Chris left
Life is different out here.
To that end, there are a number of things we miss being in the middle of nowhere (Popai), in the middle of nowhere (
BRUCE BURGERS
Kelly’s dad has our number when it comes to cheeseburgers. And with our red meat intake to once every few weeks or so, we regularly lament the loss of Bruce Burgers from our lives.
KETCHUP CHIPS
I didn’t realize when we left precious Canadian soil that we would be giving up those crunchy sweet tangy potato slices of joy. Ketchup chips (you either love ‘em or hate ‘em) apparently are indigenous only to
BIG ROCK BEER
This is Kelly’s loss, not mine. I don’t get much pleasure from beer, but it is a comfort for Kelly, and Big Rock is the one he misses.
Although, his loss is somewhat tempered by the unbelievably low cost of alcohol here, and he is getting used to the occasional King Kahuna sized bottle (750ml) of New Zealand’s Steinlager for $2.
BOARD GAMES
We love playing games, and the deck of cards we have are getting worn through as we rack our brains to recall every two-player game we know (and there are only a few). We miss playing strategy games the likes of Settlers of Catan, Risk, and
We appease ourselves with lots of puzzle books, and quite enjoy reading, writing (me), making music (Kelly), and just “being”. But rainy days can make for a little stir craziness, and pacing our small floor space can get crowded.
WASHER & DRYER
Hand washing just doesn’t cut it all the time. We have lost a ton of weight since we arrived (not on purpose – it just happens when you live an active lifestyle and eat well!), and we miss the dryer shrinking and resizing our clothes, since they tend to stretch out even more on the clothes line. Also – no matter how much soap we use, we just don’t feel that things get truly clean or smell fresh.
So, once a month or so, we are committed to trucking all our clothes into town and using the Laundromat. It’s a pain in the neck, but the rewards outweigh the hassle.
INDOOR WASHROOM
As much as enjoying nature’s call in nature can be…well…natural, it has a downside too. For example, rain. Running around the yurt to our little “washroom” to piddle when rain is either coming or falling is stressful and icky. And when you have to do “number two”, it just gets worse.
Surprisingly, when pressed, we couldn’t find too many other things we really miss out here. Sure, when it rains solid all day we miss the luxuries of power (which bring us light, internet, radio, and the ability to charge electronics like laptops and cameras), and having to walk to get drinking water can be a pain, but they are easy enough compromises for the perks of where we live.
And sure, the remoteness of our location makes trips into town full day affairs (and on a few occasions rides were not forthcoming and we were close to hiking the full 11 miles home), but it makes us appreciate what “town” has to offer all the more, and we get more out of the experience.
To take it even further, there is a thing or two we consciously don’t miss:
TELEVISION
This was a big revelation for Kelly who was a self-confessed tv nut when he needed to relax. And occasionally as mentioned earlier, we can go a little stir crazy when the weather is fowl and we are yurt-bound and powerless, but other than that, we rarely give tv a second thought. We can watch DVDs on our computer, and we rent them from the library (which include a selection of tv series) to get our fix.
Xbox is another matter for Kelly, however….
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