There’s a cow and a bull outside the small five-house complex where I live and every now and then they talk to one another or to their owners to merely note that they’re still afield or fro that person to come and move the forage closer to where sac of them are pinioned to rope to a steel stake in the ground. The calls become more insistent as sunset nears, the cow particularly for she has to be milked. The bull? Probably he’s bedded where Bossie is, so when she leaves he goes too, or soon thereafter.
I mention this because of the comforting sounds they make, the masculine bellowing he cam make, the communication that occurs between their master, a woman who lives next door, and them. From what I ‘ve seen in this first week across the street from the field where they graze they are well cared for, and their presence, you may wonder at, is part of the reason I wanted to buy this house where I’m now renting until the end of April. It too is the openness of the fields either side of this complex that also contributes, the quiet of the area, day and night, and what traffic there is passes through unless this car or that stops at one of the two markets for something, then moves on into the town. The same is truss for pedestrians, local Turks and at this time of the year a few tourists mostly from England. They all move on and Peepers and I and the cattle are left to live in tranquility. I’m sure in the summer months it’s much noisier; people are outside as often as possible or doing things more easily that way if they’re not on holiday and have no reason to stay inside. They will be wanting to be doing what’s expected of them; shopping first and foremost; eating at least twice a day, going to the beach, to say they’ve been there, and into the sea to taste its salt and laugh and complain and then take a shower required if the community pool is to be used. I’m looking at the beech tree outside my bedroom window through its branches to one oft he two fields I mentioned, and now and then the birds flit by, mingle with the leaves and breeze and fly on to leave me in the quiet rustic glee.
Why should I care what the house costs and whether I can afford it when I can describe these things as I have? Yes, I don’t have health insurance and that’s costly; what, say my banker and accountant, if I get sick? What then? Buying the house will delete your funds and leave you with not much of a cushion, a cushion for maintenance on the house, taxes and water and electricity bills, gas and oil for the car, not to mention food for you and the cat, and all the other little expenses that inevitably crop up, if, if, you are an inveterate consumer and in the habit of shopping where anything’s needed of not. It’s part of the daily routine, especially if you are without a job, retired or on vacation for this reason or that. On top of all this, the government is reviewing the rules for purchasing and selling houses by foreigners, and these changes if there are any won’t be completed and released until January at the earliest. Will the sales tax on the houses go up from its present 3%? At the moment this percentage represents another $5000 Canadian over and above the sale price. Will there be more charges forth coming, lawyer fees, notary charges, licences to further add to the total? My advisors are correct; at the very least I should wait.
When the changes are clear and all the charges are known, then review the finances again.
