Do You Want To Live In The Country?

How many times have you heard people say, "I want to live in the country", "I want a smallholding!", "A holiday business!","I want to work from home", "A simple and green environment!".

The idea of making money in the city, paying off the mortgage and going to live in the country is enticing. You can get a beautiful old farm house, work from home, enjoy the nature and breathe in fresh air. And most of this is true but there are risks and downsides to consider too.

So what's your dream? Make a list of what you are looking for.

Do you really want to live in the country? "In the country" could have a whole range of meanings. Do you want to live in a market town, a little village or really out in the sticks? Or would holidays do? I ask this because living in the country is so different to visiting it.

What do you enjoy about living in the city? The buzz, the access to theatre, music, education, exhibitions, people, shops, etc? When you have a dream it's easy to miss the truth of your current situation.

Living in a village can be fun and sociable, providing you get on with the general population (it could be small) and are happy to deal with village politics. However, they can also be intrusive - people are naturally curious and some people will want to know your business.

Are you happy to use the car a lot. Many country roads are winding, narrow and fast. Walking along country roads is not a good idea! If it's walking you're after check that you CAN walk in the place you're interested in. Sometimes there are surprisingly few walkways as it's private access.

Would you be happy living somewhere with few shops - of course you could shop online and have your groceries delivered by the local box scheme, or dare I say, a supermarket chain (maybe that wouldn't sit comfortably with the "living in the country" theme!).

Employment. If you want to stay with your current company, can you work from home? Is this acceptable? With the current credit crunch and subsequent redundancies, this is less available. Especially if you need to prove your worth - bosses may want to see you in the office. Setting up your own business is an option but research it thoroughly - it's a big risk, takes up a huge amount of your time, though the rewards can be worth it. Setting up a B&B is another popular option - and again, it's hard slog for not much money.

The assumption of simply getting another job in your new location if your current job doesn't work out is again risky - jobs are now not easy to come by, and the pay is generally much lower outside the big smoke. Most people need an income and getting this right, with your feet firmly on the ground, is crucial!

You may want to sell up and move to the country and own two houses. One as a holiday let and one to live in. However, research the costs and risks - holiday letting can be a drain if you can't let the property or if it needs a lot of maintenance and care.

This may sound all rather negative but the bottom line is that the dream and the reality need to be checked very rigorously before you take action. Otherwise you could end up wanting to move back...

Article by Debbie Morgan. Debbie Morgan writes for the UK Property Search Engine, Wheres My Property and Renovate Alerts, the site that finds property to renovate. Debbie also contributes to Property Money Maker.

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A Closer Look at Olympic Beijing

People

The people of Beijing are wonderful. They are promptly hospitable, friendly and helpful. They love to have pictures with foreigners for posterity perhaps.. Everyone you’d have any interaction with would bring you joy from to waiters to taxi drivers. Just get prepared to be swarmed and run over on the sidewalks. There are literally hundreds of thousands of others sharing the sidewalks and boulevards with you, but they move deftly around you. There is no rudeness or pushiness. Yes, they are among the friendliest people in the world.

It will really surprise you and impress you mainly with the people and the energy you’d feel from the people. They're just pretty happy people and a great sense of humor and they really are welcoming the world there and that's what you’d feel like. They're really serious and really intense and you have to be also to get ahead and to be competitive in anything with 1.3 billion people. But they also have a really funny side and you’d see just how proud these people are and how much it means for the local Olympic volunteers to be part of the great event.

Weather

The daily weather in Beijing is referred to as being “overcast” with a one to two kilometer thick by several hundred kilometer wide pall of smog. You hardly see the tops of buildings, or clearly across the wide boulevards. You can feel the smog on your skin, in your nostrils and taste it in your mouth. A haze usually hangs over the city for the early part of the day. Anyone with breathing or respiratory problems must have a hard time with it. Or you better not come.

The temperature is rather warm. At street level with the crowds, the temperature must be about 95 F. Everyone is sweaty, and when greetings are exchanged, the hugs and handshakes are slick.

Food

At a Chinese restaurant you’d be served very large dishes of fresh, hot steaming food, plus a couple of large beers and sodas worth a whopping 137 yuan ($23) – that’s for eight people. And no tips for such gracious and prompt service.

Speaking of sense of humor, there was some pretty good Chinglish on the menu when you’d go to a restaurant to enjoy a traditional Chinese hot pot. Among the items was "obese beef," "aftertaste sausage," and "cube roll of moo cow." Doesn't matter what they call it; it was awesome.

There would always be a 24-hour lounge somewhere where those working on the 24-hour clock could stay and relax with a cold beverage whenever the day is done. Here’s an account from a pal: As I’m picking up a tray or two for the crowd, I need to ask the comely young barkeep how late the joint may be open, trying to figure out how early I’d have to get there. She goes, confers with some supervisor ‘cause I don’t think she quite understands my English and comes back to report: "Sir, we are open all the hours.” A local with some knowledge of the place looks at me like I’ve got three heads and says, “Don’t worry, you can smoke in restaurants here. I think you can smoke in hospitals if you want.”

Streets & Travel

Hutongs are the narrow streets or alleys that are formed by the traditional courtyard residences all over Beijing. The neighborhoods where these alley ways exist are usually referred to as hutongs. You’d have a lot of offers from the bicycle rickshaw drivers to take you around, but you can stay on foot and maybe much more exciting.

Taxi cabs, so far, represent the only element of this Olympic experience that needs a serious upgrade. The drivers seem to be from anywhere except this city, for some reason, and don’t know their way around town, or how to find anything. That’s even with the little specialized maps that Olympic organizers have printed out. Sometimes a cab driver misses the mark, but still does you a favor. Even when they’re lost and clueless,

though, the drivers are polite and friendly and provide stories for the telling. If you miss the mark a mile away, a local would insist on escorting you for a walk of the entire distance and he wouldn’t even accept beer money in return. What a walk, though. But you could have beautiful grounds, with lakes, giant trees, gardens, temples, fine old buildings, groups of people doing the Tai Chi thing on flawless green lawns. Well, if you get on the right place…

You see a lot of things in the first class lounges of various train stations and airports – not that I go there very often in these budget-conscious times. Things like famous people sometimes. Free food. The odd drink. Comfortable chairs. And, apparently, bugs. Big, stinking scorpion-like bugs.

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