It’s been some time since I’ve posted on here, I have been totally focused on renovating the house that we finally decided to make into our permanent base . Ive been procrastinating for months now about not having the energy or motivation to keep in touch with everyone. , so I’m going to share this link to family and friends and that way maybe I’ll be forgiven for not keeping in touch . Although communicating now consists mainly of sending a text, a few short sentences here and there left on my phone screen while I wait for it to be read and replied to, working out the time differences , and work schedules between UK , Canada and different Provinces , it’s never going to be spontaneous but it’s all I have now.
Each loved one has their own text tone and whenever I hear it I’ll know who it is , some more often than others but always a welcome intrusion.
Other family members hate video calls but some don’t so we have visual tours of the progress of the house or show how much snow has piled up in one day in April while looking back at daffodils in an English garden .
Quite often I feel I need more but I’ve learnt not to be too demanding after all this is the way it is now and not likely to change anytime soon. My big brother lives alone and has survived countless hours on lockdown feeling isolated and loves to chat so I try and call him and catch up , I can hear his voice and instantly know what mood he’s in , if he’s happy or sad or just busy . My little brother rarely calls and I miss hearing his voice even if there’s not much to say to each other it’s still a special connection that I feel after almost losing him to GBS.
I’m not sure what started me on this topic but I know it’s one which is close to the hearts of many of us who are far away from family or have been unable to connect personally in the last two years of this crazy situation we have been forced to deal with .
Quite often I think of writing a letter and mailing it to someone, wondering if they would smile when it arrived and read it and then tuck it away somewhere for safe keeping . I miss that feeling .
I still have the first letter I sent Mark ( and his reply ) when I wrote him a letter from a dating site . That was almost thirty years ago now so yes blind dates do work out ! I wonder if an email or text would stand the test of time the same way.
Collectively we all have had no choice but to get on with our lives now after being stopped in our tracks when the world ground to a halt .
So I wonder if this is just my way of sharing what new direction my life has taken in a sometimes incomprehensible world that we now live in .
We’ve all had to reorientate , our adult children are either in new careers now or working from home , they have all experienced lockdown in different ways but have showed so much strength and resilience and I am so proud of them. Some of my long term friends, and family now have health problems which has changed their mobility and ability to communicate., and yes we are all getting older . Including me !
“ Things that made sense not so long ago, no longer make sense, but collectively we have to walk into it and cultivate a relationship with the unknown “ David Whyte
That’s certainly how I have felt during the long weeks of lockdown and mandates , in the last few months we have entered a new phase after a lot of exploration as to how we should move forward .
Last year we had had to accept that going from having complete control over travel plans to none was not only frustrating and challenging but was no longer financially viable .
The ever changing goal posts of covid mandates , PCR tests and apps to download , combined with increasing air fares and the uncertainty of being stranded at short notice without accommodation had left us needing a solid plan for 2022 .
We came to the realisation that we need to take a break from our current lifestyle and find a “ Bolt hole”.
In 2017 I wrote about how making the transition to a nomad lifestyle was such a freeing experience and a great way to spend our retirement . Maybe that’s why when we decided to put a pause on our nomadic lifestyle and find a permanent solution to our housing situation it didn’t seem like such an over whelming challenge.
Finding an affordable home was going to be difficult , and owning only four suitcases with all our earthly possessions in it would leave us just a little short of furniture etc. The last four years our basic needs have been small and our material possessions even smaller .
In between Canadian housesits we often stay with family in Squamish B.C. but circumstances have changed and our kids are moving this year so now we need a longer term solution .
Squamish has also changed dramatically in the last year , it’s had a boom in growth of population by 22 percent. The post pandemic property and rental prices are at an all time high .
We spent two months after we returned to Canada in July searching for anywhere to rent or buy in Squamish but there was nothing that worked with our limited finances. [The West coast of Canada has now become one of the highest property markets in Canada followed by Toronto ]
Mark has previous experience as a Realtor so he set about researching different areas and types of housing that would be affordable . We felt that our best option was to head back to the East coast to Nova Scotia where we had lived for over twenty years and property prices were not as high . Rentals were also becoming increasingly hard to find and more expensive as each week went by , we knew we would have to move quickly .
We had lived in Halifax, the only city in Nova Scotia and in the five years since we left the Province it had also set a new record for newcomers/ immigrants after a decades long population decline and losing young people to jobs out west , it had finally reached a million in population.
Canadians are now working from home which in turn means that they could move from unaffordable larger cities in Ontario and British Columbia to enjoy the slower paced life and lower house prices on the East Coast .
We spent many hours coming up with different scenarios and looking at every single property within our budget in the Province . It was going to take some careful planning .
For many years we had helped newcomers settle in Nova Scotia and had attended emigrate shows in London to try and encourage families to move to the East Coast of Canada and embrace a lifestyle that was not like other main stream and popular destinations .
I used to give seminars about the unique maritime culture and lifestyle and answer questions about practical issues in moving here . Long before blogs and computers and podcasts I was sending articles to a newspaper that specialised in emigration info, and hosting newcomers in our home, now after five years of nomadic life and one pandemic later here we were weighing up the pros and cons of returning ourselves!
We no longer needed city life or a large house with land ( snow clearing has to be a minimum) but we did want to be near some amenities . We also would like to be near the water , so a tall order but we felt positive that we could find somewhere.
Halifax house prices were too high, while we were researching we saw our previous house sell again for three times what we had sold for in 2017 ! We had looked at property near New Glasgow a few years ago and knew that we might be able to find somewhere in the area if we moved quickly as we were seeing houses in our price range sold after a few days on the market . It was mid August when we found our house in Pictou , we called a realtor and managed to be first ones in for a viewing , we made an offer based on her feedback and by the end of August it was ours !
Nomadic Mumsie was going to have to unpack and settle down !
Nomadic Mumsie 
We have parallel experiences! Sold our house in the US and traveled through the start of 2020. By 2022, we knew we needed a home base, as we weren’t willing to risk travel during all the uncertainties of Covid. Last month we rented a house in Eureka, CA and plan to make that our base indefinitely. I can’t wait to hear more about your changes!
LikeLike