Steps towards a simpler life

[Lightcycle]

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Don’t you have like 832 motorcycles?

LOL. Yeah, now I do.

You joke, but I often find myself wondering how and why I've fallen into old habits again.

It's been 6 years since we dropped anchor and the acquisition game crept up on me very slowly.

Part of it is that sedentary lifestyle.

At first it was a convenience issue.

You have a home, now you need all the stuff that maintains that home. A snow shovel, gardening implements to make sure your neighbours don't lynch you for having the Amazon rainforest in your front and back yards. Furniture so you don't have to sit on the bed to eat all your meals, while watching downloaded shows on your laptop, which we did for over 7 years. Oh, we have a TV! Then it's cleaning supplies to clean the house, the furniture, the deck and the deck chairs and patio furniture... wait, we have patio furniture now? When did we get that...?!?

You get a truck so you can get around easier when there's snow on the ground. Oh yeah, we need winter tires. Then comes all the stuff to make maintaining a car easier, jack stand and breaker bar to get the summer rims on and off. Security lug nuts and the sockets to go with them, the battery charger, all the knick-knacks in and outside the truck. Definitely need that BakFlip tonneau cover so thieves don't steal stuff out of the back of the truck...

You fill up the fridge because now you actually have one, and you don't have to buy groceries every day. Oh, we can make fancy food again instead of cooking over a camp stove with one pot and one awkward utensil which, despite its name, utterly fails at being a spoon and fork at the same time. Wait, we have a bread maker now? What the heck is a sous-vide and why is one sitting inside one of the many kitchen cabinets filed to the brim with appliances I don't even know what they do?!?!

We have a closet now. So we don't have to wear the same 7 sets of T-shirts and underwear and the one riding suit we own any more. The closet quickly gets filled, but now new-old words enter our vocabulary once again: garment bags and dry-cleaning?!?

The lifestyle creep is slow but it accelerates. And soon it's not a convenience thing anymore, it's a boredom thing.

I retired over a decade ago and I choose to work on my own schedule. But being very lazy, I choose often not to work, which gives me time to pursue other hobbies. I have a music studio now. I ride dirtbikes. I want to get back to the track. All of those hobbies come with their own set of maintenance items, new knick-knacks that make the hobby easier and fun.

And suddenly, you have 832 motorcycles in the garage.

I think settling down right before the pandemic lubricated the wheels. Moving to a new town - a small rural town - with no friends, lots of free time and 2-day shipping from Amazon (at the time, now it's 10-days... if I'm lucky) meant that acquiring stuff was easy and a quick fix for having waaay too much time on my hands.

Post-pandemic, we have a very active social life, mostly centred around bikes. We go dirtbiking with our dirtbike friends, I have work friends from the school and we do street rides with them. Recently went to the track and made a lot of friends with our pit-neighbours, we've got a standing invitation to pit with them, use their tools and bench-race between sessions anytime we want.

I'm a pretty one-dimensional guy. I only have one true interest and passion, which is motorcycles. The stuff I've acquired isn't causing me any financial hardship and we live well within our means. I love that motorcycles has led us to our very rich and wide circle of friends and riding buddies.

But sometimes, I look around at all the stuff that's collected around me (which still isn't a lot compared to people around us) and think, wow... that escalated quickly...?

Hm, I just wrote a @nakkers-style essay...

 

[nobbie48]

LOL. Yeah, now I do.

You joke, but I often find myself wondering how and why I've fallen into old habits again.

It's been 6 years since we dropped anchor and the acquisition game crept up on me very slowly.

Part of it is that sedentary lifestyle.

At first it was a convenience issue.

You have a home, now you need all the stuff that maintains that home. A snow shovel, gardening implements to make sure your neighbours don't lynch you for having the Amazon rainforest in your front and back yards. Furniture so you don't have to sit on the bed to eat all your meals, while watching downloaded shows on your laptop, which we did for over 7 years. Oh, we have a TV! Then it's cleaning supplies to clean the house, the furniture, the deck and the deck chairs and patio furniture... wait, we have patio furniture now? When did we get that...?!?

You get a truck so you can get around easier when there's snow on the ground. Oh yeah, we need winter tires. Then comes all the stuff to make maintaining a car easier, jack stand and breaker bar to get the summer rims on and off. Security lug nuts and the sockets to go with them, the battery charger, all the knick-knacks in and outside the truck. Definitely need that BakFlip tonneau cover so thieves don't steal stuff out of the back of the truck...

You fill up the fridge because now you actually have one, and you don't have to buy groceries every day. Oh, we can make fancy food again instead of cooking over a camp stove with one pot and one awkward utensil which, despite its name, utterly fails at being a spoon and fork at the same time. Wait, we have a bread maker now? What the heck is a sous-vide and why is one sitting inside one of the many kitchen cabinets filed to the brim with appliances I don't even know what they do?!?!

We have a closet now. So we don't have to wear the same 7 sets of T-shirts and underwear and the one riding suit we own any more. The closet quickly gets filled, but now new-old words enter our vocabulary once again: garment bags and dry-cleaning?!?

The lifestyle creep is slow but it accelerates. And soon it's not a convenience thing anymore, it's a boredom thing.

I retired over a decade ago and I choose to work on my own schedule. But being very lazy, I choose often not to work, which gives me time to pursue other hobbies. I have a music studio now. I ride dirtbikes. I want to get back to the track. All of those hobbies come with their own set of maintenance items, new knick-knacks that make the hobby easier and fun.

And suddenly, you have 832 motorcycles in the garage.

I think settling down right before the pandemic lubricated the wheels. Moving to a new town - a small rural town - with no friends, lots of free time and 2-day shipping from Amazon (at the time, now it's 10-days... if I'm lucky) meant that acquiring stuff was easy and a quick fix for having waaay too much time on my hands.

Post-pandemic, we have a very active social life, mostly centred around bikes. We go dirtbiking with our dirtbike friends, I have work friends from the school and we do street rides with them. Recently went to the track and made a lot of friends with our pit-neighbours, we've got a standing invitation to pit with them, use their tools and bench-race between sessions anytime we want.

I'm a pretty one-dimensional guy. I only have one true interest and passion, which is motorcycles. The stuff I've acquired isn't causing me any financial hardship and we live well within our means. I love that motorcycles has led us to our very rich and wide circle of friends and riding buddies.

But sometimes, I look around at all the stuff that's collected around me (which still isn't a lot compared to people around us) and think, wow... that escalated quickly...?

Hm, I just wrote a @nakkers-style essay...

A fiend's dad got tired of his car sitting outside while the garage was full of lawn and garden stuff so he bought a bigger house with a bigger garage.

It came with a bigger lot that meant more lawn and garden stuff that needed to be stored. His car still sits out.

 

[nobbie48]

I don't know about other countries but I've consumed too many youtube video stories of guys going over to Thailand, getting addicted to their 2 week millionaire lifestyle vacation and want to turn that into their every day life. They all want to get into business in a foreign country and think they're going to be the ones who succeed.

Most recent one was an early 30's man who took his inheritance from his mother (around 100,000 gbp) Of course he got into the marijuana business, opened up a shop near the heart of Phuket nightlife area, dumped a bunch of money into it, it had rooms up above that needed renovating and he planned to rent them out but he was waiting until the business took off to fix up the rooms. Also talked about how everyone at the night clubs were friendly with him (of course they are when you're dropping $500-700 in a single night) He wasn't selling enough weed to pay his building rent, let alone make a profit. He kept thinking the business was going to take off so he was spending accordingly. Also Had a nice 2 bedroom condo for a while, instead of living above his shop.
He was looking for investors to buy into his business, found a Thai business woman (ex bar girl) (whom he got friendly with) who put even more money into it, then she pulled out of the deal and needed all her money back of course (which he didn't have, had to sell all his possessions)
Long story short he was sleeping on the beach after about 2 years. Ended up broke and penniless sitting in an immigration detention center in Bkk until someone back home paid for his flight.
Oh and he has 2 young kids back in England that he abandoned for a few years.

He said he kept telling himself as the money was going down his plan was to teach english after he ran out of money. I had to laugh, these guys think they can go from the wild nights out dropping a months salary in one night, to living off of that same amount for an entire month. I've yet to see one adjust their spending habits accordingly. Crash and burn. So many of these stories.

The low season is real there, if you are in business you need to set aside enough in the high season to get through the low season as you'd be lucky to even cover your rent those months with income generated. It's a lot more fun to be Mr. cool though in the night clubs than save your money for when nothing is coming in. How to become a millionaire in Thailand? Start with 2. You need to have some real self control to live in the nightlife cities/districts. Can go broke real fast with the temptation of women and alcohol.

Another page from my brother's diary. He, along with his Panamanian born wife, was planning to build houses for the expats.

Mistake #1 He bought vacant lots preparing for the rush that never occurred, spending a lot of his limited cash. Banks won't usually lend money on vacant lots so money became tight. Few expats wanted to own when rent was so cheap and flexible.

Mistake #2 He wanted to do a showcase house and started building his own place with a lot more pizazz that the local stuff. There's a Biblical verse that goes "Build thy business before thine house." Still good advice. Trowel work was done with credit cards. Credit cards can also dig deep holes.

Mistake #3 He misjudged local labour standards, both technical and ethical. Door clearances only had to keep out livestock and large birds. "Level" was done by eye. If it was off a bit, you tilt your head a bit and suddenly it's level.

Mistake #4 Failing to understand survival culture. They took down their nearly new Camry and while visiting relatives on the farm they were asked if they could be given a ride into town. When they said yes, the relatives tried stuffing a goat into the back seat to take it to market.

Oddly enough, they moved to Panama because he didn't feel he could retire in Canada with the lifestyle he wanted. Then he tried to import the lifestyle he couldn't afford in Canada, ignoring the cultural exchange rate.

 

[Lightcycle]

A fiend's dad got tired of his car sitting outside while the garage was full of lawn and garden stuff so he bought a bigger house with a bigger garage.

It came with a bigger lot that meant more lawn and garden stuff that needed to be stored. His car still sits out.

Awhile ago, I helped a friend move to his new place.

I loaded a bunch of large boxes into the moving truck. They were labelled 1997, 2003, 2008... Obviously unopened since he last placed all the contents in them.

Reason for moving: wanted a bigger house because he said he was running out of space in his old place...

 

[JC99]

Another page from my brother's diary. He, along with his Panamanian born wife, was planning to build houses for the expats.

Mistake #1 He bought vacant lots preparing for the rush that never occurred, spending a lot of his limited cash. Banks won't usually lend money on vacant lots so money became tight. Few expats wanted to own when rent was so cheap and flexible.

Mistake #2 He wanted to do a showcase house and started building his own place with a lot more pizazz that the local stuff. There's a Biblical verse that goes "Build thy business before thine house." Still good advice. Trowel work was done with credit cards. Credit cards can also dig deep holes.

Mistake #3 He misjudged local labour standards, both technical and ethical. Door clearances only had to keep out livestock and large birds. "Level" was done by eye. If it was off a bit, you tilt your head a bit and suddenly it's level.

Mistake #4 Failing to understand survival culture. They took down their nearly new Camry and while visiting relatives on the farm they were asked if they could be given a ride into town. When they said yes, the relatives tried stuffing a goat into the back seat to take it to market.

Oddly enough, they moved to Panama because he didn't feel he could retire in Canada with the lifestyle he wanted. Then he tried to import the lifestyle he couldn't afford in Canada, ignoring the cultural exchange rate.

At least he tried though. The other kind of expat I see are the worst kind. The ones that don't even try. They try to mould where they live into a mini (or maxi) version of what they have back home. They build gates around groups of houses to keep the riff raff (locals) out except for the cheap labour of course and only associate with each other.

There's a place in Panama called Boquete which is a mountain town with a more or less permanent 24c temp year round. It's beautiful, they grow coffee there. It's now filled with ex pats and the locals can't afford to live there. The ex pats have built drive through cafes and the like and the Panamanian culture is being squeezed out. Last time I was there the remaining locals had posted big signs saying “we are not selling” as there had been a property gold rush with gringos approaching locals with fistfuls of cash for their homes. There was a lot of resentment.

I don't get it, why travel to a foreign country if you don't want anything to do with the people or culture?

 

[timtune]

If you play your cards right there should NEVER be enough room in the garage for a car.

 

[timtune]

I don't get it, why travel to a foreign country if you don't want anything to do with the people or culture?

I thinks it's a one word answer. Snow.

But of course you're right. The best part of being somewhere different is the DIFFERENCE.

 

[GreyGhost]

At least he tried though. The other kind of expat I see are the worst kind. The ones that don't even try. They try to mould where they live into a mini (or maxi) version of what they have back home. They build gates around groups of houses to keep the riff raff (locals) out except for the cheap labour of course and only associate with each other.

There's a place in Panama called Boquete which is a mountain town with a more or less permanent 24c temp year round. It's beautiful, they grow coffee there. It's now filled with ex pats and the locals can't afford to live there. The ex pats have built drive through cafes and the like and the Panamanian culture is being squeezed out. Last time I was there the remaining locals had posted big signs saying “we are not selling” as there had been a property gold rush with gringos approaching locals with fistfuls of cash for their homes. There was a lot of resentment.

I don't get it, why travel to a foreign country if you don't want anything to do with the people or culture?

Sadly, that is pretty standard. On a smaller scale you see it in cottage country. Citidiots buy up nice treed lots and clear cut to the property lines and then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars landscaping every square inch of the land they own. No locals can afford to live on the water. Most of the cottages are empty >350 days per year.

 

[JC99]

Sadly, that is pretty standard. On a smaller scale you see it in cottage country. Citidiots buy up nice treed lots and clear cut to the property lines and then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars landscaping every square inch of the land they own. No locals can afford to live on the water. Most of the cottages are empty >350 days per year.

Years ago I lived in a property that backed onto a very expensive home. The homeowner wanted a swimming pool so we had to put up with them blasting holes in the limestone for weeks on end. Finally he got what he wanted except for one small thing he hadn't considered. All the neighbours properties had trees that blocked any sun on his pool. I caught the clown very early one morning with a massive pruner trying to clip down neighbours tree branches.

 

[Lightcycle]

They try to mould where they live into a mini (or maxi) version of what they have back home. They build gates around groups of houses to keep the riff raff (locals) out except for the cheap labour of course and only associate with each other.

Sadly, that is pretty standard. On a smaller scale you see it in cottage country. Citidiots buy up nice treed lots and clear cut to the property lines and then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars landscaping every square inch of the land they own. No locals can afford to live on the water.

No different than small logging towns in the Interior being invaded by kombucha-sipping, Ashtanga yoga moms from Vancouver and Calgary, clad in Arcteryx wardrobe worth more than the average local's monthly salary.

But then again, this kind of behaviour has existed since the dawn of time and has gone under many different names: gentrification, colonialization, homo-sapiens migrating from Africa out into the rest of planet, displacing flora and fauna and bending the environment to its breaking point for their own comfort...

At what point do you pull the ladder up behind you and say, "okay, from this point on, we're good here now. No more change."?

I don't necessarily agree. I like local flavour.

Just playing Devil's Advocate.

 

[JC99]

No different than small logging towns in the Interior being invaded by kombucha-sipping, Ashtanga yoga moms from Vancouver and Calgary, clad in Arcteryx wardrobe worth more than the average local's monthly salary.

But then again, this kind of behaviour has existed since the dawn of time and has gone under many different names: gentrification, colonialization, homo-sapiens migrating from Africa out into the rest of planet, displacing flora and fauna and bending the environment to its breaking point for their own comfort...

I get that. I think it's worse when you travel to a foreign country, often with language barriers and different cultures though.

Mind you, as a Brit I'm painfully aware that historically that's kind of been our schtick only a tad more violently in most cases.

 

[GreyGhost]

I get that. I think it's worse when you travel to a foreign country, often with language barriers and different cultures though.

Mind you, as a Brit I'm painfully aware that historically that's kind of been our schtick only a tad more violently in most cases.

I have a family member that is an expat. He picked the climate he wanted to live in. The problem with integrating into culture is he still wants a vehicle, wants to golf, wants a computer, etc. Living in a hut would make the life he wants hard so he ended up behind walls. I don't know if there are many expats in his country that integrate. Expats support the locals but operate on a distinctly different plane. When I went to visit, typical local wages were ~$5/mo and you could eat cheap food for ~$0.05/meal. He hired staff for $20/mo plus gave them room and board which was enough to allow their kids to go to private school. It's really hard for someone raised in the west to drop their spending back enough to fit into the local model. When living as an expat, while they have more land than they would have in Toronto, the prices are not grossly different as they are competing with other expats and therefore local economy means nothing to the prices of most of the commodities he wants.

 

[JC99]

I have a family member that is an expat. He picked the climate he wanted to live in. The problem with integrating into culture is he still wants a vehicle, wants to golf, wants a computer, etc. Living in a hut would make the life he wants hard so he ended up behind walls. I don't know if there are many expats in his country that integrate. Expats support the locals but operate on a distinctly different plane. When I went to visit, typical local wages were ~$5/mo and you could eat cheap food for ~$0.05/meal. He hired staff for $20/mo plus gave them room and board which was enough to allow their kids to go to private school. It's really hard for someone raised in the west to drop their spending back enough to fit into the local model.

There's probably a decent middle ground. Part of that might be getting involved in the local community somehow. Giving back in some way.

 

[Glenn/RZ500]

If you play your cards right there should NEVER be enough room in the garage for a car.

A couple years ago I had two older guys from our main garage door repair company say something similar. They were sorting out the spring on my double, main, door and said in 20 years they`d been in the garages of the majority of homes here. They said about 80% were just jammed with stuff, based on my street, that`s about right.

 

[GreyGhost]

There's probably a decent middle ground. Part of that might be getting involved in the local community somehow. Giving back in some way.

Like many expat communities, they have ladies leagues and support local arts and culture. He is also heavily involved with a school in the slums as he believes education of all children is the best way to fight corruption and move the country forward. He has helped/facilitated thousands of kids to get through the program. Going to school also gives most of those kids their only meal for the day.

He also spends a lot of time working with local companies. He has extensive business experience and is happy to help them learn how to run profitable and sustainable companies. Sometimes they learn, sometimes they continue along the path of graft and corruption that they were raised on.

 

[Lightcycle]

Just to add to all this talk about the disparity between rich ex-pats and poor locals: social strata also exists, even within developing countries.

When we traveled through Costa Rica, we were contacted by a local motorcycle rider who was following our blog. He invited us to stay at his home for a while, and make use of his garage, tools, laundry, Internet, etc.

We arrived to a very upper-middle-class home in the San Jose suburbs. We were taken out for dinner and I found out our host was in *exactly* the same profession as the one I had just retired from, same job, same industry...

We were talking about a deal he was pitching that week, and we were both brainstorming on coming up with a good package for his customer. He was so delighted with our conversation that he asked me to come to the meeting and he offered to translate Spanish and English between his customer and me!

I pointed out that I didn't have a suit and tie, just a dusty motorcycle suit and riding boots and he reluctantly agreed that that probably wouldn't have made a good impression to his client!

Another story: We rented an AirBnB in a town in Botswana. It was a long-term rental, and the owner dropped by mid-way into our stay to make sure we were doing okay. She showed up in a beautiful black AMG Mercedes SUV. We talked a bit, and it was obvious she was highly educated, and quite high up in the social strata. The AirBnB rental was a hobby thing on the side because she was curious about starting a local version which catered more to the way Africans viewed hospitality and vacationing and this was just research for her.

Unfortunately, in South Africa, successful locals are pejoratively called, "Black Diamonds", out of jealousy and their success is perceived to be a betrayal to the larger, poorer social class. As if "the struggle" is what defines a culture, even long after apartheid ended. Seems Tall Poppy Syndrome is prevalent all over the globe.

We might look down on ex-pats gating themselves out from the locals, but funnily enough, well-off locals do the same as well, living in their own gated communities!

 

[Lightcycle]

There's probably a decent middle ground. Part of that might be getting involved in the local community somehow. Giving back in some way.

It's a generational thing.

The first wave of immigrants come and they're essentially a beachhead generation. It's all about survival, learning the local language, customs and culture. Some do it more successfully than others.

It's their kids that end up integrating fully into the community, feeling like this new country is really their own, getting involved with the local politics and taking an active role with their voice and vote, in shaping the direction of their future and manifesting the life they want their kids to have.

I had a very involved discussion with an American who had just moved to Capetown about the difference between an ex-pat and an immigrant.

My argument was that the difference was entirely economic. If you're richer than the locals, you're an ex-pat. If you're poorer, you're an immigrant.

He enlighteningly pointed out that when his kids come home from school speaking a language he doesn't fully comprehend, using slang and making references to popular culture that he doesn't get, he experiences that exact same fish-out-of-water immigrant experience as anyone else regardless of economic disparity.

 

[JC99]

I find this stuff really interesting. How do you assimilate successfully?

Coming from Europe to Canada wasn’t a huge deal. Just getting used to weird things like milk in bags, frozen orange juice and terrible French accents.

 

[backmarkerducati]

Many touched on this but when moving to a lower COL location...

Keep in mind it may cause one to be priced out of the city/province/country if they decide to return in the future (missing family, health, death of one partner, etc.).
The locals in the lower COL locality may have resentment that people are moving there and driving up their COL, pricing them out of the local market or just jealous of what you have .

Now the above will depend on many things but they are things I hear over and over for friends and family that have made the move.

 

[Lightcycle]

I find this stuff really interesting. How do you assimilate successfully?

I think the whole idea of assimilation assumes that there is some kind of permanence of culture.

Every conversation, every interaction we have with people who look and act different from you inevitably changes both you and eventually the society at large. Although it may seem more nobler to respect the local customs and "go with the flow", your mere presence alone has impacted what that place's future looks like. Even physicality isn't required these days, as mediums like this forum and the Internet shapes culture moving forward.

There is a slow assimilation on both sides, you and the place you move to.

My Italian friends here in Canada always make fun of their nonnas and nonnos because they try to hard to maintain their traditions ever since leaving "the old country" decades ago. Whether it's the food or the language or customs, they believe they are upholding the one true way of life in a foreign and hostile place, bent on eroding their Italian-ness.

Meanwhile back in Italy, they listen to K-Pop, eat fusion pasta with sauces from all around the world, watch Hollywood movies like everyone else. The nonnas and nonnos are holding onto an Italy that doesn't exist anymore. Italy moved on, they haven't.

Another story: My wife moved to Canada shortly after the war in Yugoslavia. After the war, the government changed the Croatian language to distinguish it from Serbian. My wife never got a change to learn the new Croatian language and whenever she goes back, her friends all make fun of her because she talks like an old nonna using terms and lingo from another faraway time.

Bottom line, you can be respectful of customs and tradition, but the idea of assimilation as asymmetrical doesn't ring true. Change is bound to happen on both sides of your skin.

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