Monday, April 20, 2009

"...paved paradise to put up..."










Zok and I often talk about the trip we took to Tasmania, not the first trip, but the one to really look around. We toured the University and looked at land prices, this was probably 2004. We thought about actually buying land then, but as we discussed the idea we thought that waiting for my Visa, and getting more familiar with the island was the more prudent thing to do. Although I have seen cities grow beyond what I would have imagined (anyone remember when bars in Seattle would take a check?)-I clearly remember saying "What is a year or so, I mean this is Tasmania, the end of the world, how much could change?". Well, there was a boom, land prices increased by more than forty percent of what we had looked at, the economy changed, the dollar changed, our lives changed, and so the big plans were traded for more modest ones. In our neighborhood there seems to be a continuing growth spurt, many sweet homes, on nice sized lots are now being torn down to accomodate monstrous new homes, usually two or three in place of the one.
Another misconception I have to grapple with is that new homes here, aren't all they can be. When I think of a new home or building a home from the ground up, I think of planned gardens, solar panels, reclaimed grey water systems, and double paned windows. This is not what happens. Often there is no yard at all. As we walked through the neighborhood so that Zok could bear witness to the new changes, and I could vent to an audience, I fell into a game I like to call 'when we win the lottery; in division one' this is the category of winning that gives real winnings, we win small money that goes back into the pot of offsetting the ticket prices, and that is when I noticed I needed to be specific with my wishing. So: 'When we win division one of the lottery', I will buy back the land, tear down the monstrous houses and put in a community garden, and so on, and so on.
I expect changes on the main road, but now the construction is starting to occur on the next street over, which has older, pretty, homes, and a wide street. This is distressing in itself, but what is getting to me the most, is that a house I love, set back on a big lot, which sometimes has sheep grazing in the yard, looks primed to be the next victim. I have never seen any sign of people and the mailbox reads; "No Junk Male Please" which I love for the obvious reasons. Zok pointed out that there are now three driveways along their yard, which indicates that the city will section out the lot for three new drives, or six new complexes.
I may have to change my plan to 'When we win the lottery, division one, we will buy up land to the South where we can live away from subdivisions'.


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