I've officially quit my crappy "new" job and it feels great. It hasn't entirely sunken in yet since Monday was Family Day, our newest provincial holiday. I suppose we and our group of friends have hit that time in life where we have to start looking at potential housing.
On Saturday, on a whim, we went condo-shopping with some friends. We went to look at some models which were still relatively in town. They were pretty nice, but entirely out of our price range. We've pretty much decided that condo-living isn't really for us, and that our lifestyle needs a townhouse or bigger. Unfortunately we can't afford anything bigger, so townhouse it is. The new developments in the Ottawa area (and I use that term loosely) are so far out that I would kill myself during the daily commute. We'd also never have any friends visit us.
We now find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Our next best option is to dum-dum-dum....live in the "dark side" otherwise known as Quebec. Sure it's a whole 'nother province, but it's technically a 10-min walk across the river. Commute time would be comparable, just that we'd have to fight the bridges rather than the highways. We probably still wouldn't have any friends. But the same house would cost up to $100K less. We'll see how this pans out - the newsflash today is that they might start charging to see doctors and that Gatineau's ER service is the worst in Quebec.
Step 1 is to find a new job. Step 1.5 is to buy a lottery ticket and hope for the best.
On Saturday, on a whim, we went condo-shopping with some friends. We went to look at some models which were still relatively in town. They were pretty nice, but entirely out of our price range. We've pretty much decided that condo-living isn't really for us, and that our lifestyle needs a townhouse or bigger. Unfortunately we can't afford anything bigger, so townhouse it is. The new developments in the Ottawa area (and I use that term loosely) are so far out that I would kill myself during the daily commute. We'd also never have any friends visit us.
We now find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Our next best option is to dum-dum-dum....live in the "dark side" otherwise known as Quebec. Sure it's a whole 'nother province, but it's technically a 10-min walk across the river. Commute time would be comparable, just that we'd have to fight the bridges rather than the highways. We probably still wouldn't have any friends. But the same house would cost up to $100K less. We'll see how this pans out - the newsflash today is that they might start charging to see doctors and that Gatineau's ER service is the worst in Quebec.
Step 1 is to find a new job. Step 1.5 is to buy a lottery ticket and hope for the best.
2 Comments:
At February 23, 2008 at 10:32 AM,
julie said…
Randal and I are living in a townhouse in Orléans (renting, as we can't afford to buy just yet). It's a 5-10 minute walk to the OC Transpo, and then 25 minutes in to town on the 95, which runs all the time really, really often. Never thought I'd live so far out (we used to live at Metcalfe & Cooper), but it's really quite nice.
At March 23, 2008 at 8:11 PM,
Anonymous said…
how funny that our lives seem to be so similar! we're looking for a house too, but face similar decisions-- brand new, deluxe, close to work, but bad schools or older and better schools?
re: teaching, it breaks my heart, but you know it's true! we get no respect for an impossible job. everyone expects you to be perfect, but they'll pay you as if you are an idiot slacker.
someone sent me an email once where it calculated the cost of babysitting a kid per hour, times 25 kids, times 5 days a week... only in a society that makes sense... not ours.
Post a Comment
<< Home