Pro/Con

I'm coming a little late to the party, but I just discovered that a small Hebridean island (population: 9 adults; 6 children) is asking for settlers.

That doesn't sound right. It's not as though it's the untamed wilderness, after all. They want a few people to move in, in any case.

One of the two available houses is billed as being perfect for a bed & breakfast. For some reason, this set my little heart a-pitter-patter. I can't even explain why; I just had this sense of "Wow, want!" I've always considered myself to be a fairly urban girl, but there's something appealing about the complete opposite of city life. It probably has something to do with living out in the not-quite-suburbs, and feeling that we're neither one thing nor the other.

It's a moot point, anyway, as I'll never get Matt to agree, and the competition seems to be fierce, but, dammit, this is my blog, so I'm going to play Let's Pretend and list the good and the bad. 'Cause, hey, lists never get old.

Reasons to Move to Canna

• I could shoo Adam out of the house to play, and be pretty confident that he'd be just fine: no busy streets, no unsolved kidnappings, no bad parts of town.


• In a community that small, you're pretty much an integral part by default. No more feeling like I'm someone who lives in a house and goes to a job without any real connection to place or people (the classic It's a Wonderful Life angst).


• No daily commute.


• Hell, let's just say it again: No daily commute.


• See that bit where they raise a lot of sheep? Sheep have wool, which can be spun into yarn and knitted. Hmmm, I'll need a drum carder.


• In a climate like that, people would actually wear knitted goods.


• I like to cook for a good-sized crowd.


• I like to cook.


• Whatever else I may say about my job, it's given me marketing savvy and a lot of contacts in the hospitality industry.


• Ideal place for writing.


• Self-employment has its appeal.


• The cost of living can't be terribly high.


• The house is too small for us; we've been tossing around the idea of moving anyway. (Just go with it.)

Reasons Not to Move to Canna

• If you have argument with your neighbors, it's going to be very hard to avoid them.


• It contains a large amount of nature. Nature contains bugs.


• Matt might make me hike.


• Utter lack of coffee shops, movie theatres, PurlyGirls, bars.


• Even if the neighbors do agree to babysit, you can't actually get away from the kid.


• The Jewish community is me (and Adam, who's not much help at remembering the words).


• All that neo-luddite pioneer stuff sounds interesting in theory, but I've never actually tried it.


• Very large sheep shit:person ratio.


• If we move back to an actual city, would our heads all explode?


• Netflix will probably take forever to deliver.


• My DVD player won't work anyway.


• Sea air makes my hair even bigger.


• House must be rented from National Trust - no equity.


• Lots of legal red tape for immigration.


• All of my books will be full of misspellings the minute I cross the border, and locals will make fun of my pronunciation.