Category: Columbia County Living

Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m new to these parts. A Citiot Comes to Columbia County is my ongoing post about making the switch from life in the city to country living.

Buying a Car From a True Country Gentleman

So once I figured out where I actually now live (read Citiot Part 2 for that story), I realized I had something else to sort out. After walking around the garden, I quickly saw that there was no subway within a reasonable distance. I was going to have to buy a car.  Don’t get me wrong, I know how to drive a car. I even have a zipcar membership that I really must remember to cancel. But buying and owning a car? This is huge for a citiot. I was going to have to do some research, shop around, and haggle over prices.

So, the next day, I went to the first used car dealership I could find, picked out one of the three cars in the lot, drove it 500 feet up and down the road, and then proceeded to buy it for close to asking price. What could go wrong? Well shady dealings and shenanigans by the salesman, mailing of certified letters, invocations of lemon laws, and no small amount of money out of my pocket is what went wrong.

It was only once everything was resolved that it occurred to me that I was dealing with a Used Car Salesman. A real life one. Not just someone I referred to as one in an ironic manner. While riding the subway.

Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m new to these parts. A Citiot Comes to Columbia County is my ongoing post about making the switch from life in the city to country living.

I Don’t Live Where I Think I Live

As soon as I signed the lease on my shiny new home in the country, I scurried back to the city and did what any good citiot would do. I went online and, with lease in hand, updated my address with every bank, credit card, and magazine I could think of. It took three weeks of no mail at my new home and some careful sleuthing for me to discover that I don’t actually live where I thought I did. I don’t even live in the same town or the same zip code. A few months later, I have this mostly resolved. So what did this citiot, who until recently thought you could do everything online and that bricks and mortar post offices were obsolete, learn from this? That the post office is, in fact, the most important place in town. And Steve, who works there, is a gem of a man.