Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m new to these parts. By way of background, I’ve been a Citiot (an idiot from the city) for most of my life. London, Paris and New York City are a few of the places I’ve been proud to call home. Sure, I spent time in the country as a kid and have visited friends up here in Columbia County for the past few years, but I’ll freely admit that I’m used to city living. I’m used to things being open 24/7. I’m used to vast, indestructible sewer systems that can and do handle everything up to and including small to medium-sized animals. And speaking of small animals, I’m used to them being where I can’t see them (see aforementioned sewer systems) and not watching tv with me in my living room.
So when a New Year’s Eve party in East Chatham turned into “let’s stay a few days to check out that house around the corner”, which then turned into “let’s sign the lease and pack the uhaul”, roughly two weeks later, I didn’t really spend much time wondering what I would make of country living. Or perhaps more importantly, what it would make of me. I know I’m not the first to make this move, but hopefully I won’t manage to somehow break country living for those that come after me.
After two short months, I’m happy to report that I love country living. It has, however, resulted in several hilarious challenges for this Citiot. If I were keeping score, I would say it would look something like Columbia County: 5 / Citiot: 1. (I’m not sure what the 1 is for, but I am still here, with a roof over my head, and my dog is still alive, so that has to count for something.) I’ll be sharing some of these stories with you here in my new column “A Citiot Comes to Columbia County”, but in the meantime, here’s my initial summary on country living:
Pros
1. Dress code. My standard uniform of jeans and sneakers works much better here than on those fancy, high-heeled city streets
2. The weather. The weather is super important up here. As an Englishwoman, this is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I can quite happily discuss it for several hours.
3. Being a shut in. It’s perfectly ok to not leave your house for several days at a time up here.
Cons
1. Critters. No surprise there.
2. No 24-hour Kwiki Mart. And it’s currently looking unlikely that the nature conservancy that borders my home is looking to install one in the field across the road anytime soon.
3. Unemployment. Specifically, my personal unemployment. So, if you know of a job that will pay me lots to do little, I’m your girl.
Columbia County Current 