If your debating spending time at the cottage whether you want to spend hours in traffic and maybe $30-$40 more in gas just to get there well here’s my list of things that are supposed to be enjoyable at the cottage but which actually may not be so.
1/ Bugs – this is my #1, I don’t know about you but I hate them. So being honoured with an invitation to fight them off all weekend doesn’t really appeal. This year Ontario’s
North Country has a record amount of black flies to eat you… a word for the wise.. Stay away. A chance to be eaten by black flies have your blood sucked by mosquitoes, have ants walking across your food, stung by wasps oh my gosh.
2/ Sand. Charming and romantic in the moment but when you get home it is still there even a week later… it pours out of your shoe, grates between your toes, it’s everywhere, and it’s everywhere.
3/ Unsightly Views and Loud Noises. So tell me what do loud jet skis, and other water contraptions plus ugly blow up toys have to do with communing with nature. Compare this to staying in the city and taking a long walk on one of our city park systems where you may view a rabbit or a fox in the distance, then having din dins at a nice local tratoria and attending a little theatre afterwards. No long drive home just a 5 -10 min car ride and plop into your own comfy bed with no sand in it.
4/ Traffic, Traffic, Traffic
5/ Gas Price, Gas Price, Gas Price
6/ Cottage Politics. Cottage living is like living in a small town, it has it’s good points but some definite negatives. If your neighbour decides to build an offensive addition and there is an argument the whole community talks…. Same if young Sally gets caught making out with the neighbours son and the two young ones have to be taken to task, somehow it gets around.
7/ Expectations. Once you own a cottage you feel pressure to invite up your relatives and friends. Then of course you have to entertain them. This means extra food expense, changing beds, extra laundry and having someone drink your good bottle of Chablis while you were out shopping to feed this lot. Need I say more.
8/ There is nothing to do out there. You may go into town at night to see a 3 year old movie or to a local corn roast. But really what fun is that.
9/ Guilt. Now you’ve bought the place you have to use it. You can’t just go somewhere else, you can’t just forget it… and there is still maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. After a hard snow fall you may have to go out there and make sure the roof didn’t collapse. All this and you could have been in Florida enjoying the sun.
10/ Boring Games.Because there is nothing to do out there you end up playing boring games at night. Your chance to know every bit of boring trivia about everyone that you never really wanted to know.
11/ Who’s got the supplies. There is always someone who brings everything and then there are those who don’t bring enough and expect everyone else to supply them with stuff. They constantly interrupting asking if they can have some of yours and you comply trying to be nice. Before you know it your stuff is gone to and there is no where to go to buy more.
12/Reciprocity. You can get an invitation to a cottage if you already have a cottage. The rest must suffer in silence hoping for invitations and they have nowhere to invite you. This system doesn’t really work. Try an online house swap this would be much more reliable and can work really well if you have a home in a desirable downtown location.
Well that’s my list and I am staying home this season.