Snarks and Ladders

So, I’m sitting here, eating Nutella by the heaped spoonful, wondering what the heck I am going to write about.  It has been one of those strange fortnights where, while a whole lot has happened, it all sounds incredibly boring or stupid when I talk about it.

At the moment, I know that I should really be either writing reports or marking exams.  After all, the Year 12 reports are due tomorrow (eeeek!), and I am feeling a little pressed for time.  Part of the problem, I guess, is that the moronic executive at work only gave us a week to mark exams and get the reports done.  The other part would be that moron me went away for the weekend instead of sitting at home and marking like I should have done.

I guess, in some ways, the weekend away was kinda worth it.  Even if it means I have spent at least $200 drinking in the last week or so alone (bender and a fricking half, looking forward to easing back off the sauce with an alcohol free weekend this weekend).  I had a moderately good time, got to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while, and spent two days with the only friend I have here who doesn’t piss me off within a few hours. 

Anyway, while I was away, I got to thinking.  And then I got to talking to my friend about it, and we weirdly enough thought basically the same things.

I wouldn’t mind living in this town for most of the rest of my life.  Sure, I miss the ocean, mountains, trees… all that stuff we don’t have.  But, there are a bunch of  nice people out here, the career prospects are good, and it’s inexpensive.  I’d buy a block of land, build my dream house on it, settle in quite nicely and be happy for the most part.

Unfortunately, making a decision that big also means that I am essentially forced to resign myself to being single for the rest of my life.  There just isn’t that many locals to choose from, and I only have a few years left before all the men who come in to town (as police, or teachers, or whatever else) will all be too young for me.  I don’t mind being single as a short term thing – although it’s not something I would prefer, I can live with it – but essentially condemning myself to it forever kinda sucks. 

Why?  Because I have yet to meet a man who would be willing to make the big move and come out here.  To be fair, if you don’t work for the government, and don’t want to do farm work, there isn’t a lot out here.  However, it would be nice to meet someone who would be willing to give it a go.  Looking at a lot of the men I have been involved with, most of them could have found a job that is basically the same as what they are doing now (especially the couple of them who work from home).  They were just unwilling to try and see what it would be like out here, even in the short term.

It would be easy to get on my soap box and say that men are unwilling to move out here because it goes against the whole idea of the male ‘breadwinner’ when you put the woman’s career before the man’s.  I suspect that part of it IS exactly that.  However, it is a big ask of anyone to pack their bags and move to the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately, most people assume that you can not be happy if you aren’t near a city and masses of people.

Maybe my friend and I should just build a house together and become crazy old cat ladies.