The goats make me hello. No, it’s not exactly like that as there are cows in my mountains. And Don’t call me Heidi. Living in the mountains is a choice that, like all, has positive and negative sides.
Let’s start from the half empty glass:
- Nobody’s doing his own business. That’s right. Living in a village of a thousand souls means that your life is public. They know your routine so they know how to intercept you to chat a little bit; they even know what color your sheets are and how and why you change them. Hope they’ll never get a glimpse of your underwear! Fortunately, the grumpy bearded and I avoided this problem by going to live outside the village (well, he still would have preferred a monastery, or even better a cave). Someone might think, ‘Are you crazy? You already live in the mountains and even decide for outside the center? ‘ Well, yes, why not? We have our peace of mind, if I do yoga in the garden no one sees me and does not call the Holy Inquisition because they believe I’m praying who knows what God. Just joking!
- Everything is far away, to do my shopping I have to drive 30 km. Well, kind of. We go to Cuneo or even to Turin because we should make grocery shopping in any case for the restaurant. Actually there is a MiniMarket in the Village. It Costs a little bit more but if you do the shopping there you know you’re doing it for the good of all. It’s kinda the same difference that there is in the city between the small grocery under your house and the big supermarket. It’s a matter of choices!
- We never see our friends who live in Turin. Practically during the season we live in seclusion: work, gym, bedtime. But objectively I could not do otherwise. I mean, that time of party in weekdays is over, hangover would kill me! So during the high season, when you work every day and never get off, we marry a monastic lifestyle, which however allows me to keep fit and wake up rested, ready for a long day of work! And those who work in contact with the public know how much energy you need to have…We give space to party time in the dead season, spring and autumn, when the restaurant is closed.
And we already get to the half full glass.
- I was particularly lucky to have grown up in Limone. It is true that there’s only a thousand inhabitant but we are a touristic country and fortunately people from all over the world come both in summer and in winter. In the cold season for the ski slopes while in summer for trekking, downhill, motorcycle trails etc… So you can go out to have a beer and get to know a Dutchman, a French, an English, Russian, Australian or who knows!
- I am not a cleanings maniac, I will always live in dogma: more time taken away from housekeeping, more free time for me. But it’s another kind of cleaning I’m talking about. What you really appreciate after years of University in Turin is water. I mean, clean water!! No up and down stairs with water chests… I open the tap and here it is, pure fresh (oh, God, sometimes so cold that to wash my teeth at breakfast I freeze my jawbone).
- To stay in theme, clean air: hair wash limited to 2, maximum 3 times per week. A matter not to be underestimated for those who, like me, have very fine and fragile hair. By keeping washing them, always in the university age, I had halved my hair in a single year. Which I restored in another year after I moved back to the mountains. Not to mention the benefits to the skin. I firmly believe that climbing every day in the chairlift-because that’s how I go to work-is one of the best anti aging blocks. In the sense that your skin is so frozen that you stay there, stuck with some sort of hiberating botox effect.
- In the bio I have already anticipated that one of the reasons that prompted us to return to the mountains was the travel. Mr grumpy bearded and I make great trips. Not because we are more beautiful or richer than others (we work only eight months a year, how could we?) but because going on vacation in April/May and November is much cheaper. Both for planes and hotels fares. A quick example: in November 2017 to go and return from Japan we spent €380 flight. Not joking! When we leave we do it for at least 20 days, or a month. You seriously take off the plug. And we get back some party life that has been lost staying at home!
I could continue for pages and pages this article but I wanted to give a general picture to those who are doing a little thought about moving to the mountains. So let’s dispel the myth. Moving to the mountains yes, it changes your life but it doesn’t necessarily relegates you to a radical provincialism. I mean, you don’t walk out of town and immediately go milking cows in pasture!
So, don’t call me Heidi, though…
Slow Mountain Living and Travel Blog 