One of the benefits to not living in a townhouse or condo is the absence of a strata council ruling the roost. By the same token, one of the benefits of living in a townhouse or condo is that you have a strata ruling the roost.
By that I mean, even though strata councils have their numerous downfalls, the one good thing about them is that you, the average townhouse owner, don't have to worry about much if you choose not to.
You don't have to paint the fence. You, personally, do not have to fix the drafty window or the leaky roof. Sure, you have to pay for it – Hello, $200/month strata fees – but still, for the person either not able, or simply not inclined, to do these things themselves, the strata is a good thing. Shit, they even cut your damn grass.
And I imagine that ever since I announced I was selling my townhouse and moving on to a strata-free existence, at least one of you – Ian, Bucholtz, Jeremy, I'm lookin' in your directions – thought to yourself, "How in the hell is Nick going to survive in a place like that?"
Fair question. I'm not exactly a Handyman, you see. And it's not really that I'm more Tim Taylor than Bob Vila – ie: more likely to ruin something rather than fix it – it's that I usually don't even bother trying to fix anything in the first place. It's not my thing, and I've never felt that motivated to make it that way.
(And while we're at it, I haven't cut any grass since I was about 13. I milked the "hay fever allergies" excuse for all it was worth as a kid.)
But I live in a basement now, which does not have a strata, and have already had to make a number of improvements all on my own. For starters, I put up a shelf.
And just the other day, I replaced a broken toilet seat with a new one. And though the installation of the seat took less than five minutes and did not actually involve any tools, I still felt a sense of accomplishment.
And this weekend, I might even tackle the problematic squeaky front door hinges, which are incredibly loud and seem even louder at 5 a.m., which is when Christene leaves for work.
We'll see though. Don't want to get too far ahead of myself.
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