Let me tell you, life takes some odd turns if you let it. I’m writing this just a few days before Christmas 2020 so….. ya. Incredible dumpster fire of a year notwithstanding it’s been a weird year for me personally.
Last year was our first Christmas back on the west coast and honestly, things were going a little wacko. We moved into a condo for the first time ever, I was having trouble getting back to work, and since we had just finished moving, Christmas itself was a muted event. The issue with work was just paperwork (We had my truck stolen during the move and some needed stuff was in there) so it was surmountable, Christmas I wasn’t too worried about as it was just myself and my hunny, and we were just visiting her folks so, that was pretty much taken care of. The big thing for me was the change of living in a condo. No garage to work on my project Bronco. Nowhere to tinker on the car or truck.. this was a whole new thing for me and ya… I resisted. Too much change at one time.
As things sunk in and I was able to accept the changes, a few more realities began to sink in. For one thing, the Bronco project had to go. It killed me to sell it but, I found it a good home with someone that really wanted to restore it. This was about the time I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with all my time. As we all know, living in a condo means you have nothing to do… right? (stop laughing) I decided to go back to riding but, I thought I’d try something totally different. When the opportunity occurred to buy my 2009 BMW F650GS at a killer price, I jumped at it. Heck ya! I can park it in the underground. Heck ya! We can park the car outside. Heck no! I can’t work on it downstairs! That last one is a bit of a misnomer, no oil changes in the parking garage but, even so, people like to complain as people do. More Changes!
Now, I live in a smaller, older condo building. We have 20 units and it’s actually age restricted. At the time of this writing, I am the youngest person living in the building. That fact is probably why the initial reaction to me rolling in on my GS was “We have a biker living in the building?” and the rumour floating around that I was probably a Hell’s Angel. (Rolling in on my big bad adventure bike..lol) The point being, I’m young for this building and it didn’t take long for a few folks to find out that I’m a mechanic. Younger + mechanic = “I don’t suppose you could help us fix a few things around here” Like I said … it’s a smaller, older building. To date (on my days off from my paying job) I’ve repaired a collapsing fence, repaired a stone patio, replaced a rotted out fence post, replaced some damaged drainpipes and other little odds and ends around the building. Hey, it’s my home too.
If you get involved with any organization, you tend to find out about the inner workings. Many people seem to think they can do it better but very few step up to put their money (or effort) where their mouth is. After a year of doing work around my building and seeing how inefficient some aspects were, I took the plunge and joined the Strata Council. My goal is to streamline some things and implement a few things. I’ve got my “major” jobs sorted out for next year and part of the following year. When the dust settled after the election of officers, I ended up as President. I have a pretty good team and hopefully we’ll get some stuff done!
I’m not sure if this will turn into a regular thing, talking about learning to run a strata but, I’m sure you’ll hear me beef about it somedays. Will it cut into my riding time? Yes, it will but, sometimes you have to look at the long game. The work I do now will benefit me come time to sell as the building will be better maintained and will cost us all a little less. There’ll still be lots of time for rides and adventure.. I can’t give that up. In fact, I have a few interesting short rides and longer trips rattling around inside the dome right this moment. I just tend to think of learning the finer parts of maintaining a building as just another of life’s adventures.
Feel free to send me any advice or stories you have about condo life. Before you send it…. I’ve had the advice “Run away while you can” many times!! HAHA
Wishing you all Happy Holidays and hopefully an amazing 2021
SeeNickRide 