Living Remotely or Off Grid

[Dougie Do'ins 9,687]

Any of you cunts fortunate enough to be able to do this ? If not, would you like to be in a position to give it a go ?

 

I'd love to be in a position to do this or at least give it a go. Watched a two part programme on BBC 4 a while back about the tiny community living on the Fair Isle which while part of the UK, is in the middle of nowhere.

 

Just been reading this about another tiny community in a place called Scoraig up in the north west Highlands of Scotland.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-45046023

 

So, anyone ?

[rubble-rouser 2,164]

Hermit TSOP

[Mook 17,310]

I'd last about a week, I love living in the city too much.

 

Having said that, I can definitely see the appeal.

[Strontium Dog™ 8,442]

Give it a few months and we'll all be living off-grid.

[ZonkoVille77 5,446]

I love the idea but I'm too much of a wuss.

[Dougie Do'ins 9,687]

47 minutes ago, Strontium Dog said:

Give it a few months and we'll all be living off-grid.

Yes, of course we will. FFS

[Section_31 19,497]

Would love to try something like that, I reckon it'd improve your mental health massively. I once emailed the tourist people at Pitcairn Island with a view to travelling there to see what it was like, as it's both a British protectorate and the most remote island in the world, but they're all inbred descendants of the Bounty mutineers, it's got more Christians than a summer camp in Utah.

[Jenson 797]

Genuinely wouldn't last a week

[Babb'sBurstNad 9,151]

I think it's one of those things that seems better in theory than reality.

 

I used to live in semi-rural Devon, where the house had its own post code, there were no pavements, and you could happily take a shit with the curtains drawn and only a cow on the horizon would get a peek at your nipsy as you descended to the throne.

 

Lovely and peaceful; however, after a while the lack of TV channels, decent radio reception, ability to go anywhere or do anything, or even get a pint of milk should you run out of a Sunday evening ground me down. There are only so many trees you can chop down for roaring log fires before it all seems as pointless as the existence these people are trying to get away from.

 

In short, mental wellbeing comes from within, environment can help, but it isn't a cure all panacea. 

[Anubis 17,253]

I can't help but picture The Wicker Man when thinking about those Scottish communities.

 

I think I could stand to live somewhere that was isolated in itself, but near enough to a community to be able to get there easily. I loved Galway when I visited it. Some lovely rural areas, but not too far from civilisation.

[neko 1,785]

The wife and cats and I will be living off-grid when we retire. We just bought a 110 ace parcel of waterfront property overlooking a beautiful lake in Northern Ontario.

 

I'm excited about the change in lifestyle, but it brings with it a steep learning curve - I've never lived like this before. We're not very far from civilization, but the property will have solar power, water pumped from the lake and a septic field for waste.

 

 

Definitely not living there in winter though.

 

 

[Section_31 19,497]

Neko never ceases to be ace. I bet there's a reconditioned Halifax bombed involved too.

[TheHowieLama 10,728]

#seasonalgrid

[Nunavut Patrick 4,840]

I lived in Nunavut (Canadian Arctic- 250 miles past the tree line) for 14 years. Remote fly in community, no roads, no sea access for 8 months. One to two flights in daily weather permitting. Winter from late November to Mid-January virtually 24 hour darkenss, but summer time 24 hour daylight. (Was just above the arcitc circle where I lived). Electricty generated by a diesel power plant in town (frequently on the fritz but they could usually keep it going at times with rotating 'brown outs' except one Christmas when they blew three of the four generators and it was rotating black outs so no turkey dinner that year. 

 

Heating was oil futnace and one year during a four day blizzard  our units furnace quit working; the oil burner mechanic could not safely get to the row of units where we lived (5 in all, 4 occupied). Ran the oven open but was pretty useless, was two days with no heat. The dogs water bowl froze over, you could see your breath in the house. Two of my kids were out of town thankfully, my son just stayed on the couch cocooned in blankets, i had a nurse staying with me and she stayed upstairs with her golden retriever lab in her bed. 

 

No beer store or liquor store, no pub, no real restaurant- there was a KFC/Pizza Hut attached to the local grocery store but they never had chicken just the burgers.  

 

Need a part for your car? Take about a  week to get it flown up and then forever to get the one or two mechanic to install it. 

 

But I could walk 5 minutes out the back door and not see a trace of civilization, could fish in July-September and eat trout and char right from the lake and river nearby. Northern lights- got so use to them never noticed most of the time. Quiet stillness, herds of thousands of migrating caribou, every few years musk ox would wander by. Big hairy bastards. In the first town we had polar bears waiting for the sea ice to freeze so they could hunt seals, they'd scavenge the dump sometimes or go after the sled dogs food (bylaw said sled dogs needed to be kept 1000m away from town, they put markers down-if they were kept in town the bears came after them because they would be on chains and easy pickings- outside of town they could pen them in and bears would be less likely to attack a whole team.)

 

Polar bears are not pristine looking in the wild like zoo bears, their fur is yellowy and one mother I saw (from a safe distance of about 300m) with two cubs was blood stained from killing a seal. (Polar bears don't club them by the way.They wait  patiently for them to surface at a breathing hole and bite the bastards)

 

If you can live with the inconveniences, extreme weather conditions, different culture (90% Inuit) and having ale flown in at unpredictable time and great expense, and enjoy isolation its great. 

 

I enjoyed my time there, miss it many days since I moved back to a city three years ago and like my brethren neko would love to live off the grid in Northern Ontario (beautiful back country, Canadian Shield, pristine lakes, boreal forest, cool bastard owls....). 

 

 

 

[neko 1,785]

42 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

Neko never ceases to be ace. I bet there's a reconditioned Halifax bombed involved too.

Grassy ass, senor. 

 

I'd need a water bomber or a flying boat...maybe a PBY Catalina ? Thanks for the suggestion. There is some mystery lake up north where they used to test aerodynamics for aircraft design by launching them over a massive lake. Apparently there are 1/8 scale Avro Arrows at the bottom somewhere.

 

The biggest challenge (for me) is the design of the house. It's been an obsession of mine for some time. 

 

 

 

[Dougie Do'ins 9,687]

How did you end up in such a remote place NP ?

[neko 1,785]

NP is the real rugged Canadian.

[Nunavut Patrick 4,840]

39 minutes ago, neko said:

The wife and cats and I will be living off-grid when we retire. We just bought a 110 ace parcel of waterfront property overlooking a beautiful lake in Northern Ontario.

 

I'm excited about the change in lifestyle, but it brings with it a steep learning curve - I've never lived like this before. We're not very far from civilization, but the property will have solar power, water pumped from the lake and a septic field for waste.

 

 

Definitely not living there in winter though.

 

 

Where about in N. Ontario?

 

110 acres I'd reckon between Vermillion Bay and maybe Ignace area. Kenora and LOTW (In Canada-speak that's Lake of the Woods) are quite pricey I believe. Kenora is a great area, ace brewery although I briefly dated an Ojibway woman from nearby (Shoal Lake) and she said the owner/master brewer was a bit of an asshole. To be fair he was a German immigrant so probably just being German. 

 

Keep the cats indoors.....

[neko 1,785]

The cat issue does have me somewhat concerned. 

 

Big Basswood Lake near Thessalon (one earth hour from the Soo).

 

[Nunavut Patrick 4,840]

1 minute ago, neko said:

NP is the real rugged Canadian.

 

1 minute ago, Dougie Do'ins said:

How did you end up in such a remote place NP ?

Wife at the time was a nurse and we decided to try it for three years in 2001; the wages are triple up North because of the isolation. Nurses were in high demand, and I took univeristy courses through correspondance ( internet back then up north was limited to dial up- one page of the TLW would take 15 minutes to load- a long time to just someone calling Sander Westerveld a cunt)

 

We liked it and stayed bar a couple years when her father became terminally ill with cancer and spent a year or so in ottawa looking after him. 

[Nunavut Patrick 4,840]

4 minutes ago, neko said:

The cat issue does have me somewhat concerned. 

 

Big Basswood Lake near Thessalon (one earth hour from the Soo).

 

 

Only about 400km off...

 

The drive from Thunder Bay to the Soo and then Sudbury is breathtaking at times.

Used to camp at a provincial park between sudbury and sault ste marie...Chutes. 

 

I'd say racoons might be the cats biggest nemesis. They may look cute but they are nasty bastards if you get in their way. 

[Chip Butty 2,336]

Someone last week posted the Bob Mortimer sketch about Ray Mears. Now, more than ever, does that need posting.

[cochyn 714]

I just simply couldn't do it. Every human being alive is a cyborg (?) that relies on some level of technology to survive.  So, living like a crustie on some god-forsaken desert island just to swerve utility bills? Just seems half-arsed to me: divesting oneself of just a small amount of modern life's trappings to endure a massive decline in quality of life. 

 

That lad on here who posted about his two-week canoe-trip through Siberia (?). I'd have acrack at that.

 

Neko's got the right idea though (as he often does): Having a go but having the sense to return to relative civilisation when it's needed. 

 

 

[Skidfingers McGonical 2,838]

Did 4 days at Loch Lomond for my 40th at the beginning of September. Absolutely love the place. No signal, no telly, just us in a caravan and absolutely stunning scenery. 

 

Spent hours with Skids Jr throwing stones at rocks and searching for treasure and shit. 

 

On our way back home we hit the city and I felt like my world had collapsed. I’ve not been right since. 

 

Wheb you leave this scenery, it’s hard to want to be anywhere else.

 

 

[mattyq 1,981]

When I retire I'm going to buy a little boat and spend my time sailing around the world

You can't get more of a wilderness than the middle of the Atlantic

On a previous trip the wind died so we decided to have a little swim which was great and it was only when we got back on the boat that the skipper told us Africa was 500 miles one way, South America 1500 the other and the ocean was 4 km deep... makes you think