Curiously the thing about living by a river is that from only a middling distance it is impossible to know precisely in what direction the river flows merely from observing the surface of the water. The surface is complicated by a collection of swirls and curls and plateaus of mirrors which indiscriminately and very effectively obfuscate what is going on beneath the surface. Meanwhile as I say the superficial activity is enhanced in an often exceedingly picturesque manner by descriptions of alternating patterns and sudden and unexpected orbs of tranquility. The inexactitude of the hidden flow beneath is a metaphor for the desirability of ambivalence; the urging to nonchalantly engage in a situation without trying to change it or assert control over it.
Having as we do the outstanding significance of a promontory of land from which to relish and regard the nearby river obstructed by nothing less natural nor more divisive than a slope of grass to the shoreline or a pattern of farmland to the distant horizon, one is quickly left with one singular conclusion and that is the indisputable excellence and fortuity of the opportunity.
Yet in spite of this calculated deduction it is not uncommon to discover that the decision to reside in this superlative atmosphere is nonetheless the foundation for repeated and stock objections. Preceding the entirety of those assaults is the not uncommon whine about the limitation of space. Encountering a new resident in this 42-unit 3-storey rental apartment building is regularly punctuated by a slur upon the minority of dimension. In fact, considering the common age of the elderly residents, it is instead a compliment to acknowledge the limited square footage. The complaint is as regularly accompanied by the entirely redundant and superlative detail that one has lately transitioned from a house and garden to a perfectly manageable cave and balcony. And as though to enlarge upon the lack of either necessity or foresight, the preposterous nature of the complaint is further upgraded by the suggestion that there may have been some overwhelming medical need which sanctioned the move as though it were somehow irrelevant or that its relevance were accidental or misguided (though ultimately sustainable). And there is always the excuse for the new definition that it locates the recalcitrant person nearby family (normally children and grandchildren).
By contrast to this reactionary view of the move (to which you may have already gathered I am none to supportive), I consider the decision one of supreme satisfaction. The putative limitation of space is for me a falsehood because it imagines a prerequisite which hasn’t either purpose or functionality. The congregation of people is an instinctive animal persuasion, one which is especially useful for the elderly who are sometimes distanced and distracted from others or who might reasonably profit from the immediacy of companionship or the unpredicted requirement of assistance. And finally the view, whether upriver across the fields to the Village of Appleton or downriver across the riverside park to the Old Town Hall, is incomparable. It is a sublime picture which changes daily and always to advantage and with guaranteed rapture.
If one were set upon the exclusivity of domaine such as that afforded by private landed acreage or a gated community, one need only observe that this select corner building is buffeted upon its front by one of the town’s most favoured and newly constructed homes and on its back by endless farmland as far as one can see.
Already the measure of in-house acquaintances has accelerated to include those from Hudson, Québec; Oakville, Ontario; Calgary, Alberta; Cedarhill, Ontario; and what I call a collection of knowing participants from the immediate neighbourhood, the erstwhile home and garden dwellers who have seen the light. Recognizably some of those have sought to recapture their former gardening talent by potting herbs and flowers on the balcony. The limitation is from my perspective a strengthening of the attitude, a finite but artistic rendition.