Houses

Late this afternoon, while Samuel and Ben were over with some other young single adults for kind of a farewell party, Susan and I went for a walk. We just looked around some of the back streets near where we live, and we spent time looking at some of the houses. This is a nice section of town, or at least a mixed section with some very nice houses.

Here is a bench and front door on a nice house. Notice the ornate woodwork on the door as well as the bench, and the tile on the porch. Also notice the bars inside the windows. There doesn't seem to be a lot of crime around here, but at the same time, people appear to be concerned about it.And here is a house that also serves as a local store. There are houses on just about every block that incorporate a small store into the ground floor. Zoning ordinances would usually prohibit such in the US, but here it allows people, including children, to run down to the store without leaving the neighborhood.Here is an A-frame house. Typically I expect these to be built in areas with heavy snowfall, such that the snow slides off, but here snow is never a problem. I can only imagine that it was built this way because that is how the owner wanted it.And finally, here is a nice house on the corner just a block away from where we live. There are nicer ones around, but a lot of them are not designed to be obvious, and many of them are behind fences and landscaping that make them hard to see.There are a fair number of houses here that are for sale or rent, but I don't have a good feel for prices and such. I do know that most houses for rent are not furnished, and that furnished apartments cost somewhat more, simply because they are less common. And of course, because they are worth more.