Hey, people on welfare, conservatives would like you to know the rules. So here they are:

[IrishAyes]

21. The snarky game I enjoy

is to keep the locals where I retired guessing as to my financial status. They know I moved here almost 4 years before early retirement could be had, and they've never seen me with a job. I paid cash at auction for the most desirable house in town if you happen to like hundred-year-olds that need total rehab. Eventually I sold my car because it was clearly more economical to pay someone to drive for me a couple hours on weekly errands. Other than that I get around on a bicycle. Raise a garden. Read the papers at the library. Don't spend $ I don't have, and most of that slowly finds its way directly into crucial home improvement.

So the point being, while I'm sure many people don't give a fig either way, certainly not my small circle of friends and friendly acquaintances, those with nothing better to occupy their time can't seem to decide if I'm broke or well off or just tight or some combo. Now that the yard and exterior of the house at least show great improvement, a certain odor of jealousy wafts by on occasion, via snide remarks about who does she think she is anyway. Etc. More than a few catty remarks about my bike and no car. And what proper snob also walks? Tongues really wag when I happen upon a curbside treasure in open view and haul it home. One time I made it 4 blocks home on foot, carrying an antique iron bedstead some nut threw out. Add that to the fact of proud public Democratic Party support, and they know something's going on that they wouldn't like if they could just figure out what was at the bottom of it.

I hope this post doesn't stray too far off topic. Just wanted to say it can be fun to confound the eternally nosey who keep trying to poke their noses in other people's business. Small towns especially are notorious for that. If a person is able to gain a halfway decent and secure situation for retirement out in the sticks, though, I think it's worthwhile just to be shed of the even worse rat race. And it can be more fun than you'd think with the proper twist of mind. That's the ultimate crime, learning to live happily on a shoestring.