Risk taking

I'm a very risk-averse person. I know men are assumed to be natural risk-takers, but not me. Life is full of risks as it is. Why take unnecessary risks that could end in disaster?
 
I’ve only taken big risks if I could see a pay off. I’ve taken on hefty mortgages so I could own property and stop paying rent I’d never get back again.
 
I moved from London to Belfast because it had a more relaxed lifestyle than congested, over-populated London. Jenny and I took a big gamble quitting our jobs before we moved but we both found good jobs in Belfast.
 
It was a bit of a shot in the dark deciding to move in with Jenny. It could have ended badly but it turned out to be the right decision.
 
But I’d never take risks just for the hell of it. I’ve never tried rock-climbing or bungee jumping or sky-diving. I’ve read about wives who are terrified whenever their spouse takes part in some highly dangerous activity. I wouldn’t want Jenny to be scared stiff.

I think the biggest risk I could take would be a life-or-death operation - one that could either save my life or kill me. I think I'd take my chances and hope for the best.

Mud huts to mortgages

Don't you think the whole business of finding a home has gone backwards rather than forwards? At one time all you had to do was build yourself a house and you lived in it and owned it and that was that. Now most of us can only get a house by paying someone huge amounts of money - and we may not own it either.

Gone are the days of the humble mud hut or tepee. Now houses are so elaborate most people simply don't have the skills to build one. So we have to rely on someone else to do it and they charge us monstrous sums for the privilege.

Instead of just relaxing and enjoying our home, we have to spend years sweating and toiling to pay the rent or the mortgage. Is this really the height of civilisation? Or is it more like some modern form of slavery in which we are permanently in hock to someone else?

I know that in return for all this cash we may have very comfortable, very well-furnished homes with all mod cons - a far cry from a rudimentary shack with no running water or toilet or electricity. But hasn't something gone seriously wrong here, that a bit of domestic comfort has such a high price attached to it?

Of course homes might be a lot cheaper if it wasn't for the property price phenomenon - house prices going up and up seemingly without end because there are never enough to go round and because it's so prestigious to own your own home.

If it wasn't for that, house prices might even be affordable, instead of costing umpteen times the average wage. As it is, we're now stretching ourselves to our financial limits and beyond, with thousands of homes being repossessed every year.

The housing situation has gone from odd to completely insane and there seems to be little we can do about it. Home Sweet Home? These days, more like Home Sweet Ball and Chain.