| Pit Dweller |
September 18, 2017
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| I have a friend from high school who retired from his job recently. He was single. He worked for a big company for a long time. By the time he retired, he was a department chief. I asked him now that he is retired, he would take an around-the-world cruise trip, or live on a tropical island and enjoy scuba diving and drinking alcohol. He said, "When I worked, I had an uncountable amount of business trips abroad. I felt everywhere is not so different. I have no place I'd like to go to for the time being." I asked, "So you're thinking to live in a gorgeous condo?" He laughed and said, "If you say so, maybe sort of." He added that he was going to move from his apartment to the country side. I joked, "So you can live in a castle with servants like a lord." After several weeks, I came to know that his new house was no castle, but a hut. I got an email from him that his new 'house' was completed. I went and saw it. It was not even a hut, more like a 'pit dwelling house' from the ancient era, which are in the textbooks of history in school. I regretted saying the castle joke. I didn't enter and just emailed him from my smartphone that I would visit someday. I sometimes passed by near his hut because I had a customer down the road.  One time when I passed through at night, light leaked from the hut. I was relieved that he at least used electricity. I couldn't see any electric poles or lines, so maybe he used batteries or a solar power generation system. I saw that he started farming. It was a large field near his hut that he used a tractor and plowed every day. Nowadays farming land is rather cheap, farmers get old, young people don't want to farm. After a month, he started to plot the land. Using ropes and stakes, he divided the land into square areas, about 10m×10m. He also made a sign plate for each. At this point, I figured out that he was going to use this land as citizen gardening plots. Actually after a few weeks, people came and started to plant. One time, I stopped by the citizen garden and had a chance to talk to one of the owners. He said that the land used to be a rice field so it's flat and easy to work. And another good thing for him, the field was abandoned for several years, it's good for organic or non-chemical farming. The chemicals that the farmer before had used would have all disappeared by now. The next time when I passed, he was cutting trees in the forest near his hut. Maybe he also bought it. Like farming land, forests are inexpensive because of cheap imported lumber. Few people can maintain their forests because the forest doesn't earn enough money. He cut firewood and stacked them by his hut. Maybe he would use them for his cooking stove and his heater in the winter. He could sell the rest. At this point, I noticed that he is smart. He could make some extra money from his citizen garden lots and the firewood he cut. The expenses for them isn't much. His work is free and good for his health. In the summer, the citizen garden became full of vegetables. Carrots, onions, cabbages, broccolis, tomatoes, beans, corns, eggplants, cucumbers, even pumpkins and watermelons. My friend was also growing various products. He could save money for food by growing his own. "But ..." I thought. Why the hut? Nowadays there are so many vacant farmers' houses in the countryside, for the same reason as for the shortage of farmers. Maybe he wanted to do something ridiculous. In autumn, my friend planned a garden party and I was invited with other citizen garden owners. I went with a couple of bottles of wine. There gathered about 50 people, owners and their families. We had a fun time enjoying barbecue, fresh vegetables, meat, and alcohol. In the middle of the party, my friend announced that he was thinking to plant fruit trees in the forest and collect the owners for each fruit tree. The attendants were excited and promised that they would become owners of the tree. One of the owners suggested to plant grapes and make wine. Another joked that although he worked for the tax department, he would overlook it. There was a big laugh. All of the owners of the plots had left, and only my friend and I were left. He invited me into his hut. Before coming here, I had thought that I might stay in his hut for a night. He turned on a lantern and entered. I followed. It was a strange experience. The basement was one meter or so lower than the land outside. So the ceiling was higher than I had expected, we could stand easily. The ground was solid, not the normal clay ground. There were many wooden poles, slanting from the top edge of the wall base to the top of the ceiling, just like a modern day house's roof-top. They were covered by a thick thatch on top. I was amazed because I felt a secure feelings. Inside was as silent as a study room, and the air was comfortable. It felt natural. He said, "When I stayed in this type of a pit dwelling house a couple of years ago in an excavation site, it was a demonstrated one, I was shocked because it was rather better than I had expected. And I started to doubt my common sense." The water boiled and he made coffee. It was one of the best cups of coffee that I had ever drunk. |
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*dwell :居住する
*hut :掘っ立て小屋
*pit dwelling house :竪穴式住居
*stake :串
*abandon :見捨てる
*stack :積む
*slant :傾斜させる
*thatch :かや
*excavation site :発掘現場