Courtesy of Blair & Tyson Sonnichsen March 2023

CHOOSING THE RIGHT NEIGHBOURHOOD FOR YOUR NEW HOME

While it may sound easy, choosing a neighbourhood to live in can be a much harder task than you first imagine. After all, if you buy a house you’re going to be in that area for a long time. Making a commitment like that deserves as much planning and research beforehand as possible. Here are some criteria you might want to consider when settling on a neighbourhood to live in. Safety? You’ll want to know that you and your family are going to be safe in your new home. Check with city hall or the local police department to determine what areas of a community have the lowest crime rates. If you narrow your search to a few select areas do a walk around on your own. Talk to local shopkeepers and others who live and work in the area to get their opinion. They're likely willing to share experiences and thoughts. Noise? You may not think about sound, but background noises can impact the enjoyment of an area. If you like a certain section of

the community, but realize a busy highway, railway tracks, airport or industrial facility are nearby, that could have a very unpleasant influence on your day-to-day existence. You don’t want to move into your new home to only discover that freight trains are at their busiest at 3:00am. Transit? Not everyone owns a car. If going to school or to work requires travel, it’s important to learn beforehand where the local transit routes are. If you're a regular user, ensure you’re comfortable with the distance to connect with your ride. Streetlights? Much like background sound may not be uppermost in your mind when house-hunting, how well an area is served by lighting could be another factor you’ve not considered. Visiting a selected area during the day won’t provide much information about this overlooked feature, but a trip through the neighbourhood at night will.

BRAIN TEASERS Courtesy of www.goodhousekeeping.com

1. What is the longest word in the dictionary? 2. Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it? 3. What has hands but cannot clap? 4. Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can’t decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All 4 cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible?

hand turns.

3. Corn on the cob. 4. A clock. 5. They all made right

there is a mile between each ‘s’.

2. Smiles, because

1. Answers:

WORD FIT A word fit is a bit like a crossword, except that instead of clues we give you the answeers, and your challenge is to fit them into the spaces.

WORDS TO FIT

• Badger • Lion • Reindeer • Elephant

• Monkey • Gorilla • Rat

Courtesy of www.freeprintablepuzzles.co.uk