No time to live

Some twenty odd years ago when home loans were being made available,and buying an apartment meant a big of scrimping and saving,I decided once and for all to buy and apartment. A roof ove my head along with a job meant independence from the tyranny of the landlord and living in constant fear that just as one was getting comfortable one would be expected to up and go. Hunting for an apartment wasn't easy and one had to consider many factors before one ventured into buying also one had to like the place,the locality,take into account cost of transport vs savings etc etc. Most important of all after identifying these parameters ,was to actually like the layout of the apartment. I was looking for light airy and spacious ones and find it I did. Not much space but perfect for a couple. The second time around after some five years I found another apartment applying all the same rules. A few modifications later I had what I wanted. 

Now I read some of the glossy ads for buying apartments and I am totally baffled. Did the world change so rapidly. Did requirements change so much.i ask myself (after reading about private terraces,swimming pools,tennis courts etc etc....) how does one buy a home looking at these ads. I am yet to see an ad that gives the layout of the flat. I am assuming most people still live in apartments and not in swimming pools and gardens. Let's look at things one by one. The private terrace garden. For once gardening is a tough ask. One must like it as an activity and it takes a lot of time and effort or before you know it it consumes you with weeds. So how does one find time for this assuming one is working. Really one has to be working to afford any of these apartments ( they don't come cheap). Not only must you be working,the salary should be fairly fancy,which means blood sweat and tears. So while it's nice to come home to a garden,who exactly is going to look after it. Alright let's get to the pool and the walking track and the yoga studio. Let's assume you leave home at 9 am (lots of people with this kind of money and that kind of location ,are working shifts so 9 am is a tall orde) and come home at 9 pm....it's too late to garden as one won't know the weeds from the plants even in a well lit one and plants do go to sleep you know. So let's assume it's time for a swim. Till ten pm for a one hour swim,dinner at ten thirty,watch some tv admire the view and hit the bed at midnight . Wake up at five,go for a yoga class till six,read a paper,grab some packaged microwaved food for breakfast. Rush out of the house at seven thirty to beat rush hour traffic....you get the point. So what if there are all the amenities for a fantastic live. It defeats the purpose. In the rush to get so much done one is left with little time to enjoy it all,food become some processed stuff which one is picking off the shelf of a store so gone are the fresh produce which you the ad claims will be eating because,and this takes the cake and the baker....you will be gardening in your own vegetable patch....laughable or what. I read it all again and realised that marketing today is building up dreams that have nothing to do with reality. I wonder if the copywriter in question has even seen a garden or spent time running around growing vegetables and doing yoga and swimming etc and yet getting a life. By the way not one word about the. Size of this fancy apartment one is going to be living in but if my guess is right,it might resemble a five star hotel room in any city simply because that's what the clientele is used to. Thank god I don't need to buy an apartment in this day and age ....happy am I who can swim,do yoga, garden and grow my own veggies and eat fresh,get time to smell the roses....but I had to give up a fancy salary to get all this...and that my friends is the reality.