Are You Country or City?

[mortonbriar]

I have the in between position right now, and I like it. Very quick to get into town, but I still urinate my citrus trees to good health.

 

[Reggie]

Country for me! No doubt about it. The more remote, the better.

 

[dino]

City.
I've lived in the same Chicago neighborhood (within a three-block radius) for more than 70 years. Love it!

 

[karam]

I grew up in the country, but we moved into the city when I was in seventh grade. I do in the Coast Guard and spent several stents living in or around major cities around the US for the past twenty years.

Once me and the wife completed our service, we bought 8 acres out in the country and got back to our roots.

We are both most definitely country folk.
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Lovely Mastiff man!

 

[karam]

My dear friend Romaso. This is my sister-in-law. She is beautiful, isn't she? She's single, she was in the military for many years, now she's a yoga teacher. The blonde is my wife. Me and my father-in-law, I think this picture of my father-in-law and I would be from 2017.View attachment 243125View attachment 243122

Pity I am not single!

 

[karam]

I've lived in a couple cities, and they have much to offer. Wonderful multicultural dining options, museums, much more entertainment options. And that's not counting services like delivery or even closer access to hospitals. But I can never live in a city again. They as a general rule are too crushing and I can never feel free. Oddly enough the biggest pro in a city is nobody really bothers you, nobody is in your business (outside friends and family).

I've lived out in the country before. I loved it! There is a freedom in being able to stretch your arms that is hard to explain. The most beautiful landscapes with the most friendly people as a general rule. But there's not a lot of options for social life. And those services might be harder to come by. Oddly, the biggest PITA in living in the country was the overall friendliness of the people. Go away, Sam. I don't want to chat with you right now, I'm not getting into what's bothering me with you.

Hah, you really nailed it - I just disagree with not being free in the city but I am sure you have your reasons. I personally feel very free in the city where I am an absolute nobody among millions rushing about their business. Now I live in rural Switzerland and always see familiar faces on the street. I've never talked to them other than a nod, or "hi" (which is customary in Switzerland) but have seen them tens of times, and them me.

Way I "sold" London to a friend from Jordan was "you're a nobody, nobody cares about you, or wants to know you, you're free". His response was that in Jordan he's a member of a tribe, saying his name anywhere near his hometown makes people do an instant download of everything they know of his tribe, and many know his family, and him their families. This is great on one hand, also prison on another. Several years down the line he's pretty happy with his family in London

Similar to my situation in my father's village in Greece. Our family has 150+ year depth in the general area and my father's childhood home is bang on in the middle of the village square, so our name is known, and many people recognise me while I don't recognise them.
I'm with you on the overall friendliness being a PITA some times, people want to chat, they want to hear about you, and offer opinions which sometimes were never asked for. In the city this won't happen, even in Greece.

I'd also like to counter the idea of friendliness with NIMBYness in the countryside though. My experience is that people like things kept as they are, and friendliness is almost a trade for going with the place's flow. They don't want anything standing out too much or it looks inviting to be hammered down, even if it means in your own private property, this bothers me to some extent.

 

[mikethompson]

I also never helped that goat over the fence, that’s a vicious rumor

That's not how the goat tells it Tim

 

[mikethompson]

Not surprising the bulk of us would choose country over city really. Seems to fit a little better with the pipe smoking image. LOL.

I'm happier in the woods / country, but truth is I would miss the conveniences a small town or city would provide, especially with young kids.

 

[ssjones]

We live in an neighborhood, bordered by cornfields (and now, sadly, a few warehouses...). I can ride my bike out of the hood onto miles of country roads and the nearby C&O Canal towpath. This is also great for my MGB!

Nope: (although I love to visit NYC, New Orleans and Nashville:

I'm more Glen Campbell:

Sometimes this happens:




Nearby Harpers Ferry WV (Brewery). The C&O Canal just below, runs along the MD side of the Potomac River.

 

[captpat]

Country but close enough to a city (especially one with a university) to take advantage of the greater selection of movies, theaters, restaurants, sporting events, etc.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Hah, you really nailed it - I just disagree with not being free in the city but I am sure you have your reasons.

Snip

I'd also like to counter the idea of friendliness with NIMBYness in the countryside though. My experience is that people like things kept as they are, and friendliness is almost a trade for going with the place's flow. They don't want anything standing out too much or it looks inviting to be hammered down, even if it means in your own private property, this bothers me to some extent.

The first, mostly ordinances. Noise curfews and restrictions, limits on 2nd Amendment things, the number of people makes it hard to not feel trapped sometimes, restrictions on animals I can own, restrictions on what I can grow in my yard (not only any government restrictions but what was the land used for before it was houses?), and the lack of fresh air.

I will agree with you about small towns. There were more than a few who let us know they are quaint and charming, and we had better be quaint and charming too if we want to get along here.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

For the last 19 years, we have been living 1/2 mile from the Greene/Lewiston town line (by road). Last time I looked, Greene is about 4309 population.

 

[ssjones]

My town population is 2,074

 

[pipingfool]

I was raised in the country in Mississippi until I was 23 and moved to Florida. I've since only lived in the city/suburbs, and now live in Seattle.

I love our neighborhood here because we can walk to a dozen restaurants, pubs, several grocery stores, etc. within less than half a mile.

And within a 30 min drive we can be in the middle of the mountains in the middle of nowhere for some gorgeous hiking and scenery. There are even spots in the city that offer some great nature trails and hiking and you completely forget that you're in the middle of a metropolitan city.

My wife calls me a "Citified Country Boy". I'm okay with that.

 

[JC4life]

I grew up in the country, but we moved into the city when I was in seventh grade. I do in the Coast Guard and spent several stents living in or around major cities around the US for the past twenty years.

Once me and the wife completed our service, we bought 8 acres out in the country and got back to our roots.

We are both most definitely country folk.
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That looks like the life to me! Great at dog, looks a lot like mine

 

[Streeper541]

How many of you country folks still have horse ties around town that are actually used?




Our biggest two buildings/businesses are the feed store and the farmers bank. We actually just got a fuel pump earlier this year!

 

[upnorth1]

I’d have to say country.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I’d have to say country.

Is that Walden Pond?

 

[JC4life]

I’d have to say country.

My wife and I would take that cabin any day! Is the fishing good?

 

[mso489]

I grew up in a suburb bordering Chicago and have tended toward city/suburban dwelling all my life. I enjoy the variety of people, commerce, entertainment, activities, food, and culture.

That being said, my wife grew up on a farm deep in rural Missouri, and my late wife spent some of her growing up years on her grandparents' tobacco farm. My father's family spent many summers at a sandy soil Michigan farm without electricity or running water as a summer escape from suburban Chicago and their comfortable home. This was largely due to my intrepid grandmother who had a deep attachment to the fantasy of being a pioneer.

My wife's maternal grandmother was an actual covered wagon pioneer as an infant, although when I first met my wife as a student, I had to do some adding up of dates to see if that was possible.

So I have lived with an abiding respect for things rural, and have done some camping and stays in remote places like Granger, Mo., Neosho Missouri, and Midway Island in the mid-Pacific.