City or Country?

[ExoByte]

I had a real thought provoking discussion with an online friend about the preference of City Life, or Country Life. At the moment I personally live in the city, and she in a very small, about 600 person, town.

It came up after talking about how much better the country would be for viewing the Meteor Shower. Anyway, I thought I'd bring it to DV.

Which would you prefer?

I'll post my thoughts later.

[Adam]

I live in the city and love it! I live right on the beach too! I have everything I need here so wouldnt change it for the world.

However, if I had a partner who prefered the country life I think i could change it :)

[Goldney]

I really do have the best of both worlds. I live pretty much in the centre of the city, my school is five minutes away, the shops are about 10 minutes away. Everything is close at hand. The beaches are also really close so that's a major plus. Then, I have a friend who lives out at a farm about 20 minutes away. I get to visit there pretty much whenever I want. For instance today I went over there and herded a load of sheep into a barn (much harder than it sounds, tricky little blighters) and then my friend, his dad and I proceeded to spray their feet with a disinfectant to stop them getting foot-rot or whatever, we gave them some antibiotics to prevent infection from something and made sure that they had tags in their ears. One of the lambs was so close to being castrated. The lamb was sitting on the floor, the dad had these medievil instruments of torture that looked like a giant pair of wire cutters and he was about to get the snip when my friend called him away to help with something. it was literally seconds before castration. It really made me think about chance etc. and how if anything had been done differently the lamb would've got the snip then and there. He got done later anyway so it was pretty inconsequential.

[NeAvO]

I live in a town and I have eveything I need here.

[Burns]

I grew up on a farm in the country - over an hour's drive to the nearest mall - and didn't know any other life until my mom got divorced and my sister and I were uprooted from the only life we ever knew, to come live in the city.

Since moving, I take all the conveniences of city life for granted - grocery stores and department stores, and entertainment, all within a couple miles, usually less. It's hard to imagine living the country life anymore, but I do enjoy going back to visit and riding horses and doing farm stuff. I just wouldn't want to live that way full time again.

[ExoByte]

Thats a good look at it Burns.

My opinion:
I'd want to live somewhere... like the Mountains, or yeah, the Country. But not just anywhere. Somewhere... somewhere you can get lost. Like really lost. A kind of lost where it gives you a true goal to find your way out. A lost where you learn to appreciate everything around you and every detail as its necessary for you to find your way. A kind of lost where you can really think about things and yourself.

Or even the Prairie provinces. The prairie provinces in Canada are... WOW. The sky is just breathtaking. It's a blue like you've never seen before. In the morning, the Ice crystals. at night the stars... its unbelievable. The Harvest Moon in August... ever wanted to see the moon like they have in art and movies? a GIANT, bright orange moon over the horizon. So huge it looks like you can reach out and touch it. So huge, that you only see the top half.

A quiet place... a place where I can relax, breathe the fresh air, appreciate things and the world for what it is.

However, thats never to cut off the city completely. The City has its strong points too. Where natural beauty lacks, the City makes up for in the sheer amazement of human capability. The city also always has something going on, and theres always something to do. That said, I'd want to live away from the City, but close enough to keep it part of my life.

[Goldney]

The trouble with living far away from the rest of civilisation and getting "lost" so to speak is that every journey out becomes a challenge. I was fortunate enough to be staying in a villa in Italy recently and it was exactly how you described it in your passage ExoByte. However, we could only reach it by several dirt tracks that were winding, bumpy and not at all a pleasure to drive on. Just reaching the nearest food shop became a journey in itself, and living in the city I think we take that for granted.

[Man of Steel]

I live in the country, about 6 miles from the nearest town, which though small, is a tourist town and so has a population of somewhere around 1,200-1,400. Our address is technically listed as belonging to another town, a good bit larger, that's 13 miles in the other direction, because of the weird layout of the counties in this area.

But I love where I live. It used to be one big piece of land, wooded of course, 100 acres in size. Over the years, though, bits and pieces got sold off, and we got neighbors. But our neighbors are awesome. We all live back off of the same driveway, with my brother's house up towards the road, us behind him, our next neighbor another quarter mile or so back, and then a fork in the driveway, with the other neighbor yet another quarter of a mile of so back to one side, and our old place, which that neighbor has since bought from us, to the other.

Hope that wasn't too confusing... Anyway, we pretty much have free roam of the 100 acres still, and I fish in the creek a lot, well, I haven't much this year, but I usually do. It's great. The only thing I don't like about it, is that the only internet we can get here is dial-up. And slow dial-up at that, because the phone lines out here are crappy.

If I could live anywhere else, it'd probably be somewhere even farther out, much like ExoByte said. Somewhere I could really get lost if I wanted to. Though I don't get lost easily, but just somewhere I could hike for miles on my own property, and not see another human being on the way. Somewhere I could have a full-size forge set up, and maybe a lake in my backyard, all my own. No neighbors for miles, but the ones I would have would be almost as good as the ones I have now, if that's even possible, which I doubt. Maybe I could convince my neighbors to move with me...

But enough of my ramblings. I've stated my wishes. :D

[Howie]

Thats a good look at it Burns.

My opinion:
I'd want to live somewhere... like the Mountains, or yeah, the Country. But not just anywhere. Somewhere... somewhere you can get lost. Like really lost. A kind of lost where it gives you a true goal to find your way out. A lost where you learn to appreciate everything around you and every detail as its necessary for you to find your way. A kind of lost where you can really think about things and yourself.

I wanted to say the country but I am too tired to go into detail. But you said it perfectly.
Living on the East Coast my entire life I thought W. VA was wilderness. Then I went to Oregon and Washington. You talk about getting lost!

[Spartiate]

I just moved to the country (but I still live withtin 5 minutes of a major city, it's kind of like subsuburbia), and I love it. My backyard has to be 20 times bigger than my old one, I have no neighbors, I live under the shadow of a mountain and I can make a fire whenever I want :cool:. It's also so peaceful here, I think that the city and all it's stresses reduces life expectancy...

[QwinsepiaSquared]

I live in a small town, and it's pretty nice. About 1,000 people. No gas stations, no malls, and no grocery store - just a mini mart. The only thing that sucks is we have at least an hour busride to and from school every day, and we get teased for being hicks. :P

Country all the way for me! I just love looking at hill after hill of farmfields, fading to small mountains in the distance. Just beautiful.

[skysaw]

I like the suburbs. I have to be close enough to the city to make a quick trip in when I want to, but I don't like the idea of actually living in it. My neighborhood has a lot of nice big trees, which is also a must.

[Lucid Seeker]

I live in a small dull little town in the middle of the UK, its boring and i'm sick of the countryside, though i would like to say i prefer the countryside, i do like going to the city, its a change, the nearest beach for me is about a 2 hour drive away, and the beach's are normally crap unless i go to Wales.

[wannywan]

I live in the city (Belfast) at the moment and have lived here before, but all other times I've lived in a smallish town.

The city is good for the convenience, but the country gets it for the views and quiet nights.

[Never]

I live in the mountains. I hate the city. Town is a long way off and I don't even go there usually unless it's 3 am and I need food. I am a bit introverted lol. I love nature as well obviously.

[Carôusoul]

hm.

I would say country.. if i lived in abetter country.

AS IT IS, the UK country is just fields. nothing wild or anything,. farms and shit.,

i hate that.

but i do love wild country like foressts and mountains with noone in site.


sso it depends.

[Liquidnine]

Belfast isnt really a big city... Londons where its at.

Wish I could go there more. Though I wouldn't mind living in the middle of the sahara for a lil while. I love the wilderness.
I mean seeing the stars all the time. that would be amazing.

[Alex D]

I've spent my life growing up in the English countryside. Beautiful, beautiful scenery, but I've always felt it terribly dull. Owing to some good exam results though, I'm moving to the city of Norwich in September, which used to be the capital of England and has all old castles and the like. Very pretty I remember from visiting there. So it'll be interesting to see just how much city life differs to what I'm used to.

[Seeker]

Country!!!! I live on 5 acres. No zoning restrictions. I could even walk around the yard in my underwear without worrying about the neigbors seeing me. Nice! I love my privacy!

[Alban]

I live on a tropical island in the Gulf of Siam.

I have to walk around the house naked just to keep cool!
Not outside though. The locals wouldn't appreciate that.

I don't appreciate living here really, as I'm more of a cold city person.
I fantasize about Vancouver.

[Ravenfire]

I love living in my little town that's right on the edge of a city. I can go 5 miles in one direction and have all of the benefits of being in the city and still live in my quiet little town where I can walk out my front door and hike for a few miles to the top of a mountain. I love having the best of both worlds!

[Alcarinquë]

I currently live in a city of about 1,300 people. It's nice because everything seems smaller and a little more personal here than, say, in a metropolitan area such as Minneapolis/St. Paul where I will likely be living soon. I would like to live in a rural area when I'm on my own, though. Really secluded and private. I don't know why, I just like nature better than polluted city life.