QOTD 1/19/07: City Living or Country Pleasures?

[Hartamophone]

G'Day.

So I grew up in the suburbs and thought that I always wanted to stay in a relatively big city. Then I went away to school in a small town and fell in love with small-town life in a big way. I've spent much of the past few years living in small towns or isolated communities, with periodic stints back in urban life (including right now).

Of all the places I've lived in my life, one reason that Lake Placid is a favourite is because it is a peaceful small mountain town, but Burlington (VT) and Montreal are each only two hours away if I want to escape for a show or some anonymity. I'm thinking that, for me, a setup like that might be the ideal.

So the question of the day is: do you prefer living in/around big(er) cities, or small (definitely less than 10 000) towns and rural areas?

(P.S. 10 Bonus heady points to anyone from the Ottawa area who knows what the thread title is a reference to).

[bradm]

I prefer living in a city. I don't drive, so having a decent public transit system and a big enough town to draw events (e.g., bands) that I want to see is essential.

I also think I'm just geared that way. I was in Europe for a month back in 2001, and found myself drawn much more to the big(ger) cities, even just to walk around in and observe things, than I was to the countryside or small towns.

Aloha,

Brad

[SevenSeasJim]

I grew up in Hamilton and lived there until 2000. The last 6+ years I’ve lived up in the Parry Sound area and I couldn’t be happier. Everybody is so friendly and down to earth. I thought I would miss all the choices a large city has to offer, but I don’t. You just arrange your life differently. I love the solitude of walking in the woods all the time as well. I just don’t like humans as much as I used to (some exceptions of course)

[djmelbatoast]

I like Nanaimo. It's close enough to Victoria and Vancouver to see shows and it only is a 10 minute drive to the woods. I grew up in Haliburton and Etobicoke and can appreciate both, country and city. Nanaimo is just a nice middle ground for me.

[Jaimoe]

I love living in vibrant cities downtown. I'll never live in the suburbs (although I grew up in one) and I see a fight coming on in the near future with my wife regarding country living. I do not want to be reliant on a car.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Guest

[dave-O]

I struggle with this very issue on a daily basis.

[MarcO]

Depends on the definition of "country living", I guess. I'd love to live with trees, trails, streams and a sense of nature right outside my door. Being stuck on a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but cornfields and cattle to stare at doesn't appeal to me all, I'd then rather just live in Toronto.

I grew up in the small town of Dundas (pop 20000), which had a self-contained, insular feel to it; everything you needed was there, but small-scale, ma-and-pa store kind of place. If I wanted to go hiking, the Bruce Trail was a five minute drive. If I wanted to go party, Hamilton was a fifteen minute drive. If I wanted the Big City, Toronto was 40 minutes away. Perfect.

Ideally, I'd like to live just like that, but with no plans to raise children, I could easily adapt to a big city over a remote farm amid nowhere. Yeah, I need nature. But I also need a bar to go to, preferably on foot, some restaurants to eat at, some stores to shop in, some culture and art, a library to go to. I like cities.

I suppose ideally I'd be rocking the Toronto condo with a cottage up in Tobermory as a getaway. That would suit me just fucking fine.

[StoneMtn]

My ideal lifestyle was when I was in Whistler, but that is a unique place. I loved the small town-ness of it, but there was certainly more than that.

I do not like living in a big city at all, but I also would not want to live in a tiny, economically depressed town; as many are.

There is also the danger of people being so isolated in small towns, that they come up with idiotic ideas. (This does not apply to every small town, by any means.) I once met a guy from a tiny Ontario town who "hated all Jewish people". After he met me, however, he commented to the person who introduced us that "he was such a nice guy for a Jewish person". (I was the only one he'd ever met.)

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

StoneMtn - wow. I'm glad you at least cracked through that shit, and got him on the road to thinking more clearly and less insularly (is that a word?).

We're a year and a half in a very small town now (and I'm very glad to say I've never heard comments in that vein), after being in Toronto for a dozen years, and so far, so very good. Ottawa's a half-hour or so away, and we both work and often play there, but the slowness of the place here is a wonderful refuge from the chaos that cities can bring (particularly if you've got kids). I might have a different bunch of things to say, of course, whenever the world runs out of oil.

I still have lots of nostalgia for Kingston as an ideal small city, but I also know it's evolved and grown bigger in the years since we've been gone; that seems to be the inevitable trend.

[Guest Low Roller]

Tough call. I love a busy downtown street because I am a people watching junkie, but at the same time I love just swinging in a hammock listening to the waves crashing onto the beach at Andrea's cottage near Barry's Bay.

I too think I need both. The city for commuting, working, and commerce, and the quiet solitude for centering my chi after a busy week.

[Jaimoe]

The sad reality is that cities across Ontario are dying or dead (see Brampton, Cambridge, Belleville) - I'm talking about having vibrant urban city cores. Country living will hopefully always survive, but I feel the Ajax's, North Yorks and Pickerings of the world have won the war.

[lara]

We've done both.

Country living - sweet, quiet, to me it feels safer. Love the sunsets over the horses...Hate the drive.

City - Work to work, cant beat that! Not so isolated, going out doesn't feel so hard.

Our end goal - live in the country within half hour of Ottawa in the Gatineau hills.

I love living in the country on a road that most of the world doesn't even know exists. When we lived in the country a year ago, it wasn't ideal. Not our ideal farm. Not our ideal road. I love the Chealsea/Wakefield area... feels like like a retreat but its so close. Its beautiful and you can buy wine at the convenience store!

[bONES]

i live in Toronto and own property 3 hours north of here in the Haliburton Highlands

i want sooooo badly to live on my land and visit the city instead of the other way around (my current situation)

if i could find a teaching job near my land i would move up there in a heart beat, but Toronto is where my work is...

Nelson, BC is the ideal little town for me. I loved living there. Good food, good music, good people and good vibes...

I just don’t like humans as much as I used to (some exceptions of course)

same here!

[Birdy]

small towns. i like driving in the country and staring at cows and getting really drunk in corn fields and partying in fields and hanging out at the lake and playing ping pong on the patio of my favourite bar.

and then if i feel like it, i can drive into the city and do all the things that i like to do in the city, without having to deal with city bullshit ie, pollution, noise, traffic, every day.

[DevO]

If I wanted the Big City, Toronto was 40 minutes away.

Jesus MarcO, how fast are you driving??

[phorbesie]

i guess i like the city.

when deciding where to move 5 years ago, my first choice was tokyo, doesn't get any bigger than that. to me that's a perfect city. old and new blended together in every neighbourhood, you can have anything you want. and it's still safer than anywhere. i also like to be able to access live music all the time.

i certainly love spending time in nature too, but i doubt i'll make a permanent move like that until i'm old.

[Calamity Jane]

I think the answer to this Q definitely depends on where you are in your stage of life...

Once upon a time I thought I would never want to leave the downtown Toronto core....loved the city life, esp the multicultural aspect of TO for events, food, etc.

After 12 years or so and our babies growing into kids (not to mention watching during the Harris years the city get 'ugly' and less caring....more homeless and psychiatric patients on the streets, seemingly more violence and a feeling of disconnect between the 3 million of us sharing a city), the lure of the countryside (where I was raised myself) became too strong.

So we looked at farms in SE Ontario, but quickly realized we couldn't cope with such isolation and bleakness, so we settled in a village, 30 minutes from OTown and now we have the benefits of small-town life (slow pace, neighbours you know, one little main street with small, local businesses, lots of forest, fields & a river for canoeing, public school, community centre, youth drop-in centre)*** with the city a short drive away.

I started off by saying that choices/needs DO change, but I also think that one's own childhood often has a bearing on where folks end up settling mid-life. (sorry in advance to all of you raised in the 'burbs! )

***actually I realize that the same feeling of neighbourliness CAN be had within city neighbourhoods; so the big dif is really the proximity of undeveloped land/nature, quiet, fresh air, etc.

seems to me most of us need BOTH experiences...either settle in the countryside and drive in to the city on weekends for a bit of "culture"/excitment or vice versa....live in an urban environment and use your weekends to escape to saner, greener, cleaner spaces.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Guest
upon more reflection......

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

I hate traffic. I love privacy. Country living is definitely for me.

My previous residence was an eye opener, and in many ways perfect for me. Semi-secluded, yet not isolated, surrounded by nature, yet a 10 minute drive to the city. Very few inconveniences, and we could walk around naked in the backyard. And the drive was relaxing.

[dave-O]

I lived in the city, but I didn't stare at the lights

I lived in the city, but the country suits me fine

When the concrete jungle got me down

I packed my bags for this monkey town

And I was gone, gone, gone.

[Calamity Jane]

and we could walk around naked in the backyard.

oh yeah...forgot about that one...a definite plus!!!

(I just have to wait past spring until the neighbour's trees have some cover for my cover )

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

living in the city is the only way to do it.... unless its some shit hole like hamilton or ottawa.

[popo weenie]

was in toronto once too fast for me

lived in a village and loved it now i am in a so called city i call it a town every one asks you personal questions i pretend i don,t even see them little own hear them same ole same ole think they would catch on

love fredericton

but would always want my own home wherever i may ramble

wouldn't mind coburg ontario

[meggo]

i always feel the most content when i know there's ocean/lake/trees/mountains nearby...

that said, living in downtown ottawa offers a different kind of "wildlife" [har-har].

victoria was my ideal place to live [barring somewhere in the tropics]. all the benefits of living in a city, very little traffic. not the *most* exciting place, but vancouver was within reach, albeit not the easiest to get to. and the best part - warm weather, great hikes and beautiful pacific coastline always just minutes away.

bliss!

i think it would be fun to have a little farm-y thing someday, with some little subsistence crops and some horses, chickens, etc. ... also a bookstore.. and a music store. a farm/bookstore/musicstore.

fun to dream

[Ms Zimmy]

I need both right now. I was raised out in the country at the end of a gravel road with no one sight (btw, party lines suck), the nearest town was 30min drive population 5,000.....maybe a little too secluded (my siblings and I had an imaginary nemesis), but my back yard was 170 acres, and by the time I moved out I knew it like the back of my hand.

If I have kids, I want them to experience that kind of freedom. For now I like Centretown Ottawa, the suburbs give me the creeps.

[Calamity Jane]

Hey meggo, I too dreamed of the little hobby farm thing. but damn, my bubble burst when I realized just how much damn work they are, not to mention the grime and the smell and the mucking out of stalls/pens. So no goats, chickens or llamas for us, I'm afraid. And actually, I could barely keep up with our little garden (it too felt like a chore on most days, rather than the meditative peacefullness I was hoping for.) Maybe if you didn't have to also have a paid job, a hobby farm could be an actual hobby. Or maybe some folks make it work because they're far less lazy than I am So my solution was to be surrounded by farms and enjoy them vicariously.

And as for the "music store" aspect, marry a musician, keep musician friends close, teach your children, and the live music will never stop!!!