highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
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After one or two remarks on a thread about relocating I wonder how many people prefer living rurally to towns or cities?
I have had a foot in both camps my whole life and have to say I can do both happily.
Ultimately the countryside wins though, if there were no choice.
Answering this post here to avoid dragging Wynne's thread off topic.
Everything is indeed subjective, but there are some useful experiences to be related.
Where our house is in London is has been part of the West Indian community for over half a century. Around half the houses on the relatively short street are owned by the same people or their descendants. Not only does everybody know each other, they share whatever skills and abilities they have with each other. People who have moved into the street have generally adopted that spirit. Our immediate neighbour across the road even has a house in St. Lucia on the same hill as us. It is a very tight knit community, but anyone willing to pitch in is welcomed warmly. We have welcomed a number of people from the street up here in Scotland for holidays, and have enjoyed stays with relatives of people from the street in all sorts of places. London is not by necessity a place of noise, traffic and general insularity at all. It changes from one area to the next. We can't walk down to Portobello Road without ending up in a dozen conversations with friends, acquaintances or such. Places are what you make them, and if you have a problem with where you live move on. You don't necessarily need to move away from a city to find what you are looking for. London has leafy suburbs with quiet streets, it has bohemian areas with lots of artists and such, it has silent cul-de-sacs next to peaceful parks. There is a saying along the lines of if you are tired of London, you are tired of life.
There are plenty of small villages or areas where people tend to keep to themselves also. There are rural places full of second homes that mean the area is half empty most of the year. Some people living out in the sticks are insular and have chosen to live there intentionally to avoid being part of a community. We have some neighbours who basically lock their gates behind them and drive to and from their jobs/shop in the supermarkets in town and never even wave when they pass on the single track.
Ultimately we choose to live rurally, but we keep a toe in the water.
We can be door to door Highlands to London in little over three hours thanks to Easyjet (other airlines are available, but they are a rip off!) so there is never any real feeling of distance, after all it can take that getting from one end of London to another!
I have had a foot in both camps my whole life and have to say I can do both happily.
Ultimately the countryside wins though, if there were no choice.
The History Man":2sk0q046 said:highlandsflyer":2sk0q046 said:All this London sucks is all very subjective.
I love London, more than any other place on earth, and I have been to a few!
We decided a long time ago to live away and visit the city. That is the balance that works for us.
Not just London. Pretty much all cities are unpleasant what with the noise, traffic and general insularity.
When i was young London was great. Now I live somewhere we all help each other out and have a real sense of community. I knew maybe my immediate neighbour in London and that was it.
But pretty much everything on here is subjective?
Answering this post here to avoid dragging Wynne's thread off topic.
Everything is indeed subjective, but there are some useful experiences to be related.
Where our house is in London is has been part of the West Indian community for over half a century. Around half the houses on the relatively short street are owned by the same people or their descendants. Not only does everybody know each other, they share whatever skills and abilities they have with each other. People who have moved into the street have generally adopted that spirit. Our immediate neighbour across the road even has a house in St. Lucia on the same hill as us. It is a very tight knit community, but anyone willing to pitch in is welcomed warmly. We have welcomed a number of people from the street up here in Scotland for holidays, and have enjoyed stays with relatives of people from the street in all sorts of places. London is not by necessity a place of noise, traffic and general insularity at all. It changes from one area to the next. We can't walk down to Portobello Road without ending up in a dozen conversations with friends, acquaintances or such. Places are what you make them, and if you have a problem with where you live move on. You don't necessarily need to move away from a city to find what you are looking for. London has leafy suburbs with quiet streets, it has bohemian areas with lots of artists and such, it has silent cul-de-sacs next to peaceful parks. There is a saying along the lines of if you are tired of London, you are tired of life.
There are plenty of small villages or areas where people tend to keep to themselves also. There are rural places full of second homes that mean the area is half empty most of the year. Some people living out in the sticks are insular and have chosen to live there intentionally to avoid being part of a community. We have some neighbours who basically lock their gates behind them and drive to and from their jobs/shop in the supermarkets in town and never even wave when they pass on the single track.
Ultimately we choose to live rurally, but we keep a toe in the water.
We can be door to door Highlands to London in little over three hours thanks to Easyjet (other airlines are available, but they are a rip off!) so there is never any real feeling of distance, after all it can take that getting from one end of London to another!