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Ideal environments

09:24 / 01.05.03

This thread was prompted by the various debates going on at the moment over Leaptopia, but I don't want it to turn into another one of them. I thought it might be interesting, and perhaps instructive, to see where people would actually ideally like to live - urban or rural, small community, larger community, atomised modern living where your community can be geographically widespread or sometimes even partially virtual... (ahem), and physical environment.

I like to be in the country, but I don't actually want to live there - certainly not at the moment. I like urban environments - I like living in a place where I feel as if I can encounter lots of different people (even if in practice I tend to associate with the same people because, well, they're my friends) and where there are lots of cultural and social acitvities in which to participate. I do find the idea of rural living in theory, but I know that in practice I'd get frustrated at not having access to all the things I like most - large bookshops, galleries, museums, libraries. And I don't drive, so I'd never be able to get out.

You know, I like the bustle and excitement. It does get a bit much sometimes, and that I think is why I prefer smaller cities to metropolitan living in general, though even Oxford gets a bit frustrating at times. but the best thing about a small city, for me, is that one doesn't live in the bosom of one's community (and I frankly can't think of anything that I should like less than to have everyone watching out for me and knowing what I was doing the whole time - yeeeuuurghhh) but that one can still have a close network of friends, and one can make a choice to see them or not to on any particular day. I like the fact that I can choose to associate with people I really like. Smaller cities make it a bit easier, as you don't have to travel for an hour to get home, but the principle is the same.

So I think I'm a city person for the time being...

What about you?

09:29 / 01.05.03

If there isnt neon, litter, and somewhere i can buy crisps at three in the morning i start to panic, i mean the countryside is cool an all but the dullness would slowly drive me insane. Some people was not built for quite introspection in i count myself as one.

10:10 / 01.05.03

After growing up in a provincial little place, I've appreciated living in London these passed years more than I can say.

Whenever I go to my father's pub in the tiniest of villages in the home counties, the locals greet me with the usual "what news in London?" sort of speil. That's great and it is quite comforting to know that that sort of rural life is happening whilst I'm in London. However I don't think I could move back to that environment nor the provincialism of my mother's town.

Generally, I think the more people there are physically, the more one has to accept and/or tolerate the social differences between people. I think this is better suited to my personality than the sort of extended family ethic of village life.

10:18 / 01.05.03

I think I'm a city girl, but I wish I could drive so I could just go and *be in* the countryside sometimes...sigh.

12:46 / 01.05.03

I like cities, big cities. I figure the only two places I'd rather live are New York and London. Possibly also Paris. I like the feeling of being basically alone but in a hive of humanity. I like to hear all that buzz in the background as I go about my business. And now that I think about it, this is what I also like about Barbelith. Although ideally, I would like to have a small farm attached to my house. Just the size of a city lot would be fine, but it needs to get full sun. And I would like to not have to work, I would like to work on my farm and do other things. Can I do that? Can I define my ideal environment to include that I wouldn't need money to live? I suppose that actually I'm talking about *having* all the money that I would need to live my fabulous lifestyle...

gotham island fae

13:58 / 01.05.03

I grew up the first ten years of my life on a farm in the prairie-laden midwest of the United States. Having a backyard that consisted of over eighty acres, 50+ head of cattle, hundreds of trees and a beautiful, babbling brook, I must say that there is little in my childhood that compares to the imaginary adventures I had in that vast playground of GOD's whimsy.

Recently, I have taken a great liking to camping. Looking up into the sky and seeing the Milky Way pour itself across an expansive, unpolluted firmament that is clearer than crystal brought me a thrill that shivered my soul unlike any other.

All that said, I can't say that I have had a more incredible experience, in recent memory, than when I visited New York City for the first time, last December. Sitting in Central Park and feeling the strength of the trees/dryads there in the midst of the wonderful chaos of one of the coolest cities on the planet brought me every bit of the energy that climbing on the banks of my home stream did, when I was a kid. The lights of Time Square that evening with their whiter-than-any-sunlight intensity easily rivaled the splendor of the stars in the heavens for me.

Maybe I'm just wonder-struck as a "good-ol' boy gon' to tha Big City", but I cannot stop speaking the praises of the urban jungle, as of late. I imagine that my appreciation will balance out over time, as I experience more of the world's metropoli, in future travels. That and more horizon-expanding camping excursions will drive back home the grand nature of... nature, as well.

To answer the thread's queries, my ideal environment would be the urban chaos of any cosmopolitan metropolis, tempered by partnership with less-manufactured environments (eco-friendly industry) and easy access to the same for occasional (seasonal/sabbatical) reconnection to roots.

Yeah, I want it all. That's really not so much to ask.

Is it?

14:11 / 01.05.03

Gotta agree with Frater Frae, I want to live in the city of the future. Failing that, a small city by the sea suits me. (I'm looking at Brighton for my next move...)

Tryphena Absent

14:32 / 01.05.03

I feel utterly and completely uncomfortable in the countryside. I don't mean the suburbs, though I dislike them intensely, where it's quite dark and you occasionally hear owls hooting. I mean the deepest darkest depths of Devon. Right now I'm dreading my return to Cardiff because it's far too small, confining and a bit of a cultural wasteland and thus is the eternal suburb.

This odd hatred of silence, nature and all things green (and let's not forget that small minded inability to cope with urban living that the Countryside Alliance will promote again and again. We don't bother them, why do they bother us? Sorry KCC but I had to say it) seems to relate entirely to my background- I'm London born and bred, fields disturb me. I find the countryside far more manufactured than the city. London was built bit by bit and with an organic mindset but the countryside is full of fields and hedgerows- one giant factory!

I crave human life around me, people chattering, conversations passing me by that aren't gossip about someone I know/don't know/have heard of. So, yes, I'm chained to the sprawling English capital for the rest of my life.

18:31 / 01.05.03

OOooohh the Countryside Alliance- dont even fucking get me started on them. I live in the country, and i hardly think a foxhunting ban will ruin the very foundations of my culture and lifestyle.

Anyways, I would love to be a city girl- the anonymity of it appeals to me. But I think that living my whole life in the country has installed some kind of panic mode as soon as i get into a city.
When i went to London in January, I spent 5 days there, and after each one i was so exhausted. And i permenantly had that vague paniccy feeling in my spine, as if i had a huge piece of homework for the next day, yet was spending hours on Barbelith (wait a minute.. SHIT!)

Being so closed up perhaps makes me a little chlostrophobic, and having to sit for half an hour to travel about a mile- drives me insane!
Yet I hate the country with a passion- It is in its own way so restrictive. So few busses, so little to do, it all drives me insane.

So where is my ideal environment? Well i seem to be suspended inbetween these two hatreds, which makes me absolutely unsure. But i reakon a small city like Inverness would be pretty good (about 60/70,000 people i think). Enough to do, but not too much to think that you'd never get round to doing it all. And you can, on the whole, walk home on a saturday night/sunda morning without having to worry too much.