i don't like cities

[Lee Barner]

my definition of "city" may differ from yours. mine is if it has more than two stop lights, two service stations and one grocery store it is a city. went from my little town to southhaven, ms twice this weekend. once from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. spent the night at my sister's house in southeast Memphis. went back sunday morning and home again late sunday afternoon. grandson played in a little league tournament at the nicest baseball complex I have ever seen in southhaven, ms. covered bleachers, bull pens at each of the17 fields. major league type dugouts and of course over priced food and drink. had an early dinner sunday at a great Italian restaurant called Lonnie Tant's in southhaven. as good Italian food as I've had outside of Italy. still don't like cities but I don't miss my grandson playing baseball. lee

 

[rwsmith]

Tale of two cities

Cities are god-awful places. Only if a city really has something to offer will I visit one.

Washington, DC Museums, memorials, monuments, Nat. Gallery of Art, and a lot of history.

NYC - Museums, art galleries galore, great food, plays.

Other than this both cities stink and I hate them.

 

[Onomea]

So's Merle Haggard: Merle Haggard Big City - YouTube

 

[LVSteve]

my definition of "city" may differ from yours. mine is if it has more than two stop lights, two service stations and one grocery store it is a city.

That sounds like my extended family in Iowa. They put two lights in their town because of the "traffic" and the locals were still muttering about it 5 years later. They get baffled when visiting Las Vegas because the metropolitan sprawl here is likely bigger than their county. They think I'm pulling their leg when we drive somewhere for twenty minutes and they find out they are still in the same city.

 

[lawandorder]

Cites are not a good place to be and only going to get worse in the days ahead.

 

[pownal55]

My daughter lives in NYC when we visit my wife loves to go to "Time Square". People run up and down subway stairs, run up and down sidewalks with the attitude of the elite.
Then they retire and move out here where I am to get some rest from all that running.

 

[islamoradamark]

in the big city i always think somebody is watching u or ur car so they can steal something. always keeping aware of my surroundings. when i get home i sleep good because my mind is at ease

 

[cmort666]

I don't like any place where I can't walk into a bookstore and buy a serious history book.

I lived in Fremont, Ohio in the '90s. Any time I wanted to buy a book, I had to drive to Cleveland or Toledo. For me, that's the essence of pure misery.

 

[brucev]

With respect, we all have places where we feel most comfortable. I've always lived in the rural countryside as I have for most my life pastored small/medium sized rural churches. I enjoy being able to simply get out and meet people, visit, and even go hunting/shooting w/o any real problems.

I have children who live in major cities in the eastern U.S. I visit them as often as possible. I like the places where they live. One is outside of Atlanta. The other is in Manhattan. Where they live hunting and fishing, shooting, etc. are no possible. If you want to go shooting, you must go to a indoor range. Where they live prices for anything and everything are higher than what I'm used to. But, they make more money that I'm used to making. Guess it balances out.

Cities are where the opportunities are. That's where the schools and colleges and universities are located. That's where the jobs are found. It is understandable why. That's where the people are. IIRC, prior to about 1950 60-70% of the U.S. population lived on farms. As the American economy changed, people left the farms and headed for the factories, etc. in the cities. That's where the jobs were. Nowadays the overwhelming majority of people live in the cities. Sadly there just few opportunities in rural areas.

 

[tyusclan]

Sadly there just few opportunities in rural areas.

Depends on what your definition of "opportunities" is and what your priorities are. As you say, different people prefer different lifestyles. I live out in the country, in a basically rural county. I have a nice pond, some woodland, a garden, a few chickens, and I can walk out my back door and shoot all I want. I understand that I won't earn as much money as I could traveling or living in a city, but that's a compromise I'm willing to make.

I see people on several forums talking about their high-paying, high-stress jobs, and their dream is often to make enough money to retire to some acreage in the country, so they can have a garden and some chickens, and enjoy the peace and quiet. It seems to me that I'm already living the lifestyle they're dreaming about and killing themselves to get to.

 

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

The borough, in a farming community, I live near today pretty much meets the OP's definition of a "small town". No red lights but one stop sign in the "down town" city center, two service stations, but no grocery stores. It covers about 2 square miles and has a population of around 700 on a good day.

When I was growing up, it pretty much resembled Mayberry--population of about 500, everyone knows everyone on a first name basis and everyone pretty much knew everyone's business, had it own school; grades 1 thru 4 in the same class room, and when I graduated we had the biggest graduation class ever 19. Everyone was a hunter and at age 16 I can remember walking along one the main streets with a shotgun [to get to the area I going to hunt] during hunting season and no one gave it a second thought, target practiced out in the back yard, and as kid would hop the freight train for a ride the other side of town.

It's a shame that the place changed into the CITY it is today population of 700 people, large rural type school district where the kids are bused for miles to a large school system. I guess the old saying "You can never go home again," is true, things and you change and you can never recapture the past.

After being drafted and serving my military time I returned home and bought a rural home well outside of the city limits and still the enjoy pace small town living.

 

[Salty RI]

My daughter lives in NYC when we visit my wife loves to go to "Time Square". People run up and down subway stairs, run up and down sidewalks with the attitude of the elite.
Then they retire and move out here where I am to get some rest from all that running.

Tell me about it, we have to put up with them all summer, they come in droves, and every house that goes up for sale is bought by someone from NY or NJ, then they think they own the town, we had one guy come to a town meeting, he wants to stop boats from going by his house, he thinks he own's the ocean, everyone at the meeting were laughing so hard, they were falling off their chairs.

 

[Arik]

I LOVE cities. Or course they have their own problems but I generally love the atmosphere. I love going out, different bars, restaurants, neighborhoods. The fact that I can get Italian food if I make a left, Greek if I make a right or Indian if I go straight.

I can't do little towns or rural communities. It's nice, the quietness is a good change but it will drive me bonkers after a few days. Nothing to do. I go camping in a rural community a few times a year and as much as I like the fresh air of the forest and the quiet i have my fill after a day or two. It's like we'll I've been sitting here for a day and a half what to do now? Sit some more? No thanks! As far as people go, in the city, I just don't pay attention to them. I don't need to acknowledge everyone. I don't see it as rude just everyone is doing their own thing

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Old TexMex]

Lee, I don't care for them much either, I was stationed in D.C. long ago, LA too, then NOLA. Shook the dust off my boots and went very rural in Central America. Took me two years down there to get over those three cities.... Then I moved to semi rural Australia.

Mrs. OTM and I returned (from Australia) to my little home town(3,800 pop.) 15 years ago. City fathers just installed the third stoplight, and that drove a few of the natives off the island. The best thing about this place is that it comes with a moat, and a pretty reliable source of fresh fish. 10 miles to the nearest WalMart and Tractor Supply.

A lot of natives left to much smaller (2-300 pop.) towns on the mainland, but recently the Eagle Ford oil play has turned their quiet countryside into a heavy construction and tank truck zone with mini compressor stations and bright lights 24/7.

 

[gtk]

my definition of "city" may differ from yours. mine is if it has more than two stop lights, two service stations and one grocery store it is a city. went from my little town to southhaven, ms twice this weekend.

it wasn't too long ago, that Southaven would have qualified as a "small town" to you. Same with Olive Branch (where I live). The "memphis flight" has swelled NorthMS small towns, almost to its breaking point.

 

[moe smith]

Tell me about it, we have to put up with them all summer, they come in droves, and every house that goes up for sale is bought by someone from NY or NJ, then they think they own the town, we had one guy come to a town meeting, he wants to stop boats from going by his house, he thinks he own's the ocean, everyone at the meeting were laughing so hard, they were falling off their chairs.

Pinky ring, crooked nose, surrounded by a bunch of pensive guys with sunglasses?

 

[wbraswell]

I'm in the middle. I'm a suburbanite. When I was little, we lived in the country. There was a vast pasture behind our front yard. We were the first house on the street. Now, at the same location, the pasture is long gone, developed back when I was a teenager. I like to travel to big cities, especially ones I haven't been to before. I like the culture centers and things to see and do. I love going to the country, to witness nature's wonders and beautiful forests and waters. So, I guess that just makes me human, huh?

 

[snubbyfan]

We used to live in the Washington DC area about 4 miles from Crystal City. I sold Toyota parts and my wife worked in an office near the Pentagon as a Government contractor.
The day after 911 I dropped my wife off in a cloud of smoke coming off the Pentagon and I went to work selling parts to crackheads, bureaurcrats and terrorists. Then back to our overpriced tiny apartment with endless cockroaches and people screaming at eachother and banging around all night.
We had a seasonal campsite in the mountains of West Virginia near a quiet little town that we spent our weekends at to get away from the craziness and after 911 we decided to pull up roots and head to West Virginia.
We found a brick house with oak floor and trim, a full basement, finished attic and detached garage. The street number was the same as our campsite number. We'd been saving up to buy a house.
My wife said, "call the realtor and if it's under $50,000 we can swing it right now." I thought, "Yeah right, a nice, solid brick house for under $50,000." I called and the realtor told me $49,900. Okay message recieved and understood.
We bought the house and moved. Finding work was no problem, the local temp agency put us to work right away at temp to hire jobs working at area factories and warehouses.
Living in a small West Virginia town took some gettin' used to. There's no pizza delivery or Chinese take out. There's no fast food of any kind. Ya need to learn how to stock up and be self sufficient. We have 3 refrigerators, 2 freezers and quickly discovered that power outages are not uncommon here and sometimes last up to a week at a time. That makes a backup generator a necessity. We got a Dollar General store right here in town a couple of years ago so we can pick up some groceries and stuff occasionally. People out here wave to ya and not with their middle fingers.
Now I'm on disability and my wife works as a home health care aid right here in town walking from client to client.
It's quiet and peaceful here. There also lots of hiking and biking trails, rivers, streams and camping areas.
We're members at a local resort that I go to for physical therapy. They had a "Spring Break" party there last weekend with $1 keg beer, a live band and a wet t shirt contest around the indoor pool. Things got kinda wild and lotsa skin was exposed. Some of the people in the hot tub and sauna got very friendly with one another.
We'd never go back to the big city, best move we ever made.

 

[redlevel]

Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic;
but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
WJ Bryan

 

[Brian41]

We live in the country and have worked in the big city but the commute was worth while as home was our refuge. Now I'm retired and my wife is in the process of changing jobs to a smaller, slower paced city.
She wants to see DC and NYC and will likely do that some day but big cities make me uncomfortable especially the ones that won't allow me to exercise my second amendment rights. We went to Chicago once and was okay but once was enough for me.