I think I got lazy (Page 1/2)
MidEngineManiac MAR 08, 04:56 AM
Been in the new place a week today, and until I had them back I didn't realize how constantly irritated I was by not having the little things that go along with town living (at population 10k this doesn't really qualify as a city. It's still small-town quiet)

24-hour stores
Flat-rate $10 cab ride anywhere in town. Taxi's available without a 48-hour notice reservation.
Everything is in one town. No more driving all day between 5 or 6 villages to get everything I need or want.
Cable internet (Actual SPEED )
Shopping choices, no more 1-store-fits-all, or pick between 2 options.
Closeness of everything. Smokes really are a 10-minute pop-out.
Lake and river and sporting goods and bait and boat rental are actually all close to each other. WOW, what a concept !

And....and....and.

All those things that make rural living a daily exercise in frustration, logistics and pre-planning are gone...It's NOT an extra hour now if I forgot the milk or bread. I still got the river, I still got a lake, I still got a decent yard and peace-and-quiet. The place is big enough in time I'll set up an airgun range down the hallway (I got 40 feet, plenty for pistol). Archery shop and range is 15 minute walk away. The place is big enough I am parking the bike inside which gives me a heated garage-play area (STILL can't believe Kim is letting me get away with that). I got a proper "man-cave" room again for the printers and print post-processing with room to get into casting without having to change the workbench over from printing.

So really, I didnt loose anything with the move quality-of-life wise but gained a whole hell of a lot in terms of convivence and time. Funny, when I was forced by logistics back into cities in 2010 all I wanted or cared about really was to get out of them and back to a rural life with nobody around to bother me. Took 8 years of trying and once I had it, I found I didnt really want it that much anymore. It's too much trouble for not enough return. Pure laziness.

Still cant see myself going back to a big city though, there IS such a thing as too damn many people !!

[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 03-08-2022).]

82-T/A [At Work] MAR 08, 09:18 AM

quote
Originally posted by MidEngineManiac:

Been in the new place a week today, and until I had them back I didn't realize how constantly irritated I was by not having the little things that go along with town living (at population 10k this doesn't really qualify as a city. It's still small-town quiet)

24-hour stores
Flat-rate $10 cab ride anywhere in town. Taxi's available without a 48-hour notice reservation.
Everything is in one town. No more driving all day between 5 or 6 villages to get everything I need or want.
Cable internet (Actual SPEED )
Shopping choices, no more 1-store-fits-all, or pick between 2 options.
Closeness of everything. Smokes really are a 10-minute pop-out.
Lake and river and sporting goods and bait and boat rental are actually all close to each other. WOW, what a concept !

And....and....and.

So really, I didnt loose anything with the move quality-of-life wise but gained a whole hell of a lot in terms of convivence and time. Funny, when I was forced by logistics back into cities in 2010 all I wanted or cared about really was to get out of them and back to a rural life with nobody around to bother me. Took 8 years of trying and once I had it, I found I didnt really want it that much anymore. It's too much trouble for not enough return. Pure laziness.

Still cant see myself going back to a big city though, there IS such a thing as too damn many people !!





Totally get that. I think the only solution is to have an apartment in the city, and a nice house in a sprawling community. I mean, I don't know why everyone doesn't do this... (joking).

Yeah, I understand what you're feeling.

When I was a kid, my parents moved every 4 years, so I had a lot of different homes. As a young kid, until I was about 7, I lived in downtown Washington D.C.. I used to open my window at night and fall asleep to the sounds of the taxis and cars honking and traffic. Oddly enough, there's no "Sleep Sounds" on Alexa that does this... hahah... they have thunderstorms, beach sounds, whatever... but no "city sounds." hahah.

Literally 100 feet from my parents apartment was the Woodley Park DC subway, and I used to take the handicapped elevator up and down when I was 7 when my mom wasn't looking. Crazy, because I can't imagine my daughter at 7 wandering into the D.C. subway without me. But it was the early 80s before the whole Adam Walsh thing.


But yeah, there's a positive and a negative to living in the city... and the same for living out in the country. When you're in the country, you automatically have more work to do. You're in a house, first of all... so there's maintenance of the house, and of the property. But you can have more projects and more land to do with as you please. In the city... you have an apartment.


There's really no "in between" either. I mean, there is... but it's a lot like buying a minivan. It doesn't make a good SUV, and certainly doesn't make a good car. I'm talking about town-houses. They are the worst thing in the world. Unless we're talking about "row houses" in DC or something... but town-houses are just crap. You get none of the benefits of the suburbs, and none of the benefits of the city.

Townhouses almost always exist in the suburbs. It's all the negatives of city living (small space) with none of the benefits, and all the negatives of the suburbs (farther away) with none of the benefits. Ugh...


Anyway, I could ramble for hours on this...


My ideal situation is to own two houses...

1. A vintage row house w/ alley in the back (for parking) in either downtown Washington D.C., or downtown Richmond Virginia.
2. A vintage craftsman with 1/2-3/4 acre of land near Miami.


I do own a home near Miami, but it's not a craftsman, just a normal late 80s ranch style Mediterranean. Which is still awesome... and I love that house. But every year that I've not lived in it, I grow less and less attached to it.
A_Lonely_Potato MAR 08, 11:54 AM
When I "was" a kid(18 now, technically an adult ) I had to move every 3-4yrs as well due to my dad being in Coast Guard. He retired and settled us down here in small town Michigan(8k residents, so very similar to you MidEngineManiac.) Started out in Detroit, then Houston TX, little town Port Angeles WA, 30k pop. town in CA, then back here to MI. I like being somewhat near larger cities, but definitely not in them. I'm happy with small towns like where I am, but I don't want to be in the extreme rural type of living. I do find city night sounds very comforting though.
olejoedad MAR 08, 12:04 PM
I live in the country.
It's so quiet I can hear horses from the stable 1/2 mile from me.

After years of working in industrial environments, quiet is very relaxing.

Y'all can have your small towns and cities.
2.5 MAR 08, 02:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by olejoedad:

I live in the country.
It's so quiet I can hear horses from the stable 1/2 mile from me.

After years of working in industrial environments, quiet is very relaxing.

Y'all can have your small towns and cities.



I'd like my country back too.
.
.

hey, that statement means multiple things
maryjane MAR 08, 05:57 PM
I love my secluded rural living..45 miles from the 4th largest city in the US and 20 minutes away from Home Depot, Lowes, furniture stores, big NEW grocery stores in Kingwood and Humble.
10 minutes gets me to a walmart supercenter, an H-E-B, a McCoys Builders Supply, about 3-4auto parts, over a dozen restaurants and fast food places, and the hospitals. The only traffic I hear are big trucks crossing the bridge 1/2 mile away and a nightly train, faintly in the distance if the wind is calm..

My next locale will be similar. 👍

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-08-2022).]

Patrick MAR 08, 06:08 PM

quote
Originally posted by A_Lonely_Potato:

I do find city night sounds very comforting though.



You like sirens??!!!

At one time I owned a home on a through street one block away from the local firehall. (Apparently it was the busiest firehall in all of Vancouver.) All day and all night long, those firetrucks would be lumbering by my place with their sirens wailing. I lived there for 18 years. It. Was. Awful.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-08-2022).]

blackrams MAR 08, 06:53 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

You like sirens??!!!

At one time I owned a home on a through street one block away from the local firehall. (Apparently it was the busiest firehall in all of Vancouver.) All day and all night, those firetrucks would go lumbering by my place with their sirens wailing. I lived there for 18 years. It. Was. Awful.




Gunshots and sirens don't do a thing for me or my peace of mind but, to each their own I guess.

Rams
maryjane MAR 08, 07:46 PM
Something in me has always made me want to live kind of close to a railroad track. Not a city track but one out in the boonies, where a scheduled highball freight or passenger line would run.



Of course, I would very much like to live in Boca Chica Texas too if it weren't for the hurricane risk..

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-08-2022).]

MidEngineManiac MAR 08, 08:51 PM

quote
Originally posted by blackrams:


Gunshots and sirens don't do a thing for me or my peace of mind but, to each their own I guess.

Rams



So long as I am the one causing those, I don't mind them so much.