Do you love big cities?

[Red Cat]

No. No kids, not having any. In our 30s and not big fans of 24/7 noise and busy-ness, or having no space or land, or the problems that come with living in city centres. Nice to be able to opt in and out as mentioned earlier, in our case via 20 minutes on a tram.

That was a bit reductionist, of course not everyone who lives in surburbia has kids, but having kids means you may live in a different kind of place to what you would choose if you didn't have kids. It doesn't necessarily tell you much about your preferences unconstrained by the needs of children or financial realities etc.

 

[TruXta]

Lived in London for 20 years, could never say I loved it. Made the most of it. And left. I do, however, love the countryside.

As someone said, people make cities, and I think my tolerance of people has a threshold number. It’s around 25.

I’ve been to a lot of countries and, if flying in, that almost always involves a big city. Myself and gf invariably argue at this point and find the quickest way out of the city. We rarely argue but it’s virtually guaranteed when landing in a big city.

I do find the comments about being scared of the countryside funny. Maybe they’re meant to be. But on the day of the eclipse in 1999 I was at an outdoor free party in a farmers field in Cornwall. There were only about 25 (see) people there that the farmer had rounded up from the local campsites. But one guy was this huge 6ft plus bloke from Birmingham who looked like he really shouldn’t be scared of anything. He was genuinely scared of everything to do with the openness of where we were and complained about all the insects and nature. He was funny as fuck without trying to be. Though I was off my head at the time.

I think that's a fairly common reaction for people for whom the countryside is a foreign country. Just simple stuff like how to walk safely through a forest can become a real challenge.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

That was a bit reductionist, of course not everyone who lives in surburbia has kids, but having kids means you may live in a different kind of place to what you would choose if you didn't have kids. It doesn't necessarily tell you much about your preferences unconstrained by the needs of children or financial realities etc.

I think 'suburbia' is changing much more quickly today. It has to accommodate and service single people. The original suburbs of London have been homes to single folk and better off families only for Decades now. Look at Ealing for example. I lived there briefly as a single in a huge house converted into 'flatlets' with a large shared garden no-one ever used. I actually quite enjoyed single life at the end of the Central line, but come Sunday it was definitely suburbia unless you happened to be Australian, Kiwi, or South African. Then London was just London.

 

[Leafster]

I think that's a fairly common reaction for people for whom the countryside is a foreign country. Just simple stuff like how to walk safely through a forest can become a real challenge.

I remember going on a walk with a friend. We were chatting away, I climbed over a stile, carried on walking and suddenly realised he wasn't there. He'd freaked out as there were cows in the field. They were at least 100m away. No sign of a bull or calves and they hadn't taken any interest in us so I didn't think anything of it.

 

[Red Cat]

I think 'suburbia' is changing much more quickly today. It has to accommodate and service single people today. The original suburbs of London have been homes to single folk and better off families only for Decades now. Look at Ealing for example. I lived there briefly as a single in a huge house converted into 'flatlets' with a large shared garden no-one ever used. I actually quite enjoyed single life at the end of the Central line, but come Sunday it was definitely suburbia unless you happened to be Australian, Kiwi, South African. Then London was just London.

My inlaws live in Ealing. When I lived in Brixton (Victorian suburb) Ealing seemed very 'suburban'. Now I live in surburban Brum, Ealing seems very London

 

[Red Cat]

I remember going on a walk with a friend. We were chatting away, I climbed over a stile, carried on walking and suddenly realised he wasn't there. He'd freaked out as there were cows in the field. They were at least 100m away. No sign of a bull or calves and they hadn't taken any interest in us so I didn't think anything of it.

Cows are big. And they stare

 

[Orang Utan]

I'm glad i now live in a relatively small city (compared to London) and that i only have to ride my bike for ten minutes to see cows, sheep, fields, green hills etc. Easy access to nature is very good for one's mental health, even essential, which is why the best cities have good parks.

 

[TruXta]

I remember going on a walk with a friend. We were chatting away, I climbed over a stile, carried on walking and suddenly realised he wasn't there. He'd freaked out as there were cows in the field. They were at least 100m away. No sign of a bull or calves and they hadn't taken any interest in us so I didn't think anything of it.

I'd be wary of bulls for sure, but cows not so much. I was really thinking of the simple mechanics of walking in my post though. If you've never walked across a non engineered surface you can struggle walking over natural ground surfaces.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'd be wary of bulls for sure, but cows not so much. I was really thinking of the simple mechanics of walking in my post though. If you've never walked across a non engineered surface you can struggle walking over natural ground surfaces.

Surely city people have walked on grass before? There's plenty of it in cities

 

[TruXta]

Surely city people have walked on grass before? There's plenty of it in cities

Sure, but I'm talking about proper forest surfaces with moss, undergrowth, rocks and all kinds of stuff.

 

[Leafster]

Cows are big. And they stare

One of the reasons they stare is they want you to feed them the rotten apples they can't reach. At least, that's what happened with the Dexters in one of my brother's fields when I visited him at Christmas.

 

[Orang Utan]

Sure, but I'm talking about proper forest surfaces with moss, undergrowth, rocks and all kinds of stuff.

Ah ok, we got all that in our local park, growing up. It was allegedly the inspiration for Tolkien's The Shire as he lived nearby.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

My inlaws live in Ealing. When I lived in Brixton (Victorian suburb) Ealing seemed very 'suburban'. Now I live in surburban Brum, Ealing seems very London

I like the debate about why most of London's creatives' were raised in the suburbs. Everyone seems to think the cool people have to live in Zone 1. There is an obvious reason for London's creative demographic - lies.



My early years were well healed Birmingham Victorian suburbs. The posh bit of Acocks Green. Huge house with lodgers (it was already happening) and 4 tier garden. Family went from there to a 2 bed prefab bungalow on the Welsh borders with a couple of caravans and about 30 acres. Somehow, miraculously, it just about worked for a family of 6, couple of other young families, city kids during school breaks... quite a busy 24/7 place compared to Acocks Green!

 

[Red Cat]

I'm glad i now live in a relatively small city (compared to London) and that i only have to ride my bike for ten minutes to see cows, sheep, fields, green hills etc. Easy access to nature is very good for one's mental health, even essential, which is why the best cities have good parks.

I think so. I still miss London and there's many times when I think how did I end up living in a place like this (sorry dad!) but it's actually countryside that helps my state of mind these days not being busy doing stuff or being surrounded by other people being busy doing stuff. Today its very very windy here though, so I'm not going anywhere.

 

[weltweit]

Oh, I forgot, I lived in Cardiff for a few years, does Cardiff count as a big city?

I liked it iirc ..

 

[Puddy_Tat]

But one guy was this huge 6ft plus bloke from Birmingham who looked like he really shouldn’t be scared of anything. He was genuinely scared of everything to do with the openness of where we were and complained about all the insects and nature. He was funny as fuck without trying to be.

 

[Poot]

I grew up in the suburbs of a town which was entirely made of suburbs. Once I discovered that some places have an accessible city centre I was pretty hooked tbh. I still get a buzz from a big city. I feel utterly exhilarated when I arrive there. Train drawing into big station with loads of platforms - best feeling in the world.

I got bored of long commutes in London tbf, but I also get freaked out by countryside a bit. My parents live in the arse end of nowhere and I spend all night wondering what the noises are instead of sleeping and thinking about how if we were murdered in our beds no one would know.

 

[Red Cat]

I grew up in the suburbs of a town which was entirely made of suburbs. Once I discovered that some places have an accessible city centre I was pretty hooked tbh. I still get a buzz from a big city. I feel utterly exhilarated when I arrive there. Train drawing into big station with loads of platforms - best feeling in the world.

Only just noticed this is travel and world forum.

I love that arriving at a big station too Poot Can't wait til the kids are older and I can explore the world in my own way again.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I'm glad i now live in a relatively small city (compared to London) and that i only have to ride my bike for ten minutes to see cows, sheep, fields, green hills etc. Easy access to nature is very good for one's mental health, even essential, which is why the best cities have good parks.

The thing is that I like nature - I love forests, coasts, mountains, I’ll walk for hours in that shit happily. But most of England’s “countryside” I don’t find any more natural than an industrial estate in Tottenham. Farms and fields aren’t natural and I actually feel more constrained than in a city. I like the hedges but that’s it.

 

[Dr. Furface]

Ew those big cosmopolitan cities with all them forriners, ugh!

 

[Orang Utan]

The thing is that I like nature - I love forests, coasts, mountains, I’ll walk for hours in that shit happily. But most of England’s “countryside” I don’t find any more natural than an industrial estate in Tottenham. Farms and fields aren’t natural and I actually feel more constrained than in a city. I like the hedges but that’s it.

agree it's not 'natural' but it's still lovely. My favourite countryside is the Dales and there's not much natural about the land cleared for sheep farming, but those bleak moors and those dry stone walls are lovely to look at.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Anything bigger than Manchester can fuck off tbh.

Anything that ISN''T Manchester can fuck off, tbh. Especially so if it's south of Watford gap, where all the freaks live.

 

[TruXta]

The thing is that I like nature - I love forests, coasts, mountains, I’ll walk for hours in that shit happily. But most of England’s “countryside” I don’t find any more natural than an industrial estate in Tottenham. Farms and fields aren’t natural and I actually feel more constrained than in a city. I like the hedges but that’s it.

Coming from a country where there's a strict right to roam and 95% of the country is uninhabited and unproductive, England is a never ending back garden basically. Beautiful but all too often inaccessible.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Was always well wary of the countryside as my parents never took us there, so I guessed it was all private farmland and off limits to us oiks.
Spiral Tribe showed me that it is open and ours to enjoy and I’ve been moving more and more in to it ever since

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

From my bedroom window right now. 1950s council houses (homes for heroes), proper well built family homes with two or three bedrooms, back gardens for growing flowers or veg, park to the right, little bit of heaven. It really is everything I ever dreamed of.

 

[maomao]

I'm not quite sure what Suburbia is. I lived in Hackney for many years. It's a suburb but I don't think anyone would call it suburbia. Now I live in Romford, a sattelite town with a lot of the same problems as the inner city. It's a busy town with lots of shops and amenities. The nightlife's not for me but it's not boring. Is it suburbia? Surely most people in the world live in the suburbs of cities anyway?

 

[maomao]

proper well built family homes with two or three bedrooms, back gardens for growing flowers or veg, park to the right, little bit of heaven. It really is everything I ever dreamed of

Me too. I grew up in a little terraced house with a garden and during the couple of decades that wasn't available to me I really felt deprived. All the interesting city things in the world couldn't replace me having a genuine little tiny bit of outdoors to call my own.

 

[Orang Utan]

Look:
View attachment 160119

From my bedroom window right now. 1950s council houses (homes for heroes), proper well built family homes with two or three bedrooms, back gardens for growing flowers or veg, park to the right, little bit of heaven. It really is everything I ever dreamed of.

We lived in the inner city when the kids were little (up to age 6), but I found it really hard. I couldn’t let the kids play out and crime was high (when bad things were happening to neighbours like muggings, plus drug problem in the house across the road and they’d leave needles about). I found it really stressful especially with small kids.

Anyway to each their own, it’s a good job we’re all different!

I hadn't realised that this was suburbia.
I'm virtually your neighbour, but i would have put down 'inner city' if asked on a form. It's less than two miles to town!

 

[Edie]

I hadn't realised that this was suburbia.
I'm virtually your neighbour, but i would have put down 'inner city' if asked on a form. It's less than two miles to town!

True true matter of perspective I guess

 

[Edie]

Me too. I grew up in a little terraced house with a garden and during the couple of decades that wasn't available to me I really felt deprived. All the interesting city things in the world couldn't replace me having a genuine little tiny bit of outdoors to call my own.

Feel the same.