# How do people not understand wanting to live in the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908 "2013-10-10T18:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/121 "2015-03-19T13:53:55Z")
I’m clearly a country person, I raise pigs as a hobby, so I think my credentials are solid. But even I will admit that whip-poor-wills are fucking annoying. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/122 "2015-03-19T14:26:42Z")
I was a little surprised to see this zombie of mine shuffling around! I will admit I could live in the City for a month or two if I didn’t have two dogs. The dogs love being in the woods and it would break my heart to see them cooped up so long. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/123 "2015-03-19T14:57:17Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > This has been my experience with country folk. > > Passing through? Need a quick hand? Salt of the fucking earth. They will get out their tractor and pull you out of a ditch with their own hands if need be. They will make fun of you to your face while they do it, and they won’t hurry, but they’ll go out of their way to help you, especially if you are a woman. > > **Moving in? Fuggedaboutit. They’ll make sure you are “the new people” for _years_ to come**. ☹ Becoming that way in Suburbia, too, now. Seems almost any place that people stay long term is like that. The bigger the city that the suburbs are around, tho, the less I seem to see of that. YMMV, of course. I would love to be smack dab in the middle of some rurals somewhere, but the economics of things (work, shopping, etc…) keeps me close to cities. Still, most of all, I like options. In a couple of hours at most, I can be in a very big city or in the middle of truly nowhere. (I’m probably repeating for the 25th time what has already been posted, I didn’t read beyond who I quoted yet) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/124 "2015-03-19T15:53:41Z")
I’ve lived 25 minutes from the nearest grocery store, an hour from the nearest Best Buy or movie theater. No, thanks. I wants my creature comforts, and I want them close enough that it’s not a day trip to go enjoy them. ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/125 "2015-03-19T17:45:33Z")
I know how gauche and Biedermeier this is, but I’ve done all three and I prefer the suburbs. Stuff is close by, we have city water and sewer, it’s quiet, we have a garage so no carting shopping bags to the door in the rain and then up two flights of stairs, no rednecks, no gang-bangers. As far as the country, water is a big problem. My mom and my mother-in-law have to buy those huge jugs of water because their ground water is undrinkable (and in my mom’s case, so disgusting you can’t even wash clothing in it). No cable service, just the dish (which I’ve had and it’s not all that). Medical care–we’ll you’d die before you made it to the hospital. Boredom because nothing to do that’s not miles and miles away. Last to be reconnected if the power goes out. People all up in your business all the time. Live and let live, if you love the country more power to you. But it’s just not my style. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/126 "2015-03-19T22:01:28Z")
It’s city life for me. Well, Atlanta, which isn’t necessarily a city like New York or Philly (I grew up on the Jersey Shore, so those were the closest cities - also got plenty of nature by living 10 mins from the beach itself, though would definitely consider it the 'burbs). I love just having everything close by, in addition to those ‘events’ spoken over up thread - festivals, art museums, botanical gardens, live theater, sporting events, etc. In addition to a ridiculous amount of ethnic restaurants very, very close at hand. Lot of city folk do love the country, but for a weekend jaunt. They always, though, think I’m crazy when I tell them that I’m not all that into nature. I’ve been to rural areas in the South (Alabama, Georgia), out West (Wyoming, Montana) - it’s pretty, but it doesn’t sing to me and I’d rather be with all the folks, noise, and stuff. If you like it out there, that’s fine. It just never will be for me. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/127 "2015-03-19T23:26:42Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > More quiet. More fresh air. More privacy. More nature. More beauty. More peace. Thing is, all of these are subjective, even “fresh” air! (FWIW, I agree with you.) ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/128 "2015-03-20T04:05:28Z")
There are a lot of things I like about the _idea_ of living in the country: I’ve never been overly comfortable around people, and I covet my privacy and solitude. Even the very small number of people I count as friends live far away from me, partly because those relationships were all formed back when I lived somewhere different from where I live now. But the problem with the country for me is its conspicuous lack of mass transit. I could never voluntarily live anywhere that having an operational vehicle has a direct impact on my quality of life. Forget about “creature comforts,” I could never choose to live somewhere that, if my car broke down, I couldn’t get to work, or buy groceries, or go to the doctor. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/129 "2015-03-20T11:20:35Z")
Give me a Whippoorwill calling all night vs neighbors fighting, babies crying, sirens and traffic noise. The bird is soothing to me, the human noises are not. But then I’m something of a hermit… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/130 "2015-03-20T12:03:43Z")
Mostly this thread is people who live in the country not understanding people who don’t want to live there. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/131 "2015-03-20T12:45:17Z")
Green Acres is the place to be. Farm livin’ is the life for me. Land spreadin’ out so far and wide Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/132 "2015-03-20T15:44:46Z")
I tend to think that there’s a sort of rural life - urban life continuum, with Jeremiah Johnson types on one end, and people whose families have never lived anywhere but Manhattan for 4 generations on the other. Most people fall somewhere along that line. I’ve personally known people who: [ul] [li]Are so rural-oriented that they want to live miles from the nearest small town.[/li][li]People who like small-town life, but don’t want to live in the countryside, per-se[/li][li]People who want to live in the countryside… not too far from the big city.[/li][li]People who really like the outer suburbs[/li][li]People who like the inner suburbs.[/li][li]People who like a more urban existence than inner suburbs, but not quite like lower Manhattan.[/li][li]People who would think somewhere as packed and crazy as Hong Kong is awesome.[/li][/ul] Me? I can understand a lot of the draw of the countryside; not living on top of other people, having natural wonders at your fingertips, a slower pace of life, less noise, less pollution, etc… But at the same time, there are aspects of cities that I don’t know if I could do without- interesting and good restaurants, interesting entertainments, specialty shops, parcel delivery on my schedule, fast emergency services, many more employment opportunities, better schools (by and large), and nobody really being up in my business in the way that small towns and rural areas seem to encourage. I guess I’m a suburbanite at heart; I couldn’t do Manhattan or even high-rise living in uptown Dallas or Houston. But nor would I want to live 15 miles outside of Columbus or Corsicana either. And given my druthers, I think I’d prefer to live more inward than outward; while I live in the “suburbs”, I’m in the inner ones, so I’m closer to downtown Dallas than I am to Plano or most other suburban cities. I get a lot of the benefits of city living (albeit at the end of a short drive) with most of the suburban benefits as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/133 "2015-03-20T18:35:25Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > I have lived in the City (Atlanta, inside the perimeter, and outside the perimeter; the city-without-a-capital-c (Savannah, mostly,) small towns, suburbs, and the country, and except for the suburbs, I can understand why anyone would want to live in any of those areas. (And really, I can understand the suburbs as a compromise. Just not as a first choice.) > > I think that my husband and I have finally hit an absolutely Solomonic solution to the Green Acres dilemma. He wanted a lot of land, privacy, rural life… and access to great schools and high speed internet. I wanted some space and privacy, but I could give a rat’s ass about rural pursuits - my outdoorsy inclinations are satisfied by having a drink on the patio now and again - and I wanted access to great schools for the kids. We got very, very lucky, and found almost 5 acres of land on a dirt road, in the school district we wanted, at a price we could afford, zoned as we wanted. And the “back” of the land has frontage on the bypass around town. Our new home will be three minutes from the grocery store, and five from the kids’ schools. It’s a college town, so there’s more going on than the 35,000 person population would suggest, and we’re still close enough to take a day or weekend trip to Atlanta or Savannah or Charleston or St. Augustine. The kids and dogs will have plenty of room to roam, but we won’t be too far away for them to participate in school extracurriculars or audition for the city theater. The hospital is a good-sized regional hospital, with basically every service we hope we’d ever need. The high school offers more than two dozen AP classes, and joint enrollment at the university, and there are two 2-year colleges here in town also. And no, this town doesn’t offer as many shopping options as a larger city, but I can buy mostly anything I need, any day of the week. Since this thread has been bumped anyway… We moved a little more than a year ago, and except for the grumpy old codger next door? Our little urban/rural spread is exactly as we hoped. Dirt road/no traffic? Check. Room for the dogs and kids to run and play? Yep, even including a few wooded acres and a little creek for cooling off the toes mid-summer. We can see the stars at night, and listen for the pair of owls in the woods, and have a bonfire and a beer with friends. Two minutes to the grocery store, three minutes to the elementary and middle schools, five minutes to the high school. County taxes only, reliable internet (not great, but as adequate as what we had “in town,”) cable, package delivery, etc. Still close enough to have pizza delivery if we want. Perfect. And the city is large enough to have a reputable community theater and symphony, a large library, a decent hospital, plus a large university and two state technical colleges. The public schools have good resources and extracurricular activities, there’s a big water park for summer fun, and we’re only an hour from the beach or the airport, two or three hours away from Big Cities (Atlanta, Jacksonville,) and four hours from the mountains. Perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/134 "2015-03-20T19:46:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Someone said this once, and I find it rings true - I feel safer at night in the city/suburbs then I do in the country. That’s because I’ve been an adult in only cities - I know how to deal with the city dangers. I’m not crazy about country dangers.( This is a big one. In the country, no one can hear you scream, and any help a lot farther away. I spend time in the woods–even miniature urban forests–when I can. I hike, I hunt, I commune with Gaia. But I’m not living in the country. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/135 "2015-03-20T20:24:17Z")
there is much to make a person’s reality. what point in time, location in the country, state and county can all determine things. there are bad big cities and good. even in good big cities there might be a bad part of tow. a small town may change from a small dump to a nice place. when in your life, when in the economy can make an environment better or worse. in the country you could be 1 to 2 hours from a hospital by speeding ambulance. you could live within earshot of irrigation pumps that go 24/7 during the growing season. lots of good and bad situations in many environments. ---
**Author:** ![alphareign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@alphareign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphareign)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/136 "2015-10-28T07:36:03Z")
The scents are another reason to live in the country; freshly mowed hay, in my state field mint, flowers, and trees. Lovely! ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/137 "2015-10-28T09:51:02Z")
What is cool is having a relative live in the country with some land so one can go and visit and do things like ride dirt bikes or hunt. But most of us need to live in cities where the jobs are better. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/138 "2015-10-28T11:08:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I like living in the country. But I want my shopping and medical care no more than 20 miles away. Me too but there will be trade offs > [@Anaamika](#): > > Moving in? Fuggedaboutit. They’ll make sure you are “the new people” for _years_ to come. ☹ So very true unless you have one of their family names > [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > I started to resent being subject to arbitrary rules put in place by the city I was paying taxes to. Who decided 3 dogs were acceptable but 4 were excessive? Why can’t I park my own truck on my own property? > > Out here I get to decide these things for myself, and I can build a chicken coop if I feel like it, or a cob goat shed, or a geodesic dome garage. > . yeah too many stupid asp rules in the city. Cant park on your lawn, cant have a camper in your yard, cant do this and cant do that. Oh please. > [@Sattua](#): > > Wells are a pain in the ass, septic systems are a pain in the ass, propane tanks are a pain in the ass, being too far from grocery and drug stores is a pain in the ass. Also, the isolation scares me. > > I wouldn’t ever want to live in a city either though. Crowded, dirty, and noisy. I feel safe in them though because someone is always watching what’s happening to you. Guess you could say I grew up in the burbs as I did not grow up right in the city…the houses were not too close together. I visit the"inner" city occasionally and look at how far apart (not) the houses are…HOW can you live one inch from the neighbor? ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/139 "2015-10-28T11:09:22Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > Man did not come from the woods. Man came from the savannah, a grassland ecosystem characterized by trees spaced far enough apart that the canopy does not close. Typical savannah features tall grass, such that evolution favors an upright posture. In fact, many palaeoanthropologists believe that leaving the woods was the speciation catalyst that caused humans to split off from other primates. > > I often see people romanticize forests, the open prairie, the sea, or other stereotypical representations of nature, saying “ah, this is where we humans truly belong.” But no, they’re usually wrong. Still man came from the outside…in the clear air. When I spend a length of time outside and then come back in I yearn to go back out. I believe it is quite addicting out there, therefore I stay inside! 🆒 > [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > We have a spring-fed well with the best water I’ve ever tasted, and we haven’t had to do any maintenance on the well system in the 10 years we’ve been here. All we’ve had to pay for water is what we pay for power to run the pump. We have a septic system that we get pumped out every other year but which otherwise functions about the same as a city sewer system, once again costing only the power to run the pump. Our propane tank gets filled automatically by the guy from the co-op when it runs low. Yeah and all that costs. Especially the propane. We have natural gas and sure glad because propane has to be paid on delivery here. Lately I hear the propane prices are on the down slide but back in the day 300-500 bucks up front is a lot of money in my world. Natural gas allows the prices to go low for the warmer months. Haven’t had any maintenance on the septic system in 10 years? Just wait. Hopefully your system is somewhat new…a new one is big time costly Well? Hope that is somewhat new too…those prices increase every day…Plus the possiblity of the water becoming contaminated. I like the country living but the city has its advantages too. > [@Anaamika](#): > > Mosquitoes everywhere, it takes you 20 minutes to drive to the grocery store, you can’t walk anywhere except out in the woods, you don’t get plowed out quickly, your roads aren’t repaired as quickly, your street signs are vague and sometimes you don’t see one for miles. > > I feel safer at night in the city/suburbs then I do in the country. > > When I am old, perhaps I’ll move somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Right now, I want to go to the theatre, go to the Y after work, have a short commute, be able to do several errands in my lunch hour, etc. > > What they are, almost universally, are _white_( Ya dont have mosquitoes in the city? Seems like they were there when I was growing up In the country the people are all interrelated and streets are family names. Church people, yeah mostly and I learned many of them are quite prejudice and back stabbing. Going to church on Sundays to repent all the crap they did during the week. But the good ones are truly good and they accept me for what I am. Yeah, I grew up in a quite diverse city and now if you see a non white person some wonder where is their gun and knives OR how soon someone is going to shoot them with all the violence the country is experiencing these days. I can imagine a lot of folks pointing and whispering when they see them Have your own plow-problem resolved, if the road is not cleared, complain about it on the phone Walk in the woods-no problem there Our roads get fixed all the time, and again, call to complain Street signs are a problem though and the house addresses too but you can stop at anyone’s house and they go out of the way to help I know the safety of the lights of the city but there are too many criminals in the city compared to the percentages in the country.In the city you walk outside and the whole world is watching…not out in the country so much. That darn grocery store IS too far away! ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908/140 "2015-10-28T14:17:31Z")
The country is great, to visit. or to spend a couple of weeks in the summer as a kid. Otherwise, give me city life any day! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-not-understand-wanting-to-live-in-the-country/670908.md?page=8)