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| A nice city walk |
When I was 15, we moved from a house on
a street of similar houses in the “burbs” to a 100 year old farm
house on 250 acres of land. Although I had grown up living in the
city, I took to country life quickly and found I loved it. I looked
after a neighbour's heifers in our barn, and worked on his farm in
the summer. To this day, I do not turn up my nose when we drive past
a field spread with manure; to me it is a pleasant reminder of living
in the country. This idyllic country life only lasted a year however,
when Dad got transferred to Halifax with his work and we were back in
the city. My love of the “Country Life” remained and my goal was
a house with land in the country. When I got married we had an
opportunity to rent a nice house in the country with lake frontage
for a ridiculous low price. I'm glad we were renting, because I hated
it. I think I went down to the lake twice, and every time I needed
something it involved a 30 minute drive to the city. That was when I
discovered that my idealistic dream of the country life was not what
I wanted – I had become a city dweller.
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| Traffic |
I discovered that I loved living in the
city and the closer to the heart of the city the better. There are a
couple of factors causing this. One was that I like to walk. I walk
to get groceries, I walk to take pictures, I walk to explore, I walk
to visit friends and family. Walking in the country was usually a
walk to "walk"
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| How to totally mess up a busy intersection. |
The other factor is I love being around
activity. I love walking through crowds of people, I love traffic, I
love ships coming and going, I love construction. The hustle &
bustle of the city that bothers many, I find interesting. Although
not a particularly “Social” person, I love watching and observing
people. The city is the place to do this. I enjoy walking through
peaceful forests and country meadows, but my favourite walks are
exploring cities.
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| Lots of people to observe |
When my son moved to Ottawa, he lived
right downtown and I loved visiting him, and his move to Toronto puts
my visits right in the middle of one of Canada's most vibrant cities
and I love spending time there. We visited friends in Vancouver who
for a while lived in an apartment right in that city's heart and I
immediately knew I'd love living that close to things. I found that
when I travel I gravitate to rentals in the heart of cities or towns
all over the world. I love being able to walk to city markets and
finding local wine shops. Regis says I can somehow “smell”
markets and always manage to find interesting markets to explore.
When I retired I spent three months in China in an apartment in the
Suzhou and could walk anywhere. We had an apartment right on the
Danube in Budapest, another just outside the wall on the river in
Chester UK, one right in the middle of the walled city of Lecce
Italy, and on the waterfront in Auckland. I loved them all.
I've discovered that I have become a
city person and love life in the city. The country is nice to visit,
but the city is where it's really at.
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