[lenjan]

I am trying to find someone -- anyone -- who can tell me one positive aspect of living in a small town.

I am a lifelong city kid. By this time next week, I will be a permanent resident of a town of 13,000. It's the kind of town where you can walk to the butcher and the pharmacy and they'll run a tab for you. (What? You didn't think those still existed? Me neither. Apparently I was wrong.)

I have spent the entire freaking day just trying to get a freaking telephone. It is 10 miles from a town of 63,000, which is the biggest in the area. There is exactly ONE cellular provider that serves the area. It is not mine. I NEED a cell phone. It's one of the non-negotiable requirements for my job. So I'm going to have to cough up $150 to cancel the remaining 11 months of my contract if I want a cell phone (and can actually find a provider).

Next, I thought I'd try the phone company. I hadn't intended to get a landline, but after all the hassles with the cell phone, it seemed necessary. I would like to be able to let people know how to reach me once I leave my sister's. But, although you can set up an account and get a phone number online, it takes them 3 business days to get back to you and let you know when it will be turned on. 3 business days is Wednesday. I am going there to stay on Friday.

Furthermore, unlike life in the big city, the cable company does not believe in weekend appointments or 24/7 customer service. I couldn't get an appointment to get my cable (and computer) hooked up till the 30th. I am going to be there on the 27th. So far, with no phone. And no computer. And no cell. The cave is a metaphorical thing for this bear -- I didn't intend actually to LIVE in one.

Someone tell me why I thought this move would be a good idea, please.

[Rio_]

I live in a small town...although I'm not sure how different small Scottish towns are from small American ones. I like the way people say hi when they pass you in the street, the way I'm not far from the countryside but it's easy to get to larger towns, and the way not much serious crime happens here...the headline of the local paper was once "Bins Left Out For Two Weeks Running!"

Sorry you've had so much hassle with your phones and computer. Hope you can get everything sorted soon!

[BlueFaith]

Sounds like the town I live in! LOL

[BlueFaith]

Oh, and one good thing I can think of that's a plus is that I don't have to worry about alot of traffic!

[SweetSunshine]

Candybear~

My town has about 8,000 people in it. I was raised here and I love it. We have some fast food restaurants, a couple pharmacies, a public and a parochial school , several churches, a couple furniture stores, a grocery store, a couple chiropractors.. etc.. I think you get the picture.. I have enough convienences here that I dont have to worry about going to the next town over all the time unless I wanna buy some clothes.( which I wanna alot but dont lol) We got doctors a newspaper, 3 parks.. So much to enjoy and lots of quiet!!!!!! You get to know people and you dont have to be as afraid as you do in larger towns. Unless you do something bad then it gets around. So sit back.. enjoy the small things in life and a nice serene environment. A place where you dont have to live in the fast lane!! Good luck with your new home!

Hugz
Bethy

[January]

Crime is a lot less. It's less polluted. You actually get o know people and can safely speak without getting mugged. Small town neighbors help each other. Did I mention less crime.

Jan

[mrb020377]

when i saw your headline, i thought oh that is me!!!!! I live in a really small town outside of a big city. our town however is very samll.. population.......1300......

It is a rather safe little town.. you know just about everyone there, everyone is very friendly! WE dont however have the broadband connection or even dsl. we have one phoen comapny to choose from. we have one electric company to choose from..

not much crime, which is good!!

I am sorry that you had such a hard time with your utilities.. i wish you luck!

[dcs_no1_fan]

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January said:
Crime is a lot less. It's less polluted. You actually get o know people and can safely speak without getting mugged. Small town neighbours help each other. Did I mention less crime.

Jan

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I live in a village & I have been here for over 3 years now & they all look at me & my husband as though we shouldnt be here cause we are the ages of there kids & were the parents we still dont even now the names of the people we live next door to not that I really care as were trying to move out of here we thought that some were like this would be great to live in but its not a part from the less crime here it can be just as noisy & its just as busy but I live across from a buisness park so I know that it would be

[Monty_girl]

Small towns aren't bad. I went from growing up in a big city to living in a small town. I could never leave it now. Our town is growing fast now. We have about maybe 10,000 now. Everyone know's each other or are related in some way. My husbands family is one of the founding familes in the county, so we are related to a lot of ppl. But it is growing really fast and the traffic is crazy. We have a lot of ppl who are moving up from Nashville and commuting now. There are a number of factories moving in along with a big camping company that's suppose to employ over 800 ppl. Plus a Lowe's is going in. So we are busting at the seems.

[darkeyes]

Well, I don't think I'd be of any help with this question, but I love my rural/mountainous small town.
Grew up in the suburbs, and would never go back there.
Majority of people are nicer, things are less hurried unless you go closer into the larger towns,Interstates, and mall areas.
I don't know how I ever survived in the burbs.
I love the chit chat I am able to share with the post office people, local grocery store, Agway, and well, just about anywhere in my little town, and the rest of my county.
Hope things get better for you, take care.

BTW
Even in the larger cities, cable stuff isn't 24/7 most of the time one has to wait till the weekday, especially if they get knocked out with some huge storms.
Things vary from place to place, and can be annoying but, even big companies like Sprint,Embarq,Comcast that have come into our rural areas still run into snags,rather in the city or out here. Unfortunately things happen, and can also happen in the big cities. Remember the huge black outs, years ago? They happened in many big cities in the US.

Lots of luck with your move, hope the computer/cable thing works out for you, it's horrible when you can't access the internet.

[desirae]

My town has a post office, laundromat, library, Chinese buffet, and a few other odds....and that is it. We have a population of a little less then 13,000. I've also been a city girl all my life and I can tell you that living in a small town may be a culture shock, but it's really cool once you get to know everybody. Small towns have tight communities and close kin. I love how I know everybody when I go to the library and laundromat. Even the ladies at the Chinese resturant know me and my kids. It's peaceful to me, and everybody here values their neighbors.

[darkeyes]

I love when I meet one of the farmer's and family members of a farm, we have many horse,dairy, and grain farms, besides the mountains (now dappled with fall colours) as a backdrop, the townspeople are the nicest,down to earth, people one could ever meet.
Not being a young kid, I suppose this kind of environment is just fine. I could image for young folks, who want to see and do everything it may be boring, don't know, just know I'd never trade this for city life, but that's me, and my own feelings.

[(JD)]

I love to go back to the town I grew up near. I know someone each place I go, if not them, then it's their brother or son or ??? I like that ppl wave at each other as you drive by. I like that ppl DO know what you're going through, and often help without you having to ask or explain. (Small town gossip ) I like being able to walk into the mayor's office and be known (and know him too.) I like being greeted by my name at the bank.

Is that enough?

<center></center>

[JustAPixie]

I used to live in the city and have moved to a small place. Getting used to it all is a *****, I can tell you that, but I will NEVER live in a city again. Everything is slower and more peceful in a small town and once your zoned in to that you will enjoy it. It does have it's hassles, we've been waiting 2 months for them to come and install an extra phoneline... but hey, you learn to live with it.

I love going to work 5 min before I have to be there, as opposed to more than an hours traveling time in the city, and I only worked 6km from home!

I love the fact that people know my name and I know there's and when I'm parked outside a shop someone will recognise my car, stop and run in to say hello.

I love being able to walk to a cafee, that one day my kids can walk too and I win;t have to take them everywhere... the school is a bikeride from home and it's high fashion to ride a bike to school instead of your mom dropping you off!!! The videostore here knows my account number and I don't have to shoow her my card, and when they are two days late noone cares. I know my neighbours here, which I didn't in the city. I can actually "quickly" pop into town. I love reading the paper they have here because I know all the people...

I fell in love with this shithole and will hopefully never have to move to a big city.

[darkeyes]

Do you really feel it's a "s" hole?

[weather]

I live in a really small place. My nearest neighbor is nearly two miles away. The closest town about two and a half miles from me has a population of under 300. The largest town in the county has nearly 3000 people and two stop lights.

Our entire county has fewer than 15,000 people, and it is growing because of proximity to a larger city. Parts of central Nebraska are so thinly populated, road signs show not towns, but ranches. Cherry County is larger than Connecticut and has only a bit more than 20,000 people. Highschool students often board in town, because their homes are too far away for school busses to reach. At least one county in that area has under 900 population.

Half of the people are related and the other half think they know everyone's business. Recently, we attended a court hearing over custody in a divorce. The lawyers knew each other personally and didn't like each other. The ex- husband attends the same church as both lawyers, and his father was a highschool classmate of the ex- wife's father. The ex-husband was my aunt's highschool student as was the sherrif and the bailif.

[Numbers]

I live on a tiny Island. 200 inhabitants. We have a post box, a church, a shop (only open in the summer, an antique store and two galleries and a folkschool.

Nature is beautiful, and theres a road to the mainland. But bus only goes on school days three times a day.

Inhabitants are old but nice. All related. Everyone knows each other.
We have our own news paper... it mostly writes history stuff..lol

[kimthecatlover]

I live in a small town not too far from Atlantic City...My town has two supermarkets, two fast-food restaurants, fields for baseball, softball, soccer, and football...there's even a 'Field of Dreams' baseball field for kids with disabilities. Not to mention two great Italian restaurants.

[jbug]

I grew up in a small town in Nebraska. From what I understand its not to small anymore. It had the basics, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a McDonald's and stuff like that. In the summer we had the swimming pool to hang out at. In the winter it was sledding and ice skating on the pond in the city park. We lived on the end of a street and when they scrapped the streets they piled the snow at the end of the street right by our house so we could sled down it. We had a big corn field behind our house and we'd play in it much to the annoyance of the farmer. We had a row of trees behind our house and we'd climb them and play in them. When I was in 6th Grade we moved across town and behind our house was a big field that we'd play tag, and stuff like that. In the summer the county fair was there and we didn't have to worry about figuring out where to park we just had to walk there. They also did the big fireworks show there and we just had to go out our back porch to watch them. We had a big party for all our friends and made homemade icecream and cake, big glasses of cold lemonade. I miss my hometown sometimes because where I live now is just one big town. Its a bunch of towns crammed together into one. You don't really know where one ends and one begins it just kind of melds together.

Jbug

[ster]

The only thing I would look for any graffide spray painted on anything. A few years ago we went to a city peachtree city the worsed thing that happened. then they started to see the spray painting on bridges and other structures.

[JustAPixie]

I did at first think it was a 's' hole, but I love it now....

[prodigiousgamer]

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candybear said:
I am trying to find someone -- anyone -- who can tell me one positive aspect of living in a small town.

I am a lifelong city kid. By this time next week, I will be a permanent resident of a town of 13,000. It's the kind of town where you can walk to the butcher and the pharmacy and they'll run a tab for you. (What? You didn't think those still existed? Me neither. Apparently I was wrong.)

I have spent the entire freaking day just trying to get a freaking telephone. It is 10 miles from a town of 63,000, which is the biggest in the area. There is exactly ONE cellular provider that serves the area. It is not mine. I NEED a cell phone. It's one of the non-negotiable requirements for my job. So I'm going to have to cough up $150 to cancel the remaining 11 months of my contract if I want a cell phone (and can actually find a provider).

Next, I thought I'd try the phone company. I hadn't intended to get a landline, but after all the hassles with the cell phone, it seemed necessary. I would like to be able to let people know how to reach me once I leave my sister's. But, although you can set up an account and get a phone number online, it takes them 3 business days to get back to you and let you know when it will be turned on. 3 business days is Wednesday. I am going there to stay on Friday.

Furthermore, unlike life in the big city, the cable company does not believe in weekend appointments or 24/7 customer service. I couldn't get an appointment to get my cable (and computer) hooked up till the 30th. I am going to be there on the 27th. So far, with no phone. And no computer. And no cell. The cave is a metaphorical thing for this bear -- I didn't intend actually to LIVE in one.

Someone tell me why I thought this move would be a good idea, please.



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yeah i used to live in a small town when i was younger. i lived in northern minnesota in a town called alberts with my mother and father and our rottweiler named Lorgabolee. We lived a simple life. Everyday I would go out back to cut wood and my mother would be making her famous stews in the kitchen. My father worked as a software developer for a small software company that had its headquarters located up in that neck of the woods. When I grew up I began to realize that this small town life was not right for me. I knew that I was going to have to move to a new place where there are more jobs and more restaurants to go eat at (especially with chicken wings). When i was 21 and had enough money I decided to move down to minneapolis. I drove down there in my car and attended a local college to become a software developer just like my dad. I got my degree in software engineering and got a job with Adobe systems. I worked that their headquarters in Blaine MN. I worked there for about a year when Adobe informed me that they were going to offer me a job down in Florida. I decided that the money was worth and I moved out of my apartment down to Tampa, which is where i live now. every day after work i go to a local bar and drink 20 shots of tequilla (unless it is my birthday. on my birthday i treat myself to 40 shots). I pass out very soon afterwards and fall down onto the floor. I remain unconscious until about 5 am. At 5 am i wake up and begin the long walk home. ( I do not want to drink and drive). I walk about 200 feet to my apartment to take a quick shower and get my clothes on. After I am ready I began a 1.34 mile walk to work. I hang out at work and work on writing some programs for the computers. My boss walks by and tells me what a great job i am doing. When it is christmas i fly up to minneapolis (where my parents live now) and i have a christmas celebration with my parents, sister, and cousins. it is a wonderful holiday celebration. One time I flew up on a Boeing 737, and on time i was on a S20 Airbus. My favorite kind of dog is a rottweiler, and my favorite alcoholic beverage is Jack Daniels Original Jamacian 40 proof Whiskey. Hoeeeee that is some powerful stuff. It will sharpen you up and get you ready for a bit of the ol' ultra-violence. Sometimes I go to the Korova Milkbar in downtown St. Petersburk. The Milkbar serves milk-plus, milk-plus vellocet, Mencemade, and Drendcrom. Right now my psychiatrist has me taking about 3 different types of psychiatric medication. I am taking Abilify, Lexapro, and Valium to help me calm down at night and go to sleep. He told me that Valium is addictive and that I need to be careful not to build up a tolerance to it. My therapist said that my life is going down the tubes, but I think that my therapist is full of it. I think that it is time for me to go to bed because I have been up for 72 hours straight now because there was a kung-fu marathon going on in the USA network. I think that I am going to have to take a Valium in order to go to bed because right now I am very excited because tomorrow I am going to go to My Job to write some more computer programs on the computer. I think that Easy Rider is a very good movie and I think that Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson are some of my favorite actors. I think that someday I want to buy a motorcycle and ride across the country just like them. I just went out to see Jack Nicholson's new movie The Departed, and I will tell you this it is a very good movie and I think that you should go to see if you have not seen it yet. I think that you should go out to your theatre right now to watch these amazing movie. I think that you should go to see it because it is one of the best movies that I have ever seen and I think that Jack Nicholson and LeNardo DeCapprio did a very good job on it. I think that Milos Forman is a very good movie director and when I grow up I want to be just like him. Sometimes I sit in my bed and wonder what it would be like if I could just blast off into deep space on a rocket ship and just exist for a few thousand years without having to think about anyting. I think that is what the Zen people are trying to get at with the whole "meditation" thing. Meditation is just another way to get you to relax and clear your mind of all preoccupations for a few hours and just focus on the here and now of what is happening to your body. You need to develop the power of mindfull awareness so you can focus on anything that you want and turn off the "Movies Of your mind".

[EJ711]

Candybear,

Your dream job is located there.

EJ

[1Dar]

WOW! Some of you talking about small towns with didgits in the thousands....yikes! I grew up in the country, 20miles to the nearest supermarket or target/wal-mart/mall. I never thought much of it. I love the country and so when I looked for a college I looked for a small school. I currently reside in a small town in North Dakota. Although I have lived in larger cities such as Duluth Minnesota, and I loved the city and it had advantages. I would not like living in a large town that much. I mean it has its advantages, but I still like the quiet that a small town has. By small I mean under one thousand! The town in which my address was growing up did not even have a population on the city sign until after the 2000 cencus. Then the population was put at 300 something. The town in which I graduated highschool has a population of approx 800. Small towns are nice, and have their advantages, but if you aren't accustomed to them they might take some getting used to, but once you have lived in one, you will either never want to live in one agian, or you will never want to leave. You just have to give it time. Give i a chance, it might be the best thing you ever do.

Dar

[8mlawrence]

i live in a small "live here and like it burg" town. Downtown consists of a deli, a bar, and a hardware store, oh and a card store. I found friends in my backyard. Some of the biggest bugs I have ever seen not even on the discovery channel! I love it here!