Countryside dwellers and townies
Discussion
ts etiquette'. I lived in Paris and people always talked to you on the metro. Only Londoners seem to think any form of human interaction with strangers is some sort of assault. 
We’ve had people move into our village from towns and they soon start complaining about neighbors chickens, lack of street lighting, tractors all sorts. Does make me wonder at times why they moved to such a location. I really do think it’s harder to adjust to countryside living .
I’ve lived in London and felt lonely at times but I have never felt lonely where I live at the moment. There is always a warm welcoming at the pub.
I’ve lived in London and felt lonely at times but I have never felt lonely where I live at the moment. There is always a warm welcoming at the pub.
Edited by Never you mind on Thursday 23 November 16:46
duckers26 said:
I kind of see what you mean but whenever I've been to the countryside for a holiday, it's nice and pretty and then in the evening you wonder what to do. It seems quite limited in terms of restaurants so you may occasionally find a nice one, the local shop is normally quite small and getting around seems difficult after dark. Nightlife seems quite subdued.
How often do you eat in restaurants? I think that might be a cultural difference between city dwellers and others, I rarely go out to a restaurant unless I'm away somewhere, whereas townies I know tend to eat out way more often. Country types plan a bit more too. When I was a kid living a about a mile outside a small village and 8 or 9 miles from a small town, we used to go in to town once a week for a weekly shop. Now I live in the suburbs of a small town with a co-op about 10 mins walk away and we tend to stop in quite often to buy small amounts.
Never you mind said:
We’ve had people move into our village from towns and they soon start complaining about neighbors chickens, lack of street lighting, tractors all sorts. Does make me wonder at times why they moved to such a location.
A nearby farm had a new neighbour come round to ask if they could possibly milk their cattle a bit later in the mornings as they'd moved to the country for some peace and quiet and the cattle were waking them up in the mornings 
Mind you that works both ways, when my grandparents complained about the smell from the dairy farm opposites slurry tanks the farm manager came round and gave them the "townies moving to the countryside" speech... he left with a flea in his ear as when they'd built the house in the 1950's the farm belonged to my other grandfather
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 23 November 16:55
Never you mind said:
We’ve had people move into our village from towns and they soon start complaining about neighbors chickens, lack of street lighting, tractors all sorts. Does make me wonder at times why they moved to such a location. I really do think it’s harder to adjust to countryside living .
]
You missed church bells ringing off that list.]
RizzoTheRat said:
How often do you eat in restaurants? I think that might be a cultural difference between city dwellers and others, I rarely go out to a restaurant unless I'm away somewhere, whereas townies I know tend to eat out way more often.
Country types plan a bit more too. When I was a kid living a about a mile outside a small village and 8 or 9 miles from a small town, we used to go in to town once a week for a weekly shop. Now I live in the suburbs of a small town with a co-op about 10 mins walk away and we tend to stop in quite often to buy small amounts.
Normally about three times a week (sorry waistline!). To be honest I don’t think either side will persuade eachother of the merits. If I were to be told I had to live in a small village rather than somewhere in London I would be mortified and vice versa!Country types plan a bit more too. When I was a kid living a about a mile outside a small village and 8 or 9 miles from a small town, we used to go in to town once a week for a weekly shop. Now I live in the suburbs of a small town with a co-op about 10 mins walk away and we tend to stop in quite often to buy small amounts.
lucido grigio said:
Never you mind said:
We’ve had people move into our village from towns and they soon start complaining about neighbors chickens, lack of street lighting, tractors all sorts. Does make me wonder at times why they moved to such a location. I really do think it’s harder to adjust to countryside living .
]
You missed church bells ringing off that list.]
Also find that they bring their town/city level of socialness as well and then sit in the pub and not talk to anyone. Usually in a corner with a look of self importance. They soon learn though.
duckers26 said:
Normally about three times a week (sorry waistline!). To be honest I don’t think either side will persuade eachother of the merits. If I were to be told I had to live in a small village rather than somewhere in London I would be mortified and vice versa!
Completely agree, and wouldn't want to persuade townies of the merits of moving to the country as they might move there and drive the house prices up even further I think there are a lot of cultural differences like that though.
TooMany2cvs said:
This is more of a statement of basic fact, tbh.
Many urban-dwellers simply don't understand that the countryside is a factory, with large machinery, not simply their playground.
Indeed. Every time some city dweller starts banging on about making motorway driving part of the test, I always think yes, if they make driving safely along a narrow, twisty lane between high banks part of the test as well. The results of an interface between a car and a self propelled beet harvester are not pretty.Many urban-dwellers simply don't understand that the countryside is a factory, with large machinery, not simply their playground.
duckers26 said:
I'm not going to have children but I think I think it must be difficult living in a village, playing cricket on the green, very genteel etc and then moving to London to find work. Most of my friends who grew up in that environment hated it, everything miles away, have to drive everywhere, and so an urban environment is where I think most young adults would prefer to be.
The "everything miles away" is an interesting one. Things are certainly further away in the countryside (work, pubs, cinema, girlfriends, etc) but on the flip side, I could afford to run a car which I probably couldn't with the more expensive insurance and lack of parking in the city, and although the distances are greater the travel time isn't that different. My sister lived in Maida Vale and I remember being gobsmacked that it took us nearly an hour to travel the five-or-so miles to meet up with her friends at a restaurant. It was the same on the way back too. An hour in the countryside I can be 50 miles away!A few years back there was a splendid David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy. My wife and I went to it several times.
On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
Guvernator said:
I love when I'm on the tube and you get the occasional country yokel family on a day trip to the big smoke who totally oblivious to standard city etiquette, try to talk to everybody (weirdo's) or worse proclaim loudly "This is very busy, I don't think I'd like to do this every day" at 2pm on a Tuesday
BUSY!? BUSY!? You haven't seen busy until you've experienced the shear joy of a 5pm rush hour crowd on a matchday, sandwiched between the armpit of a person who seems not to have washed for 5 days while being gently bummed by the semi-tumescence of the rather large gentleman pressed up behind you.
BUSY!? BUSY!? You haven't seen busy until you've experienced the shear joy of a 5pm rush hour crowd on a matchday, sandwiched between the armpit of a person who seems not to have washed for 5 days while being gently bummed by the semi-tumescence of the rather large gentleman pressed up behind you.
I work within the M25 at a car dealership, it is very busy where I'm based, as you can imagine.
We had a transporter driver arrive yesterday who usually delivered Land Rover's, however as that side was quiet he was drafted in to deliver for us, he had never been this far towards London before and was genuinely worried about the traffic and how busy it was, it was actually quite funny, it wasn't even that busy.
Roofless Toothless said:
A few years back there was a splendid David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy. My wife and I went to it several times.
On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
Not just London, a mate of mine is head @ a Coventry primary school, takes kids out on field trips to a farm. It's only 5-6 miles away, out of rush hour you can drive across the city in 20mins, buses run out into Warwickshire, Leicestershire and West Mids country side. These kids have never seen cows and fields except on TV. On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
Roofless Toothless said:
A few years back there was a splendid David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy. My wife and I went to it several times.
On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
What's really depressing about that is that there are places within easy walking distance of tube stations where they could.On one occasion there was a party of kids from what looked like an inner city secondary, about fifteen or sixteen, and all of them black or Asian. One of the black lads was standing next to me, and we were both looking at a picture of a forest scene, a path leading into the trees and then dividing.
His teacher came up along side of us and she said to him, "have you ever been anywhere like that?"
He didn't take his eyes off the picture, but slowly shook his head and said, very quietly, "Nah ..."
It was a moment that has stayed with me ever since. I have never had such a strong revelation of what life must be like for many kids brought up in London today.
Apart from anywhere else, there's Epping Forest, owned by the City of London Corporation...
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