A dear friend of mine gave me an idea for this blog post earlier this week. I was walking to the station from work, rushing to get there as soon as possible knowing if I was 5 mins late, the train would be even more packed. I mentioned it in my text (yes, I was texting while power walking to the station) and he said he had just come back from a paddling session at the lake in the sun and was basically just chilling at home. I, on the other hand, was in a crowd of people that were all doing the same thing as me. Trying to get to the station as soon as possible with a promise of perhaps one empty seat on the train to make their journey home a bit more comfortable. I started to think what this rush was for and how different living in a city is to living a small town.
I cannot really compare it to living in the countryside because I only ever lived either in a small town or a city.
Semily, where I grew up is the small town I know the best and I loved the sense of community and safety. Also freedom! We used to run around after school and only went home in the evening when we got hungry. Nobody knew where we were! Some of our activities were not the safest I must admit (think walking through a train tunnel)but mostly we were just riding around on our bikes, being in the forest building little 'houses' and playing games. This is also very different culturally, I don't think English children do this anywhere! It was safe though, nothing ever happened, apart from a few bruised knees.
When I got older and started going out there were two main places to go to - the Bowling bar and the 'Club'. You could go out on your own and you would always meet someone you knew so it was easy! Summer holiday Club Wednesdays will forever stay in my memories! We had so much fun and I am grateful for my teenage years spent away from the bad stuff kids can come across in the cities.
I moved to Prague when I was 19 as I was studying university there. I had never liked Prague before, I'd thought it was too big, scary and impersonal.
I lived there for 4 years and then left for London. Well, obviously London is slightly bigger than Prague!! For some reason though it did not feel as scary in the beginning.
I do get a bit worried these days when I come home late at night and never really walk on my own in the darkness any more. You just never know. It is a bit sad that this has also made me feel scared when I am back home in Semily.
What I do love about the city life is that there is always something to do, shops are always open and it feels like you can do anything you'd like. I do miss the sense of community though, I know so many people in my home town and London can feel very lonely. I have made friends after 9 years but in the beginning it was a bit tough.
I do prefer the small town atmosphere, it makes me think it's more 'family' like, nobody keeps rushing to the tube to get a seat on the train, supermarkets are not overcrowded every single weekend and times just slows down.
I don't think I could live in the countryside right now, I feel I got used to the buzz of the city but it does wear you out and sucks out your energy. I have also found to be more aggressive after nearly a decade in London. It does that to you.
I am hoping this year we will find a compromise and a middle ground of moving slightly out of London (I am hoping to a little town) so we get the best of both.
What do you prefer? Small town or city life?
No comments:
Post a Comment