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I'm a townie, I was born in a town, raised in a town and have lived in towns ever since. Right now I live in a city, a large city full of people, full of noise and just well, full.
Works not great and I don't enjoy it much anyway, I get out to the pub with mates once in a while but not often and most nights are spent half awake, half asleep on the sofa in front of the telly.
Now, I've seen a couple of small hotels come up for sale, they're more often than not in the middle of nowhere but doing a reasonable trade and I'm giving serious thought to picking one up and buggering off to the country to run one.
I've found a nice hotel in the Ardennes, 17 rooms of which 9 are currently being used as the hotel and the rest for the family that live there...
It's a big chance to take though.
What would you do ? Have you ever thought about jacking it all in and trying to escape the ratrace ?
Or could you not bear to leave the town or city ?
-------------------- my own brother a god dam shit sucking vampire!!! you wait till mum finds out buddy!
Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
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I might be moving to France, too! How exciting.
Which disguises the serious consideration. In a move amusingly inspired by a half assed discussion in the pub brought about by the recent smoking ban - which has incensed my husband - there may shortly be action underway to have Louche In France. We're looking at fishing/ holiday based business lark, and, financially it's very viable for various reasons. I'd probably get to pack in work and grow parsnips and get fat. This sounds tremendous.
At the moment I am well totally up for it and simultaneously scared shitless about it. I have no idea if we will actually have the bollocks to pull it off. I say go for it! Loads of people we've talked to about Prospective France Move have said oh we thought about that but never did it and we really regret that. Try it. Even if it all goes tits up you'll have tried. That's my reckoning, anyway.
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I'd like to have a backpackers place one day but it's more a daydream than anything. I think I just like the idea of my clientele being young hippies with cash to burn travelling the world.
I find people are so much more relaxed when they are travelling. All you need to do is make sure they can smoke weed and watch movies when the weather is bad and hey! you're in the Lonely Planet and making all the cash you need. Pity nobody wants to come to Botswana. [ralph] [/ralph]
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: What would you do ? Have you ever thought about jacking it all in and trying to escape the ratrace ?
Or could you not bear to leave the town or city ?
I asked myself this same question about five years ago. I was working in NYC, living in a New Jersey suburb that was extremely crowded. The commute into the city each day was brutal; being packed onto a train like a sardine, never in 18 months actually getting a seat on the train. NYC is filthy and crowded and noisy. Then 9/11 happened. After that my wife and I decided that we didn't want to live like that anymore. We bought a house in a small town (900 people living in 36 square miles; of those 36 square miles, 60% are state-protected land or state forrest) in the hills of western Massachusetts. The town offers very little in the way of conveniences; no banks, gas stations, and up until about 6 months ago, not even a sinlge restaurant. What the town does offer is solitude. I had never really seen the sky on a clear night before. I'm still in awe of it's beauty. I had no idea there were so many stars in the universe. I spend as much time as I can hiking in the woods with my kids We've seen deer, beaver, skunk, racoons, three varieties of squirrels, and many other types of woodland creatures. I also harvest wood from my land for the purpose of heating our home during the winter months. Although living where I do means that I have to drive a lot (for instance, my drive to work is 45 miles one way; it's about 20 miles to the nearest grocery store), there has not been a single day I've regretted moving into the woods. I'm not going to suggest to you that it's the right situation for you, but as someone who's done it, it has been right for me. And I'd be happy to discuss it further if you'd like.
ETA: Finally...a thread that I can actually contribute something to.
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That sounds interesting, Dazzler. Running a hotel has always sounded like quite hard work to me though. I don't know if it's the kind of thing that seems simple enough on the surface, but which could actually involve a lot hassle and red tape ie health & saftey regulations, food hygiene standards, availability of reliable seasonal staff etc. It's almost like a lot of businesses in one- you've got cooking, cleaning, maintenance to keep on top of, as well as the usual admin. The motel I worked at one summer in Colorado was run by a couple in their 50s, who rarely had a holiday and hadn't been able to save anything towards retirement.
I would like to live in the country eventually, as I want a horse in a field next to my house, so I can look out of my bedroom window and say hello to it every morning. I think I'd have to come for a weekend break to London every 6 weeks or so to get a culture fix though. I know I don't take full advantage of all the entertainments on offer here, but I love the thought that I can just wander into some of the world's greatest museums for free on my lunchbreak, see some of the best musicals any night of the week and am totally spoilt for choice in terms of plays and exhibitions. I physically can't imagine living in a town that just has the one multiplex, one second-hand bookshop, one theatre, and maybe one museum or gallery. I honestly don't understand what people do for entertainment outside of London, other than watching telly and going to the pub.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
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I was discussing my future plans with my mother the other day; talking about my moving to Oxford and all the rest of it and she goes "Well, just so long as you've no plans to move to the countryside" and then went into a twenty minute lament about the inconvenience, loneliness and ennui of living out in the sticks, as though I hadn't - you know - spent 18 years living in the same house as her. So she doesn't seem to have enjoyed the country life too much. But that's just her opinion. I would consider moving back to the countryside, but not for a long, long time, at least until I'm fifty.
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quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: What would you do ? Have you ever thought about jacking it all in and trying to escape the ratrace ?
It's my fucking dream man. It's my dream. I only took art at college because I dreamed of making and creating sculptures. In fact, I've had a novel concept recently. Why don't I learn one of the crafts like metalwork? My father has this amazing ability to craft metal that he doesn't put to use. But anyway, the music. I only started to write music because I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. I've got a problem with authority.
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I toy with the idea now and then, but now feel almost part of the fabric of London, and find its busy-ness and activity energising. I fear that if I moved to the country I'd just atrophy and my laziness and procrastination would mean I would fade away.
If I were to move, it would have to be proper, Ralph-style, countryside, rather than a half-way kind of small town that has the worst of all worlds. My sis moved to a town in Surrey a year or so ago, and it sucks the life-essence from my veins every time I go there. The streets are deserted, bar the odd practically silent 4x4. Brrrr.
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quote:Originally posted by New Way Of Decay: But anyway, the music. I only started to write music because I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. I've got a problem with authority.
That's great, yeah.
Now stop posting on message boards and do some fucking work on those new tracks!
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I'd like to move out of my cupboard some day. I hate London when the weather is grim and I'm just ferrying my sorry ass to and from some bleak corporate monolith, but in the summer when the chicks all wear skirts, and there's time to go and drink in a sunny park, or to hide out in the cool darkness of Match bar watching the beautiful people lounge on sofas, or simply lie in bed with a cold beer listening to the sirens as dusk sunlight throws city shaped shadows through my room, or drinking after work on one of those ships near embankment, or walking to a bar in shoreditch from liverpool street just in tshirt and jeans, or enjoying wine in a friend's back yard before schlepping to a party in town, then really, you can't beat London. The sounds, sights and smells of London in the summertime are still thrilling.
[ 22.03.2006, 10:41: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: Are there Sasquatch in the area ?
Not that I've seen, but the guy across the street who has the huge lake gets a lot of moose in the spring. Maybe I'll get lucky and see one this year. Or unlucky and mauled to death by one. Eh, either way.
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I always thought the moose was more tramply than mauly, but I'm no expert. What are they like to eat? Bit like chicken?
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1. If you live in town you have all the facilities on your doorstep, you have easy access to millions of work opportunities, you can actually socialise with more than two people, you can walk or cycle pretty much everywhere, and there's 24/7 public transport if you're too pissed up to cycle.
If you want to chill out a bit in rural solitude then you rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere for the weekend. It's really cheap, and you can try different bits of the countryside each time.
2. If you live in the countryside you have permanent solitude. It will drive you insane. If you get a job you will almost certainly have to drive miles to get to it. If you need supplies, fuel, a pint... you will have to drive miles to get them. The countryside is bleak and cheerless for about 8 months of the year.
If you go on holiday you will probably want to go shoppin' up that there Lon'on or something, which will cost you a fortune, especially if you smell of cow poo.
Everyone I know that's tried it, including myself, says not to do it. But everyone, including myself, gives it a go anyway. I think it's the driving everywhere thing that really makes it so grim. I can see why Ralph's got a hot air balloon.
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quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: I always thought the moose was more tramply than mauly, but I'm no expert. What are they like to eat? Bit like chicken?
They trample and maul. A bit like Roy actually.
They taste a little like deer, only with a stronger flavor. Not that I've ever eaten moose meat.
quote:Originally posted by dang65: Everyone I know that's tried it, including myself, says not to do it. But everyone, including myself, gives it a go anyway. I think it's the driving everywhere thing that really makes it so grim. I can see why Ralph's got a hot air balloon.
I'm not saying this lifestyle doesn't have it's downside. For one, highspeed internet access is nonexistent. The best I can do, due to the age of my towns' phone lines, is dialup. At 33k. Plus there's the driving. Lots of driving. The beautiful scenery helps, but I'm not going to lie and say that the driving doesn't get under my skin.
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I would say go for it Darryn, but then that's because I want to do it myself. Go to the country, go be a farmer. 2008. Organic Agriculture degree, Aberystwyth. Gonna have a kick-ass job in the Docklands earning some serious ca$h for a year and a half then off I trot with my knapsack on my back.
Seriously, some people *sigh* at kittens on the tv, some at hott boys/girls. I *sigh* when I see pictures of beautiful, beautiful countryside. I particularly enjoyed the rural documentary The Wickerman which I watched at the weekend.
When I've finished farm school then I'll set up my farm somewhere not too remote as I'll still need culture fixes as described by VP. If it doesn't work out I'll come back. Or commit suicide, I hear that's all the rage with farmers.
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Worry not Benway, I can't drive either, I fucking hate driving, I'm not even a very keen passenger in a car and I made it all the way out here..
I take Dangs point on the isolation, but I'm not very social since I moved out to Holland, I don't think I'd miss contact with people as I don't have that much now..
I'd have more contact if anything as there would be guests in the hotel..
There's a large(ish) town nearby where they have a castle and a groovy ghost, it's not too far away from civilsation to be that worrying..
It's just I've never lived in the countryside, I wonder if it'd freak me out..
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: It's just I've never lived in the countryside, I wonder if it'd freak me out..
I didn't know this. The countryside will definitely freak you out. Darkness like you've never encountered before. And then there's the coyotes and the fisher cats...or your countries' equivalent. I suggest taking a week or two and simply visiting the countryside in question. I'm sure it will make your decision easier to make.
Late at night, when the fisher cats scream, they sound just like a young girl being strangled to death: Posts: 7436
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hmm. you know, since i moved to the mild mild west i spend a whole heck of a lot of time wanking on about how nice it is to be able to get on a bus and be in the countryside- in fact so much time wanking on i am beginning to be aware of peoples' eyes glazing over. and it is nice, you know; gambolling lambs, green fields, trees, all that shizness. but i couldnt live in it full- time. things they dont tell you on jimmys farm: the countryside is full of fucking tories. they all have faces like gammon and they actively enjoy killing living beasts and mistrust anyone whose skin is browner than gammon- coloured and they have voices like tubas and thats fine, you know, fair play to 'em whatever. but i dont want to live with the fuckers. i very much like living in a city that you can get out of easily, from which you can see the fields, but you know, one time when we were in the countryside we were driving down the countryside lanes singing countryside songs and this baby deer came gambolling towards us and to cut a long and painful story short, we hit it and it died. and i know we should have got out of the car and gone back and one of us should have shot it in the head or something but we were paralysed with misery at the time, so that obviously didnt happen. and it was the stupid deer's fault anyway but thats not the point is it. and the side of the car was mashed, i mean, hammered, because deers are fucking huge, even baby ones are the size of a fucking VAN. the countryside isnt just greenness and freedom from The Grind and all that, it also carried with it the Very Real Possibility That One Day You Will Murder A Baby Deer, and you will have to carry that guilt with you for your entire life, even if it wasnt your fault anyway because the deer actually ran into the path of your volkswagen 330 because it was stupid. so you know. be warned. countryside = DEATH.
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