If you read my last column you will already know that I've
moved house. What I haven't told you yet is that I've
moved from living in the country, from the middle of
nowhere, to living in a city. (It's just a temporary move
until I move back to the country when the new house is
ready). I thought I liked living in the country. I
thought the sheep who woke me up on a morning with their baa-
ing were cute. I thought the lack of noise and low volume
of traffic was peaceful, the neighbours friendly. But after
living in the city for just 2 weeks I feel like I have been
plunged into a pool of icy cool water, I'm alive with
excitement. The noise, the people, the cars, the noise, the
shops, the traffic, the noise, non stop. I now live just
off a busy road with pubs and shops and it's great to be
able to walk out on an evening and sit outside the pub on
the tree fringed patio, watching interesting people live
their lives in the city. Men in suits come in the pub after
work, women in dresses start heading in early evening and
it's both fascinating and scary to sit and watch the world
go by, the fast food take-aways opening up for all-night
business, the cry of a car alarm as it's window is smashed,
a car radio stolen.
I have 2 dogs, who, in the country are allowed to run free
over fields and riverbanks and I was concerned that there
wouldn't be anywhere dog-friendly in the city that I could
walk them. It was with a sigh of relief then that I found
the most wonderful city centre park only 2 minutes walk from
my house. It has everything a good urban piece of greenery
should have, including a great duck pond where the ducklings
eagerly await my daily visit with scraps of bread for them
to suck down their dirt engrained necks. Of course, the
dogs stay firmly on the lead. It seems that city folk aren't
too pleased when 2 large and friendly dogs come bounding up
to them for a hug. The park is huge, with all kinds of play
areas for children and woodland walks passing by landscaped
areas and flower beds. Great fun in the daytime, but a no-
go area at night.
I don't yet miss the country living I've been used to for so
long, I'm still too in awe of things going on around me to
want back the open spaces and the greenery just yet. What I
do miss are the people, my neighbours from the old house.
In the city, people don't seem so friendly, life is more
anonymous, people come, people go. Driving to work each
morning is chaos. I have to weave through lanes of angry
traffic, merge with vicious lorries and vans instead of the
leisurely, picturesque drive along one country lane that I'm
used to. In the country, you can stop and take a breath of
fresh air, chat with a walker, talk about the weather, the
cows, the sheep, the city. But it won't be for long, this
city living thing. I'll be back in the country in a couple
of months, breathing in the smell of cow dung, being woken
at 6.30am by the baa-ing and the crowing when I'd rather
sleep on for at least another hour. I only hope that it
doesn't all seem too quiet, too boring for me on my return
after life in the city. But then again, I know I would much
rather hear the squeaks and barks of farm animals first
thing on a morning than the clatter of smashed glass from a
car window being broken!
Glenda Young is also the writer of the
weekly Coronation
Street Update on the net, and can be contacted at:
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